F
FastWilly
While I have been homebrewing for 40 years, I am new to BeerSmith. I have been using my own spreadsheet which, after calibration, has given me very accurate strike water temperatures. BeerSmith called for strike temperatures up to 10 degrees lower, so I adjusted the specific heat constant (I use a very simple 7 gallon plastic pail for a tun) to get temperatures to match my spreadsheet. All well and good. However I noted that the strike temperature of BeerSmith does not vary regardless of how much grain is being mashed based on a fixed dilution rate. It is most notable for small partial mashes where the specific heat of the tun is a bigger factor. And yes, I have checked the box to adjust temperature for equipment. As an engineer I have faith in my thermodynamic calcs in my spreadsheet and the empirical evidence that they are accurate. I know the relationship is not linear and therefore the strike water temperatures should vary somewhat given a constant dilution rate. Am I doing something wrong or is this an inherent limitation in BeerSmith? Other than this one issue, I've found the software to be intuitive and excellent, a great product.