new to beer smith

[bcharlsen]

i am trying to set up my equipment profile in beer smith and i dont know how to figure out some of the things. such as how to calculate the loss of water in a boil off. i have a 60liter stock pot as my boil kettle. also i use it for my HLT. a little help would be great.

 

[LovesIPA]

You don't calculate boil-off. You measure it. It varies widely from system to system.

Measure the volume pre-boil. Boil for an hour. Measure the volume. That's how much you boiled off. You can use water or wort, they are both the same for this purpose.

There are a ton of options to set in BeerSmith. It takes some time to understand them all and get them set to match your equipment. If you haven't already, check out BeerSmith's site and watch the training videos. They will explain what the settings are and how to figure them out for your system.

 

[Oginme]

It generally takes a couple of brews to get your equipment profiles nailed down. Take your first best stab at what you have measured or think the values should be. Then take measurements of volumes and specific gravity readings throughout the brew session. Use these to rework your equipment profile such that if you repeat the recipe with the new profile, the measured OG and volumes come out close to or at your measured values. Repeat this on several brews and you will focus the profile in to make the software a better predictor of the results you will get.

 

[Hello]

For starters, I would use some standard numbers for boil off and trub loss. For example, I used 1 gallon per hour for boil off and .25 for trub loss. I measured the dead space in my mash tun myself as well.

Even after a handful of brews, I am still not entirely dialed in but I am close.

 

[helibrewer]

Keep extra water and DME around for your first couple brews, that way you can adjust your post boil numbers if you need to while you are getting things dialed in.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[Smellyglove]

And while measuring your boiloff remember the cooling factor. I think it's about 4% or so, default in BS. So right after the boil you'll have 4% more wort (in my system that equals to about 1 litre) then you'll have after you've chilled it.

 

[Calichusetts]

I would say to do a thinner mash your first couple times so that you can get a handle on your boil off and just boil longer if needed.

I simply bought a 12 inch lab thermometer and filled the kettle in quarts and noted where it was on the thermometer. I know exactly when I have 60 or even 20 minutes left in the boil.

I tend to shoot for 75-90 minute boils. This way, after 30 minutes, I can figure out my boil off and time my late additions or flameout.

I find that boil off will change seasonally with humidity and other factors...but not much

 

[Darwin18]

Watching some of the intro videos is always helpful:

http://beersmith.com/setting-up-your-equipment-in-beersmith-2/