Beersmith generated recipe overloaded mash tun

[Rob_H]

Hi,

I brewed the other day an American Stout with Beersmith 3 but the recipe generated exceeded the volume of my 30L BrewDevil. Is there a setting somewhere that stops this happening? I've looked closely at equipment profile and I can't see one.

I do have a high recoverable mash deadspace at 8.5L and I was wondering whether this was a factor. I've set it this high as this is the space below the mash screen in the Brewdevil. I've attached a screenshot of the equipment profile for further info (Sorry about the difficulty reading it - I can't work out how to change this either - doesn't seem to be changed by the Look and Feel setting)

I ended up reducing the amount of water in the mash and extending the mash time to balance the issue so no harm done but I just want to stop it happening another time.

 

[BOB357]

If you have the "mash Tun Volume" set properly in your equipment profile, just go to the "Vols" pane and look at "Mash Volume Needed". If the dot next to it is red, you've exceeded the maximum volume, which is displayed just to the right.

 

[Rob_H]

That's excellent, Bob. Never seen that screen before! Red dot as you suggested.

Is there any way to alter the water to grain mash ratio? I'm thinking that because the recoverable deadspace is so large a small ratio might work just as well.

 

[BOB357]

If you want to change it for just the recipe you're working on, click on the check marked box next to the mash profile near the bottom of the design page, double click on the saccharification step and change the figure in the water/grain ratio box. Once you've done this you can add it to your profiles by clicking on the save box next to the mash profile. I suggest you go into the mash profiles and delete the old profile after making the changes.

What system are you using? I've got a couple of workarounds and a fix for the large recoverable dead space, depending on your system.

 

[Rob_H]

Thanks Bob. Really appreciate your expertise on this. I’m using the Angel Homebrew 30l BrewDevil. Same as Ace, hopcat, etc. If you have any work around that would be great.

 

[BOB357]

The fix for my Digimash 35L was to replace the malt pipe with one from a Mash and Boil 35L. It has short legs that sit on the bottom of the kettle,rather than being suspended from the top, and reduces the dead space from 2 US gallons to .65 gallon. It appears that your unit needs the extra clearance under the malt pipe to accommodate the filter screens so, even if this would work otherwise, it probably isn't a viable option for you.

Other things that can increase the available sparge volume, though not nearly as much, are running a thicker mash, increasing the boil time and/or reducing your batch size. Going from a 60 minute to a 90 minute boil will increase the available sparge volume by half of your hourly boiloff.

Just for reference, you can find a picture and dimensions of the malt pipe (sparge basket) I use at: https://www.williamsbrewing.com/Hom...Mash-Boil/Mash-Boil-Replacement-Sparge-Basket

 

[Rob_H]

Many thanks Bob. Much appreciated