Volume and efficiency question

[CadiBrewer]

My efficiency has been a steady 80% for the past 6 batches. My old procedure was to fly sparge until I hit my target pre-boil volume. I recently purchased a refractometer, so I checked my runoff gravity at various times when I brewed yesterday. My target pre-boil volume was 12.4 gallons according to Brewsmith. I got to 10 gallons and checked the gravity of the runoff and it was at 1.010, so I stopped sparging. I checked the gravity of the boil kettle and it was at 1.035 or so. I topped up with 2.4 gallons to get my volume. At the end of the boil, I hit my target gravity of 1.037 perfectly.

I realize that I hit my target perfectly so I shouldn't complain, but I'm concerned that I'll need to be constantly checking the runoff gravity to make sure it isn't at 1.010 or lower. Is there a way in Beersmith to get closer to my target volume without topping off as much?

 

[RoundKid]

Increasing your grist ratio would in turn decrease the amount of liquid for sparging, giving you more runoff before you reach the 1.010 threshold.

 

[CadiBrewer]

Increasing your grist ratio would in turn decrease the amount of liquid for sparging, giving you more runoff before you reach the 1.010 threshold.

Do you mean using more than 1.3 quarts per pound, or do you mean decreasing my deficiency in Beersmith so I use more grain per recipe?

 

[RoundKid]

More than 1.3. Depending on the space in your mash tun, you can go up to 2qt/lb.

 

[acidrain]

Go into Beersmith and change your equipment profile to a lower efficiency, which will slightly increase the amount of grist.
Remember, if you change something in the profile, you'll need to save it, open a recipe, change the equipment profile to something other that your own, then change it back again for it to actually change the recipe.