Question about Beersmith instructions

[BansheeRider]

I created a Xmas/Winter Ale recipe using a single infusion, medium bodied, single batch sparge method. Under the "mash" tab it says to batch sparge with 2 steps, what does this mean? My last brew, which was my first AG brew, returned 76% effeciency and I only batch sparged once. So if I choose the single batch sparge method in the settings why does it recommend a 2 step method?

 

[DrWill]

I created a Xmas/Winter Ale recipe using a single infusion, medium bodied, single batch sparge method. Under the "mash" tab it says to batch sparge with 2 steps, what does this mean? My last brew, which was my first AG brew, returned 76% effeciency and I only batch sparged once. So if I choose the single batch sparge method in the settings why does it recommend a 2 step method?

My guess is that it thinks (rightly or wrongly) that your necessary sparge addition is too big to fit into your mashtun. Check your equipment settings to make sure you've got the right one listed.

 

[BansheeRider]

My guess is that it thinks (rightly or wrongly) that your necessary sparge addition is too big to fit into your mashtun. Check your equipment settings to make sure you've got the right one listed.

I have a 10 gallon cooler setup. The initial strike water is only 5 gallons and it's saying the sparge water is 3.3 gallons. The cooler is large enough I would think with 15.5 pounds of grain. My last brew was even smaller and it recommended the same thing.

 

[chickypad]

Then it's something in your settings. Double check the mash tun size really says 10 gal, in the edit mash tab check "drain tun before sparging" and make sure it's set to use batches that fill like 95-100% of the tun.

 

[DrWill]

Sounds like my initial recommendation was off-base, then. You can adjust the parameters of the sparge directly. Maybe it's just defaulting to two sparge additions because that's what it likes

 

[Flaviking]

One theory is that by sparging twice you are making sure you are getting all sugars from the grain.

Think of it like washing soap from a glass. Fill up soapy glass and empty it out the first time (Mash) ad a little water and swirl it around to get remaining soap (1st sparge) and then fill it up on last time to make sure you got everything (second sparge)

That's how it was explained to me anyways.. my efficiency is mostly in the high 70's except when I make stupid mistakes.

 

[Oginme]

It's most likely in your mash profile. From the design page, you can click on the check mark next to the mash profile (the pop-up should say 'edit the mash profile for this recipe.'). Look at the sparge settings in the mash profile and make sure that the box marked 'drain the mash tun before sparging' is checked. Then up the batch sparge amount to 100% and see if this takes care of the double sparging.

 

[BansheeRider]

It's most likely in your mash profile. From the design page, you can click on the check mark next to the mash profile (the pop-up should say 'edit the mash profile for this recipe.'). Look at the sparge settings in the mash profile and make sure that the box marked 'drain the mash tun before sparging' is checked. Then up the batch sparge amount to 100% and see if this takes care of the double sparging.

Ok I'll check it out.

 

[BansheeRider]

Then it's something in your settings. Double check the mash tun size really says 10 gal, in the edit mash tab check "drain tun before sparging" and make sure it's set to use batches that fill like 95-100% of the tun.

I changed the setting. That box was not checked. Thank you.

One theory is that by sparging twice you are making sure you are getting all sugars from the grain.

Think of it like washing soap from a glass. Fill up soapy glass and empty it out the first time (Mash) ad a little water and swirl it around to get remaining soap (1st sparge) and then fill it up on last time to make sure you got everything (second sparge)

That's how it was explained to me anyways.. my efficiency is mostly in the high 70's except when I make stupid mistakes.

So do you double sparge with every batch?

It's most likely in your mash profile. From the design page, you can click on the check mark next to the mash profile (the pop-up should say 'edit the mash profile for this recipe.'). Look at the sparge settings in the mash profile and make sure that the box marked 'drain the mash tun before sparging' is checked. Then up the batch sparge amount to 100% and see if this takes care of the double sparging.

I did this and I am still getting the double sparge. This recipe has 17.4 pounds of grain. Do you think this effects the software sparging methods?

Thanks everybody for your help. This is my second AG batch, my first one yielded great results even when I did a single sparge.

 

[Flaviking]

So do you double sparge with every batch?

I don't look at it as two sparges... It's a single sparge in two parts. Only doing one part has the potential to leave more residual sugars behind. Those sugars get cleaned up with the second part

 

[BansheeRider]

I don't look at it as two sparges... It's a single sparge in two parts. Only doing one part has the potential to leave more residual sugars behind. Those sugars get cleaned up with the second part

Makes sense but everything I've read and every video I've watched shows people only doing one part. So if beersmith says do 2 parts with 3.3 gal of water can I do just one part with 6.5 gallons?

 

[chickypad]

Makes sense but everything I've read and every video I've watched shows people only doing one part. So if beersmith says do 2 parts with 3.3 gal of water can I do just one part with 6.5 gallons?

There is no reason you can't, in fact some folks do no sparge with a very thin mash. Just recognize that it may alter your efficiency, although I personally haven't found much difference in efficiency between batches where I do a single vs. double sparge. My main reason for doing double sparge is when I can't fit the whole volume.

 

[Flaviking]

Yes.

I think it all comes down to how much time you want to spend and if that time is productive.

Doing one big sparge still works. I just know on my system, I went from high 60's low 70's from one big sparge to pretty constantly mid to upper 70's with two.

Just think of when you wash soap out of a glass. You don't fill it with soapy water, empty, then fill again and empty then put it away.

You probably fill it with a little bit of water several times to make sure you get all the soap.

 

[BansheeRider]

Yes.

I think it all comes down to how much time you want to spend and if that time is productive.

Doing one big sparge still works. I just know on my system, I went from high 60's low 70's from one big sparge to pretty constantly mid to upper 70's with two.

Just think of when you wash soap out of a glass. You don't fill it with soapy water, empty, then fill again and empty then put it away.

You probably fill it with a little bit of water several times to make sure you get all the soap.

I am still very confused. If I do a 6 gal sparge that will give me about 9 gal of wort pre boil volume, thats way too much! I need no more than 7 gal pre boil to end with 5.25 gal post boil. I don't understand what beer smith is telling me to do It says to sparge in two steps with 3.1 gallons, that means a total of 6.2 gallons of sparge water. To get my pre boil volumes correct I would only need the 3.1 gallons because my strike water is 5.6 gallons.

 

[Sherpa FE]

No, it's telling you to sparge with two steps .33 gal and 3.36 gallons for a total of 3.69 gallons.
Your total sparge water for the numbers that you posted in your screen shot is 3.69 gallons for a SINGLE sparge.
If you want to do a double batch sparge, take that 3.69 and divide by 2. That would be 1.85 gallons each.

Sparge water remains the same amount, all Beersmith is doing is splitting it out according to your settings.

Make sense?

 

[Flaviking]

What Sherpa said..


Your initial strike water is 4.75 gallons.

Mash with that for however long.

Then add the .33 gallons @168 for 10 minutes, drain..

then add the 3.36 gallons @168 for 10 minutes, drain...

Combining them and cutting it in half would be a good option as well since your initial sparge volume is so low.

Your total water used would be 8.4 gallons, but with grain absorption you will end up somewhere around 6 gallons pre boil.

 

[BansheeRider]

No, it's telling you to sparge with two steps .33 gal and 3.36 gallons for a total of 3.69 gallons.
Your total sparge water for the numbers that you posted in your screen shot is 3.69 gallons for a SINGLE sparge.
If you want to do a double batch sparge, take that 3.69 and divide by 2. That would be 1.85 gallons each.

Sparge water remains the same amount, all Beersmith is doing is splitting it out according to your settings.

Make sense?

Yes thank you. I am going to do a one step sparge and see how it goes. I am mashing now and can't wait to see how this turns out. This is a very large beer, est OG 1090, ABV 9-10%

 

[BansheeRider]

Quick update....I ended up doing a single sparge with 3 gallons of 170 degree water. I let it sit for 10 min and drained. I did a holiday beer and ended up with 5.5 gallon batch at 1086 OG, that's 75% efficiency. Not bad for my second brew!

 

[acidrain]

So you had wort left over going into your 5 gallon fermentor?

I know you're trying to get beersmith to tell you everything, but some of the beermaking is craft.
You should know that once you drain your MT, all you have to do is see how much more wort is needed for your pre-boil volume. That's the amount you will sparge. Split in two if you want.

 

[BansheeRider]

So you had wort left over going into your 5 gallon fermentor?

I know you're trying to get beersmith to tell you everything, but some of the beermaking is craft.
You should know that once you drain your MT, all you have to do is see how much more wort is needed for your pre-boil volume. That's the amount you will sparge. Split in two if you want.

I did have a little wort left over in the BK once I reached my fermenter volume. I think it's because my boil off rate was much less due to the high gravity of the wort.

I agree we can't always rely on software. Remember this is only my second AG batch and I need as much help as possible to learn the abundance of required knowledge. I am taking good notes and trying to better my methods with each batch.

 

[Oginme]

Great that you are taking notes. It's one of the best ways to improvement. Use the volume and specific gravity readings to help 'dial' in BeerSmith. With a little working of the profiles, you should be able to get the recipe to mimic the numbers you actually measured. I did this for three batches to finally have the program give me really reliable results.