Couple of questions on Beersmith

[Ged]

Given I'm sitting with green envy at JamesP latest postings on his new sparge technique I have a couple of recurring issues I am hoping someone can point me towards fixing thanks. I am happy with the beer I make. Still experimenting heaps but never really made something I couldn't stomach. No doubt due to luck, divine intervention and the helpful fellows on this board !

First is the efficiency question and its split into a couple of parts

1. I generally hit or surpass the OG into the boiler as you can see from the attached screenshot. However, post boil I notice I am ALWAYS a little short on the target OG - e.g 1.058 v 1.060. Not heaps but it seems to happen all the time which tells me it should be predictable on some settings I can change. I appreciate the boil volume appears less than it should which could account for a higer OG but I took the reading AFTER I topped it upto the correct level post boil. Any inputs please?

2. Sparging and efficiency. I have batch sparged to date but not sure on my process. Can someone clarify the steps please, for example, should i be draining the mashtun first, dumping that first runnings into the boiler before adding sparge water, or adding sparge water immediately after the mash, mixing it up then draining it etc etc?

Final question - Sparging - How do i get beersmith to stop creating some wierd batch sparge amounts. An example is the last brew I did - Sparge with 14.62 litres of water, followed by Sparge with 1.99 litres of water...It just doesn't seem to make sense or does it ??

Any help or pointers as always greatfully received.

Thx

Ged

[denimglen]

1 - I also have this problem, even when I hit my pre boil volume spot on I'm way over on my pre boil gravity but usually hit my post boil +- 2 points. I think it has something to do with the 'loss to trub' value. I'm looking into this at the moment as well, will post any info I find.

2 - My sparge goes like this. End of mash, recirculate until clear, drain to boiler, add sparge water, stir, rest 10 minutes, recirculate until clear, run off to boiler. I think some guys do it the way you mentioned second but seems that would be killer on efficiency.

3 - Make sure in your equipment settings your mash tun volume is set to the correct volume, then double check your mash profile says 'sparge using 100% of mash tun volume'. If your mash tun volume is set to say 20L and you try to sparge with 20L it will see that you can't fit that much water in your tun and split the additions. If your mash tun is too small to fit the entire addition you should make sure the 'batch sparge with equal volumes' box is selected.

Hope that helps.

[warra48]

BeerSmith takes a while to set up correctly to match your system.

With my system, I ignore volumes and temperatures BeerSmith tells me.
I heat my HLT to about 9ºC higher than my desired mash temperature. Then I just allow the water to drain into the mashtun while I stir vigorously, and I stop adding water when I'm about 1ºC short. I then add dribs and drabs until I hit the exact temperature I want. I have no idea what my water to grain ratio is, but at a guess, somewhere around 2.5 litre to 1 kg.

I do a mashout addition to fill my mashtun to capacity (it's only 25 litres), and immediately vorlauf and drain.
Once the initial drain is completed, I know how much more volume I need into the kettle. That volume is split into two further sparges.

If you really want BeerSmith to do it for you, you need to keep exact and detailed notes of what you do, and then write up your own mash schedule and save it into BeerSmith, rather than relying on generic schedules. You can then choose that for your future brews. Click on Mash Schedules in the left margin, and select New Mash Profile from the toolbar, and write your own.

[Tony]

I use Beer smith, I find it an excellent tool. Firstly, I don't have the patience to programme it properly, so I often get wierd ammounts, I don't get too hung up on it.

Mash out- Initially I was taught to never let the grain bed settle. Meaning if I drained 3 litres, I replaced 3 litres (I use a 3 litre plastic jug to lauter into and fill my kettle). The last brew I did, I tried the method, Glen just outlined, for the sake of simplicity and because guys were saying how labour intensive that is. As a result my Efficiency went down from 79% to 66%. As a result I will be returning to my original method, no matter hoe labour intensive it is. I don't have a fancy sparging system, so I manually replace the sparge water as I go. The wort will settle the bed naturally as it drains through, but I never let the water level get below the grain bed, until I have enough in the kettle.

[denimglen]

Are those brewhouse efficiencies or extract efficiencies?

[Tony]

brew house