Mash schedule mystery

I'm using BeerSmith for the first time, I just got the trial version to see how it might replace my current brewing software.

I have a question that may be more about a brewing technique I haven't heard of before, but when I choose "Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge" the mash schedule looks like this:

Mash in: Add 20.47 qt of water at 162.5?F; Step Temp: 151?F for 45 mins.
Sparge: Batch sparge with 5 steps: (Drain mash tun, 0.97 gal, 0.97 gal, 0.97 gal, 0.97 gal).

That sparge routine is completely foreign to me, I don't even know what it means. Drain the mash tun, and then add 1 gal of water 4 times? Why not add 4 gals of water once (which is what I typically do)?

Mash profiles are meaningless until you enter and define a recipe. Even then, they're meant to be adjusted to fit your brewing equipment and technique. Before entering your first recipe, you need to set up an equipment profile that matches your system as closely as possible. Many of the numbers you enter will be used in various calculations as you create recipes, so accurate entries are important.

For detailed information go to BeerSmith.com/support.

I can't agree more about creating a custom equipment profile. 99.9999% of problems new users of Beersmith have can be traced back to not creating their own equipment profile. Mash profiles are also completely customizable and probably should be to meet your process wants, needs and requirements. One little secret about both of these is that all the profiles were submitted by users. Granted they are pretty knowledgeable people but they are still profiles that are based on their equipment and the way they brew with it.

Here are some tutorials I have used myself and always suggest others take a look at...

https://youtu.be/HwEbjOt8OR8

https://youtu.be/CZ0TFtMnzxs

I am confused on the whole mash schedule thing too. I fly sparge. When I do a single infusion, medium body, I get two mash steps.
step 1 - Mash In - Add volume of water at recommended temp to settle at 152F, this includes the MT dead space addition.
step 2 - Mash Out - error can't have a negative infusion volume, add more water.

What am I missing here?
If I mash in with say 10 pounds of malt for a 1.25 qt/pound ratio that would be 3.12 gallons of strike water
If I have grain absorption of .5 quarts per pound that would be 1.25 gallons. Leaving 1.87 wort.
If I mash out I need to keep 1'' water above the grain bed then I would mash out with the same amount of water I plan to collect. Correct?

jawsfree said:

I am confused on the whole mash schedule thing too. I fly sparge. When I do a single infusion, medium body, I get two mash steps.
step 1 - Mash In - Add volume of water at recommended temp to settle at 152F, this includes the MT dead space addition.
step 2 - Mash Out - error can't have a negative infusion volume, add more water.

What am I missing here?
If I mash in with say 10 pounds of malt for a 1.25 qt/pound ratio that would be 3.12 gallons of strike water
If I have grain absorption of .5 quarts per pound that would be 1.25 gallons. Leaving 1.87 wort.
If I mash out I need to keep 1'' water above the grain bed then I would mash out with the same amount of water I plan to collect. Correct?

Click to expand...

It sounds like you have your mash out step listed as 'infusion', at which point the program is expecting you to add water to reach the mash out temperature. Your description indicates that you are adding the amount of water needed for your post boil. If you keep the water with the grains at the end of the mash out step having added and collected said volume of wort for the boil as your sparge step, then the volume of wort you leave behind should be equal to your entire initial infusion volume, since this volume is being discarded with the spent grains.

When the program tries to calculate the amount of water needed, it comes up with a negative volume for the amount of water to add to satisfy the water balance. Change the mash out step to be a 'temperature' with no added volume of water since I am assuming that you will be using the sparge water to accomplish this increase in temperature.

If I am wrong in how I am reading this, please feel free to correct me in how your process is set up and how you operate it.

I changed to a temperature step and the results are below. Just confused with "Fly sparge with 2.78 barrel water 168.0 F". I thought the sparge volume would match the desired pre boil volume. Yes that would leave the MT full of water but if not the filter bed won't work properly.

BeerSmith assumes that you drain the mash tun after performing the fly sparge, which is why I mentioned that you need to set up your equipment profile to leave behind the volume of water you do not drain out of the mash tun and into the boil kettle. Your grain absorption in this case is meaningless, since that volume becomes part of what is left behind.