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5 Five simple questions about BeerSmith

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ipatch

I have five simple questions about BeerSmith listed/described in the picture.

Image link

beerSmithQuestions1.png


cheers
-Chris
 
Why does it say add water at 164.9, then list a step temp of 150?
The program has determined that mixing this amount 165 degree water (12.63 qts) with your room temperature grain (10.10 lbs) will drop the strike water temperature from 165 degrees to 150 degrees.

Why does this say heat to 168, but list no water?
The type of mash you've chosen is a temperature mash.  This means that you are using a direct temperature source, like a burner or heat stick, to bring up your temperature.  If you want to use water to bring up your mash temp, you'd need to choose a Double or Triple Infusion.  Or you could remove a portion of the mash, heat it up, and return it to the main mash to bring the temperature up.  This is called Decoction, and you would use that option in the drop down menu.

What is the step time?
It's the amount of time you will be holding your mash at that particular temperature.

Style Vols?
This is the amount of carbonation (in volumes) that your chosen style of beer typically has in it.

Carbonation Volumes?
This is the amount of carbonation (in volumes) that your particular beer should have in it, providing you use the parameters supplied by the program.  In this case, if your beer is 60 degrees F, and you push 21.64 PSI of CO2 into the headspace and keep it there until the beer reaches equilibrium, you will have 2.4 volumes of CO2 in solution in your beer.  Looking at the style vols ( 2.0-2.8 ) you can see that this is within range for the beer style you have chosen.

Cheers,
Dave
 
Carbonation Volumes?
This is the amount of carbonation (in volumes) that your particular beer should have in it, providing you use the parameters supplied by the program.  In this case, if your beer is 60 degrees F, and you push 21.64 PSI of CO2 into the headspace and keep it there until the beer reaches equilibrium, you will have 2.4 volumes of CO2 in solution in your beer.  Looking at the style vols ( 2.0-2.8 ) you can see that this is within range for the beer style you have chosen.

Hey, first off, thanks for the answers  ;D  but I have another question.  How long are you suppose to push the CO2 into the head space at the desired PSI?  I know you said equilibrium, but how do you know when the equilibrium is reached?

cheers
-Chris
 
That really depends on a lot of factors.  If you just push the CO2 into the headspace of your keg, and don't move it around much, it could take up to 2 or 3 weeks to reach equilibrium.  Usually, for me, a week at 12 psi (36 degrees F) is about right.  But, if you push the CO2 into the headspace and shake the keg a lot, the CO2 gets incorporated into the beer MUCH faster, and you could have fully carbonated beer in a day.  There are always caveats, though.  Kegging beer is quick and easy, but it's also easy to do it incorrectly.  I'd recommend doing a bit of research before you jump into it.  Use your Google-Fu and try searching for 'balanced keg homebrew' or 'kegging homebrew beer'.  These search strings should net you a wealth of information on the subject.  Good luck!

Cheers,
Dave
 
GuitarLord5000 said:
Use your Google-Fu and try searching for 'balanced keg homebrew' or 'kegging homebrew beer'. 
Cheers,
Dave

Ha that's the first time I have heard/read the term Google-Fu. I had to use my google Google-Fu to figure out what you were talking about.  This is what I came up with, and thanks again for the suggestions.  I went the force carb route @ about 35PSI on the floor rolling the keg back and forth for about 15mins, but that seemed to be over kill so I had let some pressure and beer out of the keg, not to mention there's a bunch of sediment floating around in the keg too *shrugs*.
 
What is the spot marked "Used" for under the carbonation section?
 
Lenstur said:
What is the spot marked "Used" for under the carbonation section?

How much (Corn Sugar, Dried Malt Extract, Forced CO2 Pressure) you actually used.  If you fill that in, it'll simply make a notation on your brewsheet stating how much you used.

Cheers,
Dave
 
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