PreBoil Volume Seems High

I was brewing sunday afternoon when it occured to me my volume seemed very high.  I'm wondering if i've got something wrong in my equipment profile or if i fudged an entry somewhere else.  I'm very new to AG brewing.  Sundays brewday was my second AG ever, but i've been doing extract and partial mash for about 3 years now.  i've been using Beersmith for most of that time, but up until now alot of the volumes were simply ignored since they don't really seem to match up with the partial mash and extract processes i was taught. 

so all that said, before i started i built a Mashtun out of a Coleman 12gal cooler, some stainless fittings, etc.  using the details from this and a new tall boy 8 gal. kettle i built my equipment profile. 

what i've found is that Beersmith has me sparging to the point where i should be coming out with a pre-boil volume of 7.67 gal.  for a 5.5gal batch size that seems like a lot and my losses don't seem to add up to that amount and it seems to be a much larger volume than i'd need.  Am I mistaken, or is something amiss.  I also noted (i assume this played into it), my post mash gravity came in at 1.043 but was expected to be at 1.053.  (my number was calculated using my hydrometer and the temperature adjust tool in beersmith)

Any assistance, guidance or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

You can check to see if you set up your profiles correctly by comparing what you did with what these tutorials suggest. There is one for Equipment Profile setup and another for batch sparge Mash Profiles. On their youtube channel they also have a tutorial for BIAB if you need that

Mash Profile (batch sparge): https://youtu.be/CZ0TFtMnzxs

Equipment Profile setup: https://youtu.be/QmW7pwQP5mQ

Double check your equipment profile to make sure you have entered all of the right values. If you haven't already, measure what's left in your MLT and your kettle after draining. You can use just water to do this. Accurate volume measurements before and after the boil will help you determine where the problem is, and don't trust volume markings on any equipment unless you have double check to be sure they're accurate. Volumes matter when all grain brewing.

Here's a link to a great video on setting up your equipment profile in BeerSmith:

http://brulosophy.com/2014/08/04/beersmith-tutorial-equipment-profile-setup/

It usually takes a few batches to fine tune your equipment profile, so measuring and taking notes is important. In the mean time, you'll still be making beer.

Thanks for the video posts.  I've used the equipment profile setup instructions on this forum, and am currently collecting data to fine tune them.  i'm now two batches deep on numbers for fine tuning. 

so after watching the below links, my profiles appear to be setup right.  the only changes i needed to make to match was removing the check box for adjust temp for equipment, and i added the mash profile check mark to drain mash tun before sparging. 

After all that, my estimated pre boil volume is still 7.67gal.   

couple of checks....i tested my MLT dead space by filling with water and draining.  the remaining amount when it stopped draining was .25 gal. 
the loss to trub i have set to .5 gal. as the video suggests, but to be honest i'm a dumper to this amount is kind of hard to measure.  the solids i take from my strainer are probably around .25 to .5 gal if i wet them down.  so I figured that's fine. 

If there's a request a feature button somewhere it'd be nice to know what formulas and values interact.  it'd make tweaking for us newer users so much easier. 

i'm still left feeling like 7.6 gallons is too high for my pre boil volume.  this past weekend i left nearly a full gallon in the pot as my fermentor was closer to full than i felt comfortable with.  maybe it's just time to upgrade to a 6.5 gal. bucket.

Thanks in advance.

OK, so if you measure your volume which you cannot drain from your mash tun at 0.25 gal, then that is where you should set the loss to mash tun.  If you want to dial in your process to be accurate and to give you predictable and repeatable numbers, then you really need to make sure your model matches what you measure.

The next thing to get your hands around is your boil off rate.  If you start with 7.67 gal pre-boil and are left with a gallon or so which will not fit into your fermenter, then your boil off rate is not accurate.  Dialing this number in is important to achieving reliable estimations of your gravity numbers both out of the mash and into the fermenter. 

Seven and a half gallons going into the boil kettle isn't out of line. Once you account for losses to boil off and a little left behind to prevent sucking up trub and hop residue you should be putting close to 6 gallons into the fermenter. I would say yes, you should be using a 6.5 gallon bucket. That's pretty much the standard size for primary fermenting buckets.