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Mash profiles - can you hold temp of infusion water constant

airgead

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Hi Guys

Just transitioning to Beersmith from Strangebrew (which is no longer supported). Love it so far but have one question/issue -

I don't have accurate temp control on my HLT. Its an old tea urn that only has 2 settings - off and boiling.

The way beersmith calculates mash steps is a little awkward for me. It holds the infusion amount constant (either as a water-grain ration or a direct amount) and varies the temp of the infusion water to get the desired temp. I will end up with a step that says for example  "add 5l of water at 76.5C". This is a little difficult for me to do.

Strangebrew would let you run the calculation the other way if you wanted - hold the temp of the infusion water constant and it will calculate the volume required to hit the desired rest temp. That way I can set the water temp at 100c and its all easy.

Will beersmith allow this? I can't find a way of doing it as the temp box in the mash profile editor is not editable.

I can fudge it by tweaking the infusion amount until I get a temp close to 100 but then if I change a volume or grain temp, all the calculations go out and I need to re-tweak.

Any ideas? Other than buying a proper thermostat for my urn?

Cheers
Dave
 
Change the mash type to single infusion. Sounds like your program is set to step mashing instead. Make sure you select the proper sparge type and body . For example, I will normally select the option that says, "single infusion, medium body, batch sparge."
 
I'm actually trying to do step mashing.

What my mash program used to look like under my old software was something like -

Mash in at 38 degrees (fair enough... I can manage that by keeping an eye on the thermometer)
Add X l of water at 100c to raise the mash temp to 45
add Y l of water at 100c to raise the mash temp to 50
add Z l of water  at 100c to raise the mash temp to 67

Where x y and z depend on the size of the batch.

(yes its a wheat beer)

Given my lack of temp control in the HLT this was good because the one temp I can be sure of is boiling.

Under beersmith I get something like

Mash in at 38 degrees (fair enough... I can manage that by keeping an eye on the thermometer)
Add X l of water at Ac to raise the mash temp to 45
add Y l of water at Bc to raise the mash temp to 50
add Z l of water  at Cc to raise the mash temp to 67

Where A B C and X Y Z depend on the size of the batch. This is hard for me because of the temp control issues I have. I can only reliably get 100c out of the HLT, anything else is guesswork. I can do initial strike water at whatever temp because the timing isn't critical - I just wait and watch the thermometer until I reach my strike temp. But to get a specific temp at a specific time just doesn't happen.

Cheers
Dave
 
Sorry Dave! I don't have the equipment to step mash so sometimes I just assume that everybody uses the single infusion method. I'm sure somebody on here can help you! Good luck and cheers
 
I think you want this calculation from John Palmer in How To brew http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter16-3.html

I implemented a calculator based on this on my web site and android app.  I don't recall this same feature in Beersmith the same way you are used to it.
 
Yeah. I can run the calc myself. I'd rather have it all done in my brewing software though.

Would be an easy thing to add to beersmith - just make the water temp box editable and run the calc backwards if the figure is edited (he says hopefully).

Cheers
Dave
 
I agree I would like to see this as a feature in upcoming editions. I usually do a single infusion with a mashout and just set my mashout water temp at 212F and would let software tell me how much to add. Or if I am doing a step infusion mash in other spreadsheets or software I just set my water temp to 212F and let it tell me how much to add to get to each step. I know I can play around with volumes of water in Beersmith until I get to a temp of around 212 but woul like to be able to do it more directly. Hope this makes sense and isnt to rambly.
 
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