Sparge Volume Off?

I do mini mash brewing, mostly kits from either Austin Homebrew or Northern Brewer and occasionally recipes I find on the web. Often my mashing/steeping grains are about 4 pounds, and I use a 3 gallon igloo mash tun. I've just started using BeerSmith and enjoy it but I'm a little confused about the Mini Mash settings. I have a two part question.

1. When I plug in my recipes into Beersmith, in the “Mash” area, it tells me to add 5 quarts of water at 159.1 degrees and steep for 148 degrees for 75 minutes. That sounds right: about 1.25 quarts per pound, which seems to be the ‘norm’ for mini mashing. However, in the Sparge section, it says “Fly Sparge with 1.9 gallons of water at 168. I’m not fly sparging and don’t know how to change this to represent what I do, which is to pour another 5 quarts of 170 degree water over the grains in my igloo, which I think is called Batch Sparging. Is there a way to fix this and is this discrepancy affecting important metrics in my recipe?

2. A general question about my methods- what is the correct technique for sparging/rinsing my grains into my boil kettle? Do I collect first wort and then run it through again? (I currently do not). Do I drain out all the wort first and then start adding sparge water, slowly? Any specific tips are appreciated.

In all cases, BeerSmith uses your preboil volume to total mash and sparge water. When the "Calculate Boil Automatically" is checked, BeerSmith adds your boil off rate to total mash and sparge water.

Look at the Vols tab or equipment profile and verify that the boil off rate default matches your actual results. It sounds like you get less boil off. You can change the evaporation rate in the equipment profile.

BeerSmith also automatically adjusts the first runnings to account for grain absorption. You can see this result as "Water Available from Mash." If this number is accurate to your results, then carry on! If not it can be adjusted in the advanced options menu.

Recirculation before sparging is to remove grain from the wort and place it back on top of the grain bed. If your first runnings are clear, then it isn't a vital step. A batch sparge will drain the first runnings into the kettle. The new sparge water is added and often the grain steeps for a short time, then is stirred, recirculated and drained.

1.  Look at the list of mash choices but clicking the mash button at the bottom of the design page.  There should be several that use batch sparging.  Pick the one that you like best.  Double click to see details.

2. Since I fly sparge, I am not usre my opinion counts, but it sounds like you are doing things correctly.

To change your sparge from a fly sparge to a batch sparge, you will need to edit your mash profile.  There will be a check box for batch sparge.  you can then adjust the settings to regulate the batch sparge settings.

If you edit this within the recipe, it will apply to that recipe only.  If you make the change to the library of mash profiles, you will need to re-select that mash profile within your recipe to have it apply to that recipe.

When unchecked, BeerSmith assumes a fly sparge is being used.

Brewfun,

Thanks for the helpful information.

Regarding boil off / evaporation rates, I have never tried to calculate this before. I think it’s probably simple, just carefully measuring how much goes in and then how much comes out, but how to account for stuff like trub? Is there any basic information you can share about how to calculate evaporation rates?

When looking at Water Available from Mash, I guess this is another volume I have never measured. I usually drain from my 3 gallon cooler into my BK, which is not marked with anything to measure. Any suggestions for how to measure this? Or mark my BK for that matter?

Re: recirculation, thanks, that makes sense.

Your answer taught me more about mini-mashing than I’ve learned elsewhere, thank you so much. It seems like there is always something new to learn, which is why I’m so hooked on home brewing.

Any info you can provide on the above issues would be great.

Finally, are any of these measurements (that are clearly off) affecting other areas like what BeerSmith is saying about IBUs, ABV, OG/SG, etc? I’m about to brew again and if I can’t make all of these corrections immediately, I’d like to know if it’s messing other areas of my recipe up.

Thanks,
Jason

Those volume measurements (boil off, dead space in mash tun, etc.) affect everything.

Put a measured quantity of water in your mash tun.  Drain it and see how much is left behind for your mash tun deadspace.

Put a measured quantity in your boil pot.  Bring it to a boil and start the timer.  After 15 minutes turn off the heat and see how much is left.  Multiply the amount boiled off by 4.  This is your boil off rate per hour.

[email protected] said:

Regarding boil off / evaporation rates, I have never tried to calculate this before. I think it’s probably simple, just carefully measuring how much goes in and then how much comes out, but how to account for stuff like trub? Is there any basic information you can share about how to calculate evaporation rates?

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Thanks for the kind words! I just want to point out that Scott, Beer_Tigger and Oginme added other control points for your brewing process. All of the answers, so far, will help you hone BeerSmith to your set-up.

Boil a few gallons of water for 15 minutes, with the surface looking as vigorous as it it would on a brew day. Measuring the preboil volume (at 200F) and post boil (at min 200F) tells you tour boil off rate. Multiply by four and you have your hourly rate. BeerSmith will automatically calculate this based on the default time of your boil (usually 60 to 90 min). More on how to measure, in the next answer.

[email protected] said:

Any suggestions for how to measure this? Or mark my BK for that matter?

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In my brewery, I have a marked dipstick that we call "The Stick O' Smartness." The name pays tribute to the comic strip Pearls Before Swine, which has frequent beer references. I suggest using a yard stick. The cool thing is that once calibrated, you only have to be 2% smarter than the stick to use it.

First, create a zero point with the stick on the bottom of the kettle or false bottom. Your zero point should be where the middle of the valve is, unless you have a kettle arm to get wort below the valve. In that case, zero is that inlet. "Zero" is a relative term, it just means the lowest point you can begin to measure. With a false bottom, that may mean 2 gallons is in before getting above it. In any case, directly measuring what's left in the kettle after the valve sucks air is essentially the "Trub Loss" number.

Using hot (200F) water, mark the stick as you add a gallon at a time. Use a gallon pitcher from a restaurant supply store... you'll thank me as your beer making progresses. I also suggest making small marks with a ball point pen because it won't run when wet. You can use a sharpie to fill them in when dry. Don't immediately mark numbers, on them.

The reason for very hot measurements is that BeerSmith has the water expansion included in the pre and post boil numbers. This can be about a quarter gallon difference in a 5 gallon batch. In my brewery, it's about 25 gallons of expansion.

When you get to the volume your equipment profile says would be post boil, mark the stick and later make it a red line labeled "Post." If you want to be extra accurate, you can bring this water right up to boiling, turn off heat and measure when the surface settles. This represents full expansion, post boil.

From the boil off number above, you can either measure to the preboil mark, or continue adding hot water until you get to that volume. Mark the stick with a red line that says "Pre."

Boom! Kettle calibrated. Now you can fill in volume numbers relative to the zero point.

Your BATCH volume is post chill, minus trub and chiller loss. Using cool water, fill a fermenter to a full batch (5 or 5.5 gallons). If it's a carboy, calibrating is easy. On a flat surface, place the stick on the surface and then draw a blue line at the water line. If it's a bucket, sometimes you can see the water level shadow with a bright light behind it. In either case, measure outside the fermenter. Going into the fermenter with the Stick O' Smartness would be to fail the 2% rule.

Boom! Post batch perfect yield is calibrated.

[email protected] said:

Finally, are any of these measurements (that are clearly off) affecting other areas like what BeerSmith is saying about IBUs, ABV, OG/SG, etc? I’m about to brew again and if I can’t make all of these corrections immediately, I’d like to know if it’s messing other areas of my recipe up.

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Possible and somewhat likely. But not enough to worry about. Getting your volumes right goes a long way towards making BeerSmith accurate.  You will find there are a plethora of ways that real measurements can vary from predictive software.