10 gallon Ss Brewtech InfuSsion Mash Tun and Beersmith 2

[FunkedOut]

Received a shiny new insulated mash tun from Ss Brewtech.
This tun holds temps pretty good. After a preheat, lost 3 degrees across 2 hours with it half full/empty.
Ambient temps ~78*F.

I could not find a good list of Beersmith 2 settings, so I'll share mine:

Mash Tun Volume: 10.50 gallons (a bit more fits but not worth trying)
Mash Tun Weight: 28.60 lbs (postal scale)
Mash Tun Specific Heat: ?.?? Cal/gram-deg C (more on this below)
Mash Tun Addition: 0.375 gallons (volume under false bottom)
Lauter Tun Losses: 0.00 gallons

Limit Batch Sparge Batches to fill 88% on the Mash Profile.
My 10 gallon tun came pre-punched (drilled) for the recirculation fittings.
It came plugged with a silicone pair of boots/plugs that I don't trust to hold water (splashes yes). It also came with a bulkhead for attachments but says that the silicone plugs hold temp better, so they are staying in for now.
9.25 gallons of water/wort fit under the recirculation hole. That's 88% of 10.5 gallons.

Now about the specific heat.
Even though this tun is made of stainless, and stainless is supposed to have a value of 0.12, this did not work out during my testing. A value of 0.30 worked perfectly. Maybe just my specific rig, but I'll share the info for you ponder.

Brew kettle on a propane burner to heat strike water.
A chugger pump connects the kettle valve to the mash tun valve with 10' (total) of 1/2" silicone hose.
Mash tun up high, kettle down low. When pumping all contents of kettle into mash tun, 40oz get left behind in the kettle/pump/hoses.

Heat 5.5 gallons (+40oz) strike water with the pump recirculating back into kettle to pre-heat pump and hoses.
When water is slightly above strike temp, turn off pump and connect to mash tun.
When water is at strike temp, turn on pump and fill tun at full speed. Takes 90 seconds. No grain.
Takes 10 minutes for probe in thermowell to reach peak temp. Its an inkbird, but it's calibrated to a thermapen.

I ran a couple of tests this way. 0.30 Cal/gram-deg C is right on.
Maybe it's compensating for hose losses? They're preheated and only in play for 90 seconds.
Either way, my first mash with this rig is coming up. I'll use these settings and see how it goes.

 

[FunkedOut]

Stop the press!
The Mash Tun Specific Heat value above is suspect.

I used a BeerSmith recipe to calculate that value.
0.0000000001 lbs of grain in that recipe.
Adjusted water volumes and temperature and mash tun temperature.
Then set the target temp to what I measured once stabilized.
Finally adjusted the specific heat value in the equipment profile until the strike temp matched what I used in the test.

I just found the Mash Adjust tool in BeerSmith.
When I use this tool to do the same, I get a different value.
It's off by 0.10 cal/gram-deg C.

To run more tests (mashes) to get this right.