Brewsmith 2 Mashout water/grain ratio

[dustinp]

I noticed in Beersmith 2 that I have been figuring really low fly sparge amounts. I have never had this in Beersmith 1, or just didn't pay attention to it. I have enough room in my cooler to mash out and I usually fly sparge after the mash out. After my last figuring of a Breakfast stout with 17.13 lbs grain, I have negative fly sparge amount! There are a lot of adjustments I may be missing, or I am mentally missing something somewhere. My mash in is set at 1.2qt/lb. and the mash out is set at 2.108qt/lb. (this is what Beersmith 2 has set automatically) This gives me negative .26 gal water for fly sparge. What am I missing? Is this right? Do I need to change something in my mash profile?

 

[RandomBeerGuy]

To to updates in BS2 and download the patch. I had the same issue. It seems fixed after you update.

 

[dustinp]

I just downloaded the new patch and it did not help. The mash out qt./lb. seems to change with different mash temperatures. I'm not very well versed on that, so I will have to read up. Any other advice would be well appreciated. If I choose no mash out, I will have plenty of sparge water based on Beersmith 2. I'm not sure if I would be better off with this big of beer to skip the mash out, or skip the fly sparge. It looks like those are my 2 options according to the parameters of Beersmith 2.

 

[Paul07293]

I've also had negative sparge water amounts on BS2. Will have to look into the patch!

 

[jakehale]

I've only used BS twice... and both times it shows a negetive on mine too. I just figured thats the way it worked because i am a complete novice when it come to AG and Beer smith...

 

[RandomBeerGuy]

I just downloaded the new patch and it did not help. The mash out qt./lb. seems to change with different mash temperatures. I'm not very well versed on that, so I will have to read up. Any other advice would be well appreciated. If I choose no mash out, I will have plenty of sparge water based on Beersmith 2. I'm not sure if I would be better off with this big of beer to skip the mash out, or skip the fly sparge. It looks like those are my 2 options according to the parameters of Beersmith 2.

Did you restart your computer after the download? I had the same issue but after the patch mine is working properly again. If all else fails send in an email to Brad Smith and explain the issue and he should be able to help.

 

[cwlodyka]

Per a quick mental calc it looks like with that big of a beer you've got 14 gallons of water between the mash and mash-out. Deduct about 1.7 gallons absorbed by the grain and you've got a little over 12 gallons of wort drawn. Assuming this is about where you want to be, then yea you're not going to need anything to fly sparge. I assume that's the calcs Beersmith is doing.

I haven't done any beers this big so I'm not sure what your options are, I would say reduce the mash-out ratio and then fly sparge with what you have left. But not sure if you can hit your temps that way.

 

[carrolte]

try adjusting your boil time to 2 hrs. and make sure you check the box to automatically adjust boil vol.

 

[cwlodyka]

That's a good idea there, with a big beer like that you'll want a longer boil.