I hope it is not too late to comment or ask a question on this subject.
I am trying to make some sense of BeerSmith before I buy it.
I am really having some difficulty with it.
I know the terminology, brew step names, etc, really are confusing to me.
I did my first AG last week. I have a 48qt Cooler for my mash tun.
I got most of my numbers calculated after browsing many web sites (dennybrew, brew365, etc).
I also have Palmer's book.
I am doing a 5 gallon, single infusion batch sparge.
At least that is what I think I did.
Basically what I did ... (numbers are close approximations of what I used)
Preheated the cooler, heated my strike water of 3.5 gallons to 168*.
Added to mash, stirred, temperature around 153*, let rest for 60 minutes.
Did a vorlauf, and drained the wort.
Heated up and added around 3.5 gallons for the sparge. I let this rest for 15.
Not sure what the temperature was here, and maybe didn't have it hot enough.
Did a vorlauf and drained the wort.
I ended up with around 6.5 gallons for my boil.
Now to BeerSmith.
I got the mash profile from Useless Brewing. Thanks, Preston!
I think I have it set up right.
I really get confused when looking at the results. Especially the print preview.
It doesn't show the steps that I did correctly. I am not doing a Mash Out. How do I indicated a drain or lauter? Or can I? I thought my first step was the mash infusion, followed by the lauter or drain. Then the sparge and lauter or drain. I know the terminology is killing me! Water amounts are all different than what I used.
Does BeerSmith allow you to do a mash & lauter or drain (60 minutes rest) and a sparge & lauter or drain (15 minutes rest) with equal amounts of water?
I have attached 3 views of BeerSmith of the recipe I am trying to set up.
I'll be the first to admit that I am confused and have a long ways to go to undertand this.
My extract brews are turning out pretty good, and I am hopeful that my first AG will be good also. The OG is good, yeast is working, so far so good.
I would appreciate any help I can get.
I want to figure this out so I can use it.
I expect that until I can upgrade equipment to Sanke kegs, I'll have to do a batch infusion in the cooler.
If someone is willing to work with me offline, that would be cool. I don't want to clog up the forum!
Thanks
Bob