SlackSpace in Beersmith

[dipole]

Not sure if this belongs here or in software, move if necessary.

I have a bottom drain keggle with a jaybird false bottom. I have 1 gallon underneath the false bottom, which I guess is referred to as slack space. I 100% recover all this volume. There is no option for this configuration and I was wondering how other deal with it. The problem arises when calculating grain to water ratio. Only the volume above the false bottom is used. However, when calculating strike temperature, the entire volume is used or your strike temp will be too high

I saw a couple of older threads but none of them had any real solutions. Right now I am adding 1 gallon to the mash (to get 1.25 ratio) and then subtracting 1 gallon from sparge. This works ok for my mash thickness but my temps are always off since I'm adding more water. I just started using a HERMS so I usually start recirculation around the 15min mark.


Thoughts?

 

[eluterio]

Not sure if this belongs here or in software, move if necessary.

I have a bottom drain keggle with a jaybird false bottom. I have 1 gallon underneath the false bottom, which I guess is referred to as slack space. I 100% recover all this volume. There is no option for this configuration and I was wondering how other deal with it. The problem arises when calculating grain to water ratio. Only the volume above the false bottom is used. However, when calculating strike temperature, the entire volume is used or your strike temp will be too high

I saw a couple of older threads but none of them had any real solutions. Right now I am adding 1 gallon to the mash (to get 1.25 ratio) and then subtracting 1 gallon from sparge. This works ok for my mash thickness but my temps are always off since I'm adding more water. I just started using a HERMS so I usually start recirculation around the 15min mark.


Thoughts?

What you call slack space might be referred in beer smith as dead space. I would look at your mash equip profile and were you see dead space put 0.00 and see if that adjusts your strike temp.

 

[Bobby_M]

You do not want to set it as dead space because it's not. Dead space is compensated for by adding more sparge and then you'll end up overshooting your volume. All you need to do is set your ratio to something like 1.25 qt/lb and then increase it until the total strike water is one gallon more. It's a manual step when you set up a new recipe, but not too bad.

Example.. You set it to 1.25 qt/lb with 10 pounds of malt. That's 12.5 quarts. Now just force it to 16.5 quarts or 1.65 qts/lb. The really easy way to go is to just stick with 1.65 qts/lb.

 

[eluterio]

Hmm I guess I misunderstood when I set up my profile on Beersmith maybe that is why im getting horrible efficiency or could be because Im not sparging slow enough. (Manuel fly sparge)

 

[dipole]

You do not want to set it as dead space because it's not. Dead space is compensated for by adding more sparge and then you'll end up overshooting your volume. All you need to do is set your ratio to something like 1.25 qt/lb and then increase it until the total strike water is one gallon more. It's a manual step when you set up a new recipe, but not too bad.

Example.. You set it to 1.25 qt/lb with 10 pounds of malt. That's 12.5 quarts. Now just force it to 16.5 quarts or 1.65 qts/lb. The really easy way to go is to just stick with 1.65 qts/lb.

Bobby, I thought this was the best way to go about it, thanks for confirming.