Mash

[nathan33]

I am pretty new to all grain brewing. I am teying to find the best method for me. I use a 10 gallon igloo cooler and batch sparging is probably the way I should go. I have two questions. First. Beersmith tells me the strike water to add and then has 2 sparges after that. Can I just combine these and do one batch sparge? This seems more logical to me instead of the 1-2 gallon and then another 3-4 gallon sparge. Also. Using this method, how do I adjust for a peotein rest. I have 2 kettles and the cooler. But can't heat the mash tun. Do I add all the strike water at pr temp then drain and heat. Reallh confused on how to do this and get water amounts correct and hit temps

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[progmac]

often batch sparging goes hand-in-hand with single infusion mashing (no protein rest). however, you can do them. in the mash profiles, set a rest temperature in beer smith at 125 (or whatever temp for a protein rest) and then set your sach rest temperature at 152 (or whatever). beersmith should tell you how much water and at what temperature you need to add to bring the mash up to your desired temp. so no, you don't drain the mash tun. you just add boiling (or very hot) water at the appropriate volume determined by beer smith. i would suggest some experimentation to determine if a protein rest is even worth doing.

now, on the sparge water. the default mash profiles in beersmith typically have you adding the first sparge water at the end of the mash before you drain the tun. so you add an additional 1-2 gallons (generally whatever it takes to fill the tun up to 90%) and then drain, then you add another 4 gallons or so of sparge water and drain that.

you can look in your mash settings and uncheck a box that says 'fill mash tun before draining' or something to that effect.

many of us have good results by adjusting the mash thickness so that about 50% of your total water is used for mashing and 50% for sparging.

 

[nathan33]

Thanks for the quick reply. I'm looking for a simple method that I can stick to every time. Pretty new to beersmith so ill try it first. I do like the splitting the water 50/50. Any thoughts to the better method

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[nathan33]

Before I drained the mash tun and then added the smaller amount drained again and added last water. Makes much more sense to me now

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[progmac]

Before I drained the mash tun and then added the smaller amount drained again and added last water. Makes much more sense to me now

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it takes some time to learn beersmith's language, but once you do, it is very very useful. take some time to learn how to set up your equipment profiles.

 

[nathan33]

Ok I have been trying to get more exact with beersmith. I have my mash set closer to what I wss looking for. My recipe says to mash in with 12.5 quarts which is 3.13 gallons. Then batch sparge two steps. Drain mash tun and add 5.06 gallons 168 water. Is this the correct method or should the two water volumes be closer

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[nathan33]

I have my sparge settins as follows on beersmith.
Checked box for batch sparge using batches that fill. I entered 100%
Unchecked use equal batch sizes
Checked drain mash tun before sparge.
I think this is close to what I want but I assumed two water volumes would be closer

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[nathan33]

Ok changed grain to water ratio to 1.5qt per pound on mash in. Is this about what everyone uses? When I do this my strike and batch sparge volumes are pretty close

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[nathan33]

Ok I got all my equipment and mash profiles worked out in beersmith finally. I now realize that I have another problem. I have an 8 gallon brew pot. If I assume a 1 gallon boil off in an hour (which is probably too low of an estimate. My pre boil volumes range from 7-7/2 gallons. Now I do have foam inhibitor that I can use for this close to the rim boil but I am wondering that if I find that my boil off rate is more than this tomorrow when I brew, will it be ok to take my last runnings in a seperate bucket and add them to my boil as it goes down or is there a better method to do this. I would think this is better than topping with water as I will use all the wort but I want to make sure

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[acidrain]

You can add the sparge runnings later if that's what you need to do, but getting a boil kettle that can handle full volume will simplify your brew day.
Speaking of simplify, there is a much easier way to accurately find how much sparge volume is needed... but you need to know your boil-off rate. You definitely need to do some experiments to know that. When you brew:
Drain the mash tun and measure how much volume is collected. The remaining amount needed for your pre-boil volume is how much sparge is needed. Split that in two and sparge twice. Once the grains are wet, they don't absorb anymore.
I use beersmith for everything except the sparging. The grain absorption is an estimate... if you actually measure it, it will be more accurate.

 

[progmac]

i brew 5ish gallon batches in an 8 gallon kettle with one gallon of deadspace that i don't drain. it works fine for me. i usually start with 7.5 gallons and it boils down to 6.25-6.5.

nathan, it sounds like you've got your arms around beer smith. the only thing that struck me is that you probably don't want to fill your mash tun to 100%...a little bit of head space gives you room to stir or to add cold or boiled water if you miss your temps

 

[dyqik]

I've boiled 8.2 gallons in a 9 gallon kettle before now (for a 6 gallon batch of dubbel). You don't absolutely need foam inhibitor, just watch the pot carefully once it starts to foam/form hot break, turn the heat down a little as it approaches boiling, and stir if the foam rises too high.

 

[Oginme]

If you are close to the top of your kettle at the beginning of the boil, a spray bottle filled with some water will help to break the foam and prevent a boil over. You will need to be watching it and spray as the foam begins to build.

 

[smyrnaquince]

now, on the sparge water. the default mash profiles in beersmith typically have you adding the first sparge water at the end of the mash before you drain the tun. so you add an additional 1-2 gallons (generally whatever it takes to fill the tun up to 90%) and then drain, then you add another 4 gallons or so of sparge water and drain that.

Drain the mash tun and measure how much volume is collected. The remaining amount needed for your pre-boil volume is how much sparge is needed. Split that in two and sparge twice.

So, two options here:

1. Add first sparge water to the mash, drain, add second sparge water, drain
2. Drain the mash, add first sparge water, drain, add second sparge water, drain

Are there advantages/disadvantages to either of these methods? (Due to misinterpreting Beersmith, I've been doing the second one.)

 

[progmac]

So, two options here:

1. Add first sparge water to the mash, drain, add second sparge water, drain
2. Drain the mash, add first sparge water, drain, add second sparge water, drain

Are there advantages/disadvantages to either of these methods? (Due to misinterpreting Beersmith, I've been doing the second one.)

the only reason i see for adding sparge water before draining the tun is for those situations where you don't have enough space in your tun for the total volume of sparge water plus the grain. if you have a ten gallon cooler, this won't typically be an issue, especially if you are doing a looser mash of say 1.5 qts/lb.

i mashed in a 5 gallon cooler for a long time and i was always playing games to get the mash water and sparge water to fit.

 

[nathan33]

Thanks for the help. I'm brewing my wife a raspberry beer right now. I am using 1.6 qt ration and a single batch sparge of 4 gallons. I think this will work well for me. I do use a chugger pump. Any sugestions of how slow to turn the pump down to prevent stuck sparge.

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[nathan33]

Brew day went really good today. My barley crusher is set to .031 and I am using a bazooka screen. this was the only problem I had today. I will go buy me a braided wire from the hardwire store before next batch because the bazooka screen is too coarse for my crush even with rice hulls. I think I am pretty close to having beersmith and my equipment all in order finally. I did end up with 6 gallons in the fermenter with my settings like they are and set for a 5.5 gallon batch. I may set this up for 5 gallon batch size instead so I end up with 5.5 in the primary but other than that every thing is finally coming together and making sense where I can use beersmith and trust what my beer will turn out like. THANK YOU to everyone that has replied and helped me. I love the fact that everyone is so willing to help out.

 

[nathan33]

i brew 5ish gallon batches in an 8 gallon kettle with one gallon of deadspace that i don't drain. it works fine for me. i usually start with 7.5 gallons and it boils down to 6.25-6.5.

nathan, it sounds like you've got your arms around beer smith. the only thing that struck me is that you probably don't want to fill your mash tun to 100%...a little bit of head space gives you room to stir or to add cold or boiled water if you miss your temps

Thanks for the heads up. Here is the thing whether it is accidental or not. my 10 gallon industrial cooler is still never full with the settings I have entered. I have a 1.6 qt to grain ration on strike and my one batch sparge I have it set to do never fills the tun all the way. This may be that I haven't brewed a big beer yet, but it seems with my larger cooler that all is well. thanks again for all the help.

 

[progmac]

Brew day went really good today. My barley crusher is set to .031 and I am using a bazooka screen. this was the only problem I had today. I will go buy me a braided wire from the hardwire store before next batch because the bazooka screen is too coarse for my crush even with rice hulls. I think I am pretty close to having beersmith and my equipment all in order finally. I did end up with 6 gallons in the fermenter with my settings like they are and set for a 5.5 gallon batch. I may set this up for 5 gallon batch size instead so I end up with 5.5 in the primary but other than that every thing is finally coming together and making sense where I can use beersmith and trust what my beer will turn out like. THANK YOU to everyone that has replied and helped me. I love the fact that everyone is so willing to help out.

it does take a couple batches to get all the volumes, boil off, system loss, and other stuff worked out. it's a good feeling once you get it all figured out and everything goes as expected.