MLT Deadspace for Beersmith

[UnholyObsession]

Hey all, my apologies if this has been asked a bunch but I can not seem to find an answer for the life of me. We brew all grain and just recently purchased the 15 Gallon MLT from MoreBeer with the false bottom. I measured the deadspace below the false bottom and it is approximately 2 gallons. When putting our recipes into Beersmith am I using that 2 gallons to put as the actual deadspace? My reason for asking is because wouldn't we be able to tip the MLT to be able to drain it almost completely? Thus making the true deadspace MUCH less? I understand the weight of it while doing a 10 gallon batch, however, there are four of us who brew together and weight is not much of an issue.

On a side note, our next purchase is going to be a pump setup to reduce the amount of lifting that we currently have to do. Also, we were planning on possibly doing 5 gallon batches in it as well but it seems like it may not be nearly as efficient as using our 10g Cooler that we have been using. Thank you in advance for the advice and I apologize if I overlooked an obvious answer. Cheers!

 

[Oginme]

The Mash Tun Deadspace should be the volume which you cannot pour or retrieve from your mash tun.

The easiest way to measure this is to put a known volume of water into your mash tun (like 3 gallons) and then drain out and measure what you can actually recover from this volume. The difference is your mash tun deadspace. When doing this test, treat your mash tun as if it were full of grain (i.e. don't tip it any more than you could if it were).

 

[KevinP]

2 gallons?!?! There has got to be something wrong. Im unfamiliar with the morebeer mlt plumbing but the two false bottomed mlt I have (round 10gal rubbermaid with morebeers domed false bottom and a slightly modified 15gal chapman) leave about 1 pint of deadspace.
Check those fittings. Can you post a picture?

 

[augiedoggy]

that sounds right... my bayou classic MT has 3 gallons under the FB but since I recirculate through a rims that space is NOT dead space... it does however count as "additional space under the FB"...

 

[Oginme]

There is often a distinct difference between the 'volume under the false bottom' and 'mash tun dead space'. What matters is what is not or cannot be drained out.

 

[UnholyObsession]

There is often a distinct difference between the 'volume under the false bottom' and 'mash tun dead space'. What matters is what is not or cannot be drained out.

I apologize, this is what I meant. There is 2 gallons of space underneath the false bottom. The unretrievable liquid when i tested it, was much much less. I can't remember offhand but I believe it was maybe a pint or so. That was after I tipped the MLT at a safe angle while empty.

I am more concerned with trying to do a 5 gallon batch with this thing because at 1.25qt/g we are only using about 5.3 gallons for strike water. It seems like 3.3 gallons of water would not adequately cover the grains for a proper mash. That, I guess, is my main issue with this new piece of equipment. Should we just rely on our cooler for 5 gallon batches. Thank you for the feedback and my bad with the confusion on terminology.

 

[augiedoggy]

well without recirculation it stays mostly water as its drained.. not sure how much that impacts the gravity of the mash..

 

[Nagorg]

I can't remember offhand but I believe it was maybe a pint or so. That was after I tipped the MLT at a safe angle while empty.

If you would normally tip your MLT, then use that pint or so as the deadspace. Otherwise, drain as much as you can without tipping and use that as the deadspace.

 

[Oginme]

I apologize, this is what I meant. There is 2 gallons of space underneath the false bottom. The unretrievable liquid when i tested it, was much much less. I can't remember offhand but I believe it was maybe a pint or so. That was after I tipped the MLT at a safe angle while empty.

I am more concerned with trying to do a 5 gallon batch with this thing because at 1.25qt/g we are only using about 5.3 gallons for strike water. It seems like 3.3 gallons of water would not adequately cover the grains for a proper mash. That, I guess, is my main issue with this new piece of equipment. Should we just rely on our cooler for 5 gallon batches. Thank you for the feedback and my bad with the confusion on terminology.

This is one of the reasons that people requested and received a new volume figure in the equipment profile labeled as "mash tun addition". This allows the user to distinguish between what is left behind the mash tun after draining and the volume which needs to be added to the strike water to bring the level up to that of the grains. So, for your case, where you end up with a pint of liquid which is left behind, but need 2 gallons to fill your cooler to the bottom of the grains, plugging in 0.125 gal as your mash tun loss and 1.875 gal as your mash tun addition would result in your strike water calculation to be .125 gal for the loss + 1.875 gal for the addition volume to the grains + your 1.25 qt/lb of strike water needed for the active mash.