lgxg
Well-Known Member
i am new to using homebrew software. i just bought beersmith mobile for my android tablet. I got my equipment setup with the trub losses, etc based on notes from my last few brewing sessions, but I am having trouble getting the mash profile setup based on my process and equipment.
here is what I use for my mash and sparge as far as equipment goes:
converted keg with midwest supplies sanke keg false bottom
results in 1 gallon dead space
hybrid natural gas/electric system - direct fire mash tun keg to bring strike water to temp, electric RIMS tube to maintain mash temp
converted keg HLT
my process is as follows:
based on grain bill weight, fill mash tun with total water of 1.4 quarts/lb of grain (not accounting for any dead space)
direct fire mash tun to until water is 157 degrees, add grain, stir to remove dough balls. based on experience, this gets the total grain bed down to about 153-154.
let mash sit for about 10 minutes, begin recirculating through RIMS tube to maintain mash temp at 153, continue for mash time, 60 minutes.
completely drain mash tun to boil kettle, drain 170 degree water from HLT to mash tun
stir HLT water plus grain to sparge, recirculate to reset grain bed, drain mash tun to boil kettle until preboil volume is reached.
i have been using the brew365 calculator with the following variables. since using this last batch i figured out that my i leave a gallon of wort in my hoses, pump and area below the BK pickup.
it seems that in my process the first variable is the water/grain ratio of 1.4qt per lb (this is what works for my pump and smaller diameter mash tun dip tube). the second variable is the preboil volume. i also only want to heat as much water as necessary in the HLT and I don't have enough room in the keg based mashtun to be able to do no sparge with a 11 gallon recipe.
it seems that a variable that I'm unsure how to use is the ratio of the first mash tun draining. in this batch, I collected 7.25 gallons wort from the first runnings... would this mean that I should set the "using batches that fill %" to 7.25/13.3 (total wort in BK)?
as I mentioned, I'm new to using beer smith. i can't figure out which variables to change to reflect my process and what is working based on the calculator and tweaks I've made based on experience. I would love to use this new fancy software to actually reflect my processes.
maybe i'm doing the entire thing wrong, but it's been working... does anyone have experience setting up batch sparge mash profiles that may use a similar process or understand the variables better than the humble OP? before the single tier stand and pumps, I used gravity to drain the HLT and did fly sparging.
thanks so much for the help-
Louis
here is what I use for my mash and sparge as far as equipment goes:
converted keg with midwest supplies sanke keg false bottom
results in 1 gallon dead space
hybrid natural gas/electric system - direct fire mash tun keg to bring strike water to temp, electric RIMS tube to maintain mash temp
converted keg HLT
my process is as follows:
based on grain bill weight, fill mash tun with total water of 1.4 quarts/lb of grain (not accounting for any dead space)
direct fire mash tun to until water is 157 degrees, add grain, stir to remove dough balls. based on experience, this gets the total grain bed down to about 153-154.
let mash sit for about 10 minutes, begin recirculating through RIMS tube to maintain mash temp at 153, continue for mash time, 60 minutes.
completely drain mash tun to boil kettle, drain 170 degree water from HLT to mash tun
stir HLT water plus grain to sparge, recirculate to reset grain bed, drain mash tun to boil kettle until preboil volume is reached.
i have been using the brew365 calculator with the following variables. since using this last batch i figured out that my i leave a gallon of wort in my hoses, pump and area below the BK pickup.
it seems that in my process the first variable is the water/grain ratio of 1.4qt per lb (this is what works for my pump and smaller diameter mash tun dip tube). the second variable is the preboil volume. i also only want to heat as much water as necessary in the HLT and I don't have enough room in the keg based mashtun to be able to do no sparge with a 11 gallon recipe.
it seems that a variable that I'm unsure how to use is the ratio of the first mash tun draining. in this batch, I collected 7.25 gallons wort from the first runnings... would this mean that I should set the "using batches that fill %" to 7.25/13.3 (total wort in BK)?
as I mentioned, I'm new to using beer smith. i can't figure out which variables to change to reflect my process and what is working based on the calculator and tweaks I've made based on experience. I would love to use this new fancy software to actually reflect my processes.
maybe i'm doing the entire thing wrong, but it's been working... does anyone have experience setting up batch sparge mash profiles that may use a similar process or understand the variables better than the humble OP? before the single tier stand and pumps, I used gravity to drain the HLT and did fly sparging.
thanks so much for the help-
Louis