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Large amount of sparge water question/concern

mr_beer

Grandmaster Brewer
Master Brewer
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This is a more general question regarding a number of recipes that I have entered into BeerSmith.  It is probably not a ‘bug’ but I posted it here for a start. 

I told BeerSmith I'm going to do a partial mash. The software said I should mash with 1.4 qts of water, and then sparge with 6.43 gallons, leaving me with a boil volume of 6.41 gallons.

My understanding is that sparging with that much water will draw out excess tannins.  Should I not worry about the tannins because of amount of sparge water? 
 
Yes,
  I do recommend sparging with less water.  A few gallons should be sufficient.  Add the rest of the water after that and then mix in your other ingredients and boil.

Brad
 
You might want to change the language in the recipe directions ...
    Sparge Round 1:  Sparge with x.xx gal of water
    Remove language regarding Sparge Round 2

That would help literal folks like me who often slavishly follow the instructions!!

Thanks for the quick answer. 
 
I've run into this as well.  Being new to partial mashing, I actually sparged with the 6 gallons of water that was instructed (we'll see what happens with the beer).  Is there a particular mash profile I can choose for partial mashing that will provide the correct amount of sparge water?  Is this a bug, or have I entered things incorrectly somehow?

Thanks!
 
I think your issue is in your equipment profile. You need to add the amount of top-up water you're going to add to the kettle and/or fermenter. It sounds like these are set to zero so Beersmith is assuming you want to get the full volume from the mash.

Brian
 
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