Strike Water Temperature

What is the equation behind Beersmith's strike water temp calculator?

My strike temperature always seems to be a few degrees off.  Maybe knowing the math would help me to figure out the problem.

Cheers
Dave

Dave,
  The basic equation (if you turn the equipment setting off) is the same as just about every online calculator I can think of.  If you really need it I can try to dig up the code and post it here.  It is a straightforward calculation based on the specific heat of water and the specific heat of grain.

  If you are actually low (or high) you might want to consider tweaking the specific heat of your mash tun in your equipment profile.  By adjusting this up or down you can basically dial in your equipment settings to match.  If you adjust it up it will raise your strike temp slightly, and down will lower it a bit.

Cheers,
Brad

Brad,
First off, thank you for the reply!

What I'm finding is that the online calculators and spreadsheets, which don't account for the mash tun specific heat, are a bit more accurate than Beersmith has been for my particular setup.  While I realize that I can simply adjust the specific heat to dial in my accuracy, I guess I'm just trying to figure out how mash tun specific heat works.  Beersmith is the single best piece of equipment in my beer brewing arsenal, however I like to know the little details that make it work.  Teach a man to fish, and all that.

If its not a lot of trouble to find the formula, I'd like to see it.  However, if it's going to be a bunch of bother to try to find it, don't worry about it.  I'll keep looking online, and perhaps I'll run across it.

Thanks again!

Cheers
Dave

BeerSmith said:

By adjusting this up or down you can basically dial in your equipment settings to match.  If you adjust it up it will raise your strike temp slightly, and down will lower it a bit.

Click to expand...

Really? Wouldn't it be the other way around?

- Hare

No,
  If you adjust the specific heat of the mash time up a bit it will effectively raise the infusion temp a bit which then results in a higher temp if your strike was off originally.

Cheers,
Brad

Sorry. I thought you said dialing up the specific temp of your mash tun in equipment would raise the strike temp. If the tun is warmer to start, wouldn't the strike temp of the water be lowered? (I should just go play with it instead of asking stoopid questions.)

MAN, it's been quiet in here. Everyone must be brewing.

- Hare

Brad is correct.  Increasing the specific heat of the mash tun will increase the strike temp.

The specific heat correlates to how big of a heat sink your mash tun is.  The larger the number, the more heat it will take to bring it up to mash temp, and therefore, the higher strike temperature you'll need (or BeerSmith will tell you you need)