What are the standard items that we need to input in BrewTarget when creating a new equipment profile?

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Elysium82

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Hey guys,

I am trying to create this 6L (1.5gallon) mini BIAB batch in BrewTarget, but I would need to setup the equipment profile first. I'd really appreciate some help in setting it up.

wtf.jpg



My idea is to mash and boil the wort in the same pot. I have no idea what to put where it says "volume" and "mass" in the "Mash Tun" section.

I assume the rest is okay. Although, I am not sure of the grain absorption. 1.085? Isnt that supposed to be 0.085 L of water kilo? That 1.085 seems to be too high. I assume the evaporation rate is a standard 2.839L, but that is nearly half of the final batch size. That is nearly 50%. I thouht it was around 10-15%.

Anyway, I'd appreciate if someone could have a look and let me know where to change/or what to tweak in order to save and use this equipment profile.

Thank you.

UPDATE: I have just found this post too (setting up equipment profile in brewtarget for first batch ever)
I'll give it a quick read too.
 
I'm not familiar with BrewTarget, but the Mash Tun volume should be the size of your brew kettle/pot.

Grain absorption of 1L per kg is about right. That's about what I get for similar size batches.

The only way to really know the evaporation rate for your equipment is to test it yourself by boiling a measured amount of water for a specific time and then seeing how much you have left. For reference, the boil off rate with a 17L pot on my stove top is about 1.8L per hour.
 
Last edited:
Hey guys,

I am trying to create this 6L (1.5gallon) mini BIAB batch in BrewTarget, but I would need to setup the equipment profile first. I'd really appreciate some help in setting it up.

View attachment 724842


My idea is to mash and boil the wort in the same pot. I have no idea what to put where it says "volume" and "mass" in the "Mash Tun" section.

I assume the rest is okay. Although, I am not sure of the grain absorption. 1.085? Isnt that supposed to be 0.085 L of water kilo? That 1.085 seems to be too high. I assume the evaporation rate is a standard 2.839L, but that is nearly half of the final batch size. That is nearly 50%. I thouht it was around 10-15%.

Anyway, I'd appreciate if someone could have a look and let me know where to change/or what to tweak in order to save and use this equipment profile.

Thank you.

UPDATE: I have just found this post too (setting up equipment profile in brewtarget for first batch ever)
I'll give it a quick read too.

You've got a good response already. You can also adjust your grain absorption after your first batch, just measure your wort volume before and after mashing and see what you're missing.

Brewtarget is not good at figuring out BIAB mash water volumes automatically. There is a workaround, but I found it didn't always seem to update properly if I changed the grain bill on the recipe. Now on the Mash tab I'll just add one for infusion and one for sparge if I'm doing it, and manually adjust the volumes until the calculated batch size is close enough to the target batch size.

I don't use it for mash infusion temperature calculations, I haven't had good luck with any calculator for my indoor electric setup, but I recently changed to mashing in much faster which seems to be making things better. (Comically large whisk is amazing!)

Some things on Brewtarget are clunky or annoying, but it works fine, and allows me to design brews and save them on my computer, which is what I need.

Make sure you take a look at how/where it saves recipes. I'm running Linux Mint which is probably not what you use, but at one point I had to reinstall the OS (on a separate boot drive) and was able to reinstall Brewtarget and point it to the proper data file and it all came back. If I had had the save spot on the boot drive it would have been lost.
 
I'm not familiar with BrewTarget, but the Mash Tun volume should be the size of your brew kettle/pot.

Grain absorption of 1L per kg is about right. That's about what I get for similar size batches.

The only way to really know the evaporation rate for your equipment is to test it yourself by boiling a measured amount of water for a specific time and then seeing how much you have left. For reference, the boil off rate with a 17L pot on my stove top is about 1.8L per hour.

Right. Thank you for the information.

Can you help me understand the grain absorption side of the "business"? It simply means that I'd lose 1L of water per every kg of malts I use in the mashbill, right?

So, the other items caan be neglected, right? Items like "Mash Tun -> Mass"?
 
You've got a good response already. You can also adjust your grain absorption after your first batch, just measure your wort volume before and after mashing and see what you're missing.

Brewtarget is not good at figuring out BIAB mash water volumes automatically. There is a workaround, but I found it didn't always seem to update properly if I changed the grain bill on the recipe. Now on the Mash tab I'll just add one for infusion and one for sparge if I'm doing it, and manually adjust the volumes until the calculated batch size is close enough to the target batch size.

I don't use it for mash infusion temperature calculations, I haven't had good luck with any calculator for my indoor electric setup, but I recently changed to mashing in much faster which seems to be making things better. (Comically large whisk is amazing!)

Some things on Brewtarget are clunky or annoying, but it works fine, and allows me to design brews and save them on my computer, which is what I need.

Make sure you take a look at how/where it saves recipes. I'm running Linux Mint which is probably not what you use, but at one point I had to reinstall the OS (on a separate boot drive) and was able to reinstall Brewtarget and point it to the proper data file and it all came back. If I had had the save spot on the boot drive it would have been lost.

I hear you. Are there any BIAB apps or softwares that are close to perfect?

Btw, I had used LinuxMint for ages, but then it got super messed up to install it on gaming laptops ...and I ended up sticking to WinCrap. :D
 
Can you help me understand the grain absorption side of the "business"? It simply means that I'd lose 1L of water per every kg of malts I use in the mashbill, right?
Yes, that is correct.

As far as mashing goes, I have been using Brewer's Friend for all of my recipes and their mash calculator works well for me.
 
Yes, that is correct.

As far as mashing goes, I have been using Brewer's Friend for all of my recipes and their mash calculator works well for me.
Thank you. Yeah...Brewer's Friend seems to be good, but this part drives me insane:

wtf.jpg



Thickness and grain temp are 2 things that I totally get, but I have no idea how to go onwith my BIAB practices.

Amount? Amount of what? The water that one uses to mash?
The "type" doesn't seem to have an option either for BIAB brewers. Maybe it is "infusion"...I am just not sure.
 
I hear you. Are there any BIAB apps or softwares that are close to perfect?

Btw, I had used LinuxMint for ages, but then it got super messed up to install it on gaming laptops ...and I ended up sticking to WinCrap. :D

Brewtoad worked well :D
 
Amount? Amount of what? The water that one uses to mash?
The "type" doesn't seem to have an option either for BIAB brewers. Maybe it is "infusion"...I am just not sure.
Yes, Amount refers to the mash water volume.

AFAIK, Type is not used in any calculations, so not particularly important.

Use the menu button on the Mash Guidelines to open the mash calculator page. Enter your grain weight and water volume or ratio and it will calculate the strike water temperature you need.
 
My idea is to mash and boil the wort in the same pot. I have no idea what to put where it says "volume" and "mass" in the "Mash Tun" section.

I am not sure if you figured this part out. These settings don't really apply to BIAB where you are using the same container to heat your strike water and as your mash vessel. At least in BeerSmith, there is an option to ignore these settings when calculating the temp of your strike water. If BrewTarget cannot ignore these, then play with values that don't have much impact on your strike water temp.

If that is the default absorption value, it is probably high and applies more to a typical sparge setup. A bag will tend to drain better. I am not sure of the translation, but I use a value of 0.55 fl oz/oz which is the units that BeerSmith uses. 1 L/kg seems high. (if I did the conversion correctly, I would be using 0.56 L/kg)
 
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