Water/Grain Ratio Calculation not correct for BIAB equipment profiles with recoverable deadspace. Problem for Spike Solo Users.

[mahleywc]

I have a Spike 15 gallon Solo. I use the standard equipment profile provided for this system. The profile is only modified for a 5.5 gallon batch size and Trub Loss to account for additional chiller and plumbing losses. The profile has Mash and Lautering Adjustments as follows:

• Recoverable Deadspace: 4.00 gal
• Mash Losses: 0.00 gal
• Adj mash for deadspace NOT CHECKED

First, the Solo recoverable dead space varies with water volume due to the tapered basket. This may need to be adjusted manually if it becomes significant.

Most importantly, it appears the recoverable dead space is not subtracted for the water to grist calculation! The first mash step shows a Water/Grain Ratio based on the total water needed. This clearly is incorrect. The Adj mash for deadspace setting does nothing to correct this of course. In my recipe example with 13.75 pounds of grain and a BeerSmith calculated total water needed of 8.63 gallons of water the BeerSmith calculated Water/Grain Ratio is 2.511 qt/lb. The correct Water/Grain Ratio should be 1.36 qt/lb. Even more significant is that a 15 gallon Solo system with this recipe has only 15 quarts available for grist contact giving a Water/Grain Ratio of 1.09 qt/lb. While this ratio is really not adequate for this grain bill larger grain bills would definitely have insufficient mash water!

This issue affects any BIAB system with significant recoverable dead space under the bag/basket. It is particularly amplified in larger Solo systems. am I correct in this observation? Anyone have a suggestion?

 

[BOB357]

This is an inherent problem with many of these systems. More recoverable dead space makes for a greater problem, especially with larger grain bills and/or smaller batch sizes. The included and add-on equipment profiles are starting points, many of which are submitted by users, and must be modified to fit your system and procedure, as well as correcting any inaccuracies in the case of user submitted profiles.

I'm sure there's some sort of Spike Solo user group available, where you can find answers specific to the system and how you're using it.

 

[Oginme]

Are you using a BIAB mash profile? If this is the case, the water/grain ratio is immaterial. BeerSmith uses the BIAB check box in the mash profile to indicate to the software that all the water needed to reach the pre-boil volume is added at once to the mash. It does not use the water to grist ratio at all in doing this calculation.

 

[mahleywc]

Are you using a BIAB mash profile? If this is the case, the water/grain ratio is immaterial. BeerSmith uses the BIAB check box in the mash profile to indicate to the software that all the water needed to reach the pre-boil volume is added at once to the mash. It does not use the water to grist ratio at all in doing this calculation.

As stated, I’m using the Spike Solo 15 gallon.Standard profile. As I stated, the mash tab in a recipe does not subtract the mash tun dead space when calculated the water to grist ratio. It should because it IS significant in the Spike Solo system as even with a moderately sized grain bill it can drop below one quart per poun. This is not good! All I’m asking is for BeerSmith to calculate the Water to Grain Ratio correctly in the BIAB Mash profile. It should be strike Water minus the recoverable and unrecoverable dead space if you check the Adjust Volume for Deadspace box.

 

[mahleywc]

This is an inherent problem with many of these systems. More recoverable dead space makes for a greater problem, especially with larger grain bills and/or smaller batch sizes. The included and add-on equipment profiles are starting points, many of which are submitted by users, and must be modified to fit your system and procedure, as well as correcting any inaccuracies in the case of user submitted profiles.

I'm sure there's some sort of Spike Solo user group available, where you can find answers specific to the system and how you're using it.

The problem is that BeerSmith doesn’t calculate the Water to Grist Ratio correctly. It fails to exclude the recoverable and unrecoverable deadspac even if the Adjust Vol for Deadspace box is checked. If you notice, Brad pretty much skips the effect of this setting in his videos. It doesn’t work as it should!

 

[Kevin58]

Forgive me for repeating what others have said but there is no water to grain ratio calculations when using BIAB. In the Beersmith mash profile that you use check the box that says "BIAB mash with full boil". The software will then add ALL of the water needed for the batch at the very beginning of the mash process... including any losses you entered in your equipment profile.

It seems you are expecting the software to calculate things you have not set up correctly. You cannot simply choose an equipment profile from the menu and expect it to do everything for you right out of the box. First, you need to customize that equipment profile to match your process. You will probably need to tweak that profile more than once to get it to accurately represent your system and methods. Customizing and tweaking entails taking accurate volume and weight measurements and then making detailed notes for each brew to see where those first measurements need adjusting. Next, you need to use the correct mash profile with your system.

Everything in Beersmith is dependent on the users input.