Damn beersmith!

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Damn beersmith. Nice program but I can never get my mash/sparge water correct with it. I always end up close to 2 gallons (8L) short in the kettle for a 10g (40L) batch.

Anyone else having a simular problem?

 

[aseelye]

So sparge with 2 extra gallons. You might be boiling off faster than you think.

 

[Bernie Brewer]

Hmm mine always seems to be dead-nuts on. Dunno.........

 

[Baron von BeeGee]

When you say 2g short in the kettle, is that before boiling? If so, then at the risk of sounding obvious, I'd suspect a problem in your calculation of losses. Otherwise, I'd be inclined to agree with aseelye that you might have a higher boiloff rate than you thought. Or a combination of the two.

I usually have problems with Promash on my boiloff rate (actually, that's not so much a problem with Promash as me not knowing if my boiloff rate is going to be 15% or 25% that day).

 

[Brewsmith]

So sparge with 2 extra gallons. You might be boiling off faster than you think.

That would be my suggestion as well. I use ProMash, but I never use the water parts of it, except for calculating temperatures. I know my system and adjust my boils accordingly.

 

[Axegod]

Never used Beersmith.....US vs British gallons?

 

[Buford]

You have to get your numbers right for your equipment or else it'll be wrong. My first PM batch was WAAAY off with the supplied defaults. After that I figured out my numbers and dialed in 72% efficiency - and this has been right every time since. This past weekend's brew was dead-on with OG and looked to be almost exactly right with top-off water needed.

 

[uglygoat]

i always have more sparge water than i need.... better off that way, you can reuse the water after the brew.

you can also top off with some water mate if you don't feel liike running more through the grain bed, you can also gasp, drop a half lb of corn sugar in there to boost it if needs be. however, it is better to have more beer with less abv than less with more abv imo

 

[Bobby_M]

Yeah, I had the problem on my first batch because I had MLT loss set to zero. It's probably closer to .5 gallons. Just increase your MLT loss to 2 gallons and you should come up even.

 

[EdWort]

I use this calculator and I've been spot on for the last three batches.

Batch Sparge Water Calc.

It receives the "Edwort's It Fricking Rocks! endorsement" IMHO :rockin:

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Fly sparging and yeah, short before boil. checked the gravity of the runnings just before the spagre ended and they were much to high. as in 1.032 vs 1.010

My losses are already taken account of. so it's got to be either an excessive grain absorption rate vs beersmith default or...?

 

[Orfy]

It will not be beer smith's fault if others are getting good figures out of it. It works for me.

You are obviously sparging with too little water if you end at 1032 instead of 1010. You have your figures set wrong somewhere.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

I've checked through the settings 20 times and I don't see what could be wrong there. I just add 7L extra now. Last batch was the first in a few months and I forgot to add the extra.

Maybe one day I'll sort this out. But everything looks correct. I'm beginning to wonder if my grain is not excessively thirsty.

 

[thebull]

I use Beersmith and fly sparge. My volumns have been right on since switching to AG. Mash temp is one degree low always, but that's been easy to fix.

 

[BierMuncher]

I'll use Beersmith to help with my mash temps, but not the volume. Not that I don't trust it, it's just that volume is something for which I use my best judgement.

Couple rules I use:

1) Batch sparge in multiple smaller amounts to allow a good soaking, then drain off to pot. If I load too much sparge water, I might end up with way too diluted, way too much volume. I sense that giving the grains multiple rinses with smaller volumes, clears off more of the sugars.

B) Nothing goes into my boil pot except wort from the MT. If I'm short, sparge a little more. If I'm going to add volume to my pot, it's going to be sweet volume.

Nothing overly scientific, but it works for me. I'll shoot for 6.5 gallons and know that my SG will gain about 12 points (1.048 to 1.060) during the boil off.

 

[knipknup]

I have used beersmith for my last 10 batches or so. I found that my temps never hit the target when adding water according to the suggested temps. I just bump them all up 5F and things work much better. I also am not measuring the water additions very accurately since the water is hot and I don't want to hassle with it. I just add to about x level in my mash tun and then I drink a brew.

My last batch (brewed yesterday) ended up filling my 10gallon cooler to 1 inch from the top before sparging. Temps hit right on, but I collected 7 gallons of wort without sparging and the last runnings of that was 1.030. I shrugged, started the boil and kicked back with another brew.

The software gets me in the ballpark, but even when I'm off a bit, it's gonna be good!