beersmith VS equipment

[scaryeyes]

Sorry. I just moved this topic here instead of the general discussion


Hi
I have a little problem with my eqipment in beersmith
I use a cooler (20 litre) with bazooka screen as a mash tun. And a fermenter (30 litres), made of plastic wich I mounted 2 waterboiler heaters in, for boiler.
Then I use a pump for recirculation during the mashing. So I use the boiler to heat up the mash water and then the circulating wort.
And then also for boiling
Pretty simple, like a very simple rims/herms, I dont know.

Now my question.
 In the boiler , there is like 8-10 litres to cover the heaters. I cant get that number into beersmith. Should I count that ammount as sparge water or count it in as the infusion water? Or maybe just count it like deadspace under lauter tun?
I like to brew 23 litre batches.

By the way... This boiler works just fine. Fast to get up to boil with one heater of 2300W and the other of 900W. Rolling boil with only 900W.

Thank you

[scaryeyes]

I found out how to fix this in beersmith.
If I do the math myself about the grain/water ratio, I can increase the ratio to like 4 litres per kilo grain. And then all numbers seem ok. Then I have much less sparge water in the brewsheet, like 10 litres instead of like 25, as I had in previous calculations.

Then I have the right infusion and 2.5-3 litres water/grain ratio in the mashtun. And even the extra heating water of 8-10 litres in the boiler.


But my qestion remains..... Is it very uncommon with a setup like this, or did I miss something in the beersmith software?

[scaryeyes]

Would that answer my question? I cant see how this is connected to beer brewing!

[MattV]

Looks like someone is a little confused about which forum they are posting on...


I have found similar issues with my fairly standard 3-keg system.  I'm not sure if it's something in the software, or maybe we just don't get it.

The infusion ration of 2.5-3l/kg sounds about right to me.  I typically run about 1 quart/lb, so that's close.  As far as sparge volume, I tend to take the approach of measuring the gravity of the wort as it's transferred to the boiler and use that as my determining factor for sparge volume. 

Your system sounds interesting.  No issues with scorching the wort on the heating element?

[scaryeyes]

Yea just a little scorching, but not bad. Or maybe its better to use 2 heater elements of 2000W, in line to get a total of 1000W
But my system is the simpliest possible to a very low cost. Thats fun.

[jomebrew]

I am trying to understand the question but I can't. That that I could give reasonable advice if I did, but maybe. 

Is there an uncollected amount of wort in the kettle you need to account for?  I don't see why the volume is not the same.  Is it mash tun volume plus additional kettle volume you are trying to account for? 

As best as I understand this, you should not need to adjust anything if you base it on the preboil gravity and total volume.    I guess you have to adjust the sparge water if you don't want to have 8-10 liters left in the mash tun.

Am I far off?

[scaryeyes]

Hi Jomebrew.
No ur not far off. My english is bad, and im sorry for not explaing proberly.
Practically, theres no problem. If I do the math myself ,I can brew. But I have to change manually in beersmith to get numbers right.
If I had a real rims with an in-line heater, everything would be fine with the calculations in the software. But now, as I heat in the kettle, I have the additional volume there.
After recirculation, when to begin sparging, I just drain the mash tun for that rest ammount, to other tun and circulate back the rest from the kettle, before the sparge water comes into the kettle. Then I have 8-10 litres in the other tun, that goes right into boiler later. Thats my plan.

But... How could I compensate for that ammount in Beersmith? Changing the water/grain ratio to 4 litres per kilo is not the right way to go.

Did I miss something when setting up the equipment?

[jomebrew]

I understood your English just fine, it was the problem I was struggling with since it is so foreign to me.  I can't really figure out what could be changed since you need the volume in both the kettle and the mash tun.  Best I could come up with is what you already do.  You could adjust you sparge water or just look at is as a first running only brew method and ensure your total volume needed there.  12 or so liters in each. 

Thanks for enlightening me to your brew method and sorry I can't offer much constructive help.

[scaryeyes]

Oh ok... Im swedish, thats why I cant express myself in a very good way.
Im gonna keep this thread alive, because im in mexico right now, and when I get back to sweden, Im gonna start brewing again. Hopefully, I can give you more information about what I mean then. Ill take some pics from my very cheap and simple brewing system.

Thanks

[beercheer4me]

Sounds like he wants B.S. software to match his brew system.
And he has added volume of conversion mash water because of the heaters he has added in line with his lun-tun. Is this correct?