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Steep Water Volume

Old_Tannery_Brewing

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I'm looking to adjust the ratio of Steeping Water based on pounds of grains.

Can I adjust this in the software?

Thanks
 
Steeping water for an extract batch?  Or are you looking for infusion volume for an all-grain mash?

If the first, then you can steep the grains in the amount of water called for in the recipe.  The program does not set parameters on how much of this water is used for steeping.

If the second, then you can set the infusion volume in the mash profile.  Edit your mash profile and change either the amount of water added or, to have it scale with your recipes, change the ratio of water to grain in the appropriate box.
 
Thanks for the reply -

I am doing extract with steeping grains.

I've determined that a smaller volume of water makes a better beer for me.  I have relatively high pH water and with a reduced steeping volume I can adjust the pH to optimize my grains utilization. 

While I was googling this topic I came across a Home Brewing Blog entry - http://beersmith.com/blog/2017/02/28/extract-beer-brewing-tip-dont-steep-grains-with-too-much-water/.

I'd still like to up the volume of water in the software to match what I'm doing.
 

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It appears it's doing what you've asked?

per the blog post linked you should be around 1lb/g and your screenshot there calls for 1.79g with about the same amount of grains?

have you done any PH testing at this rate to see where your PH is falling? I would recommend if you're having issues keeping your PH below 6 when sticking to the lb/gal rate that you should be focusing more on adjusting the PH of your brewing water from the start, as high PH will cause many other issues. Generally "tap water" doesn't have a very significant buffering capacity.
 
OK, I see it now.  You will have to forgive me, it has been years since I've done an extract with steeping grains recipe. The volume appears to be preset based upon the amount of grains.  I've checked all around where to affect this number and cannot change how this value is calculated.  I would recommend writing to Brad and/or putting it under the 'suggestions' sub-folder for him to address in future updates.
 
I adjust my steeping water to 5.2 pH.  The volume varies based on weight of grain.

I will send a suggestion.
 
I see what you want, but i'm confused as to why, especially if you're treating your water...

I'm just trying to understand what the issue is out of curiosity.
 
I do 2-1/2 gallon batches in a 5 gallon kettle. Need a little more water to cover my filled steeping grain bag.

I would like my Beersmith printouts to be accurate. I'm an engineer - details and documentation counts.
 
I understand your wanting the documentation to be as accurate as it can be and I agree that this is a variable which should be in the user's ability to manipulate.

Also an engineer by training and worse yet a process control engineer, I have learned over many years to be adaptable to the situation I have been dealt.  This is a prime area where the use of the 'notes' section of a recipe comes in very handy.  There are several recipes I brew where I just cannot describe in the program what I am doing, making an extract of misc items comes readily to mind, and I can document what I do and when in the notes section.  This allows me to comment when I override (or *cough*, *cough* mess up a step) some of the information which is in the recipe and it stays with the recipe as part of the archive.
 
Old_Tannery_Brewing said:
Ahhh yes....a "work around".

I told you how to champion for the change you want.  Meanwhile you have options of either making do with the software as is, taking advantage of other aspects of the software to document what you actually do, finding another software package that gives you that one aspect that you desire, or write your own software.
 
As a Mechanic, I mostly deal with fixing what engineers screw up.... so i guess i'm used to "Work arounds"

relax, and have a homebrew.
 
Old_Tannery_Brewing said:
I've determined that a smaller volume of water makes a better beer for me.  I have relatively high pH water and with a reduced steeping volume I can adjust the pH to optimize my grains utilization. 

Old_Tannery_Brewing said:
I do 2-1/2 gallon batches in a 5 gallon kettle. Need a little more water to cover my filled steeping grain bag.

I would like my Beersmith printouts to be accurate. I'm an engineer - details and documentation counts.

your details and documentation do not match up. First you want less water, now you want more water. ;)
 
dtapke said:
As a Mechanic, I mostly deal with fixing what engineers screw up.... so i guess i'm used to "Work arounds"

relax, and have a homebrew.

Amen! A mechanic's two favorite people --- the design engineer and the efficiency expert. Just the righ combination to make our jobs harder :)
 
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