Mash profiles - can you hold temp of infusion water constant

[airgead]

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

[mhenry41h]

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."

[airgead]

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

[mhenry41h]

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

[jomebrew]

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.

[airgead]

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

[Lennybuzz]

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.