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Help with equipment setup. Some clarification please

Wingfan13

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OK, my goal for now in using Beersmith is to brew smaller batches to experiment on.  I am only up to brewing mini mash.  I ordered a couple of 3 gallon better bottles to start messing with recipes and making up my own. 

I always purchase recipes from the same store and they come with instructions that have me doing the following -

Two gallons of water to start steeping the grains
1 quart of water per lbs of grain to sparge (if that is technically what it is called)
Add another gallon of water to start the boil
Add malt extract
60 min boil, cool add to fermenter
Add water to get to 5.25 in the fermentation bucket

I simply use a 20 quart stainless steel pot.  Strain/sparge through a collander.

I a setting up my equipment in the software and I have a few question and was hoping someone could help me given the information above.

1. What should I use as my efficiency ?
2. I have no idea what to enter in under the Mash/Lauter Tun.
          Mash Tun volume is at 5.02gal
          Mash Tun weight is at 2.2lbs
          Mash Tun Specific Heat is at .12 which is where it said it should be for partial mash
          Mash Tun deadspace is at 0 which I think is correct
3.  Top up water for Kettle ?  I don't knw what I should put here.  3 gallons since I add 2 at steeping and one after the sparging ?  or more because of the quarts per pound of grain I add also ?


Thanks for the help in advance.  I appreciate it.     

 
I generally use 1 gallon of water per lb of grain steeped.

You can't really do anything but guess efficiency for the first time you use this setup.  Calculate the effiency of this batch and maybe a batch or two after to get a good idea for effiency with current equipement setup.  Calculate what your gravity should be based on the wort you collect from your minimash.  Wort collection is mash water minus grain absorption + sparge water.  Grain absorption is about 1 pint per lb of grain.  Sparge water is 1.5 times that of mash water.  Before adding top off water get a hydrometer reading and divide that by expected OG.  This is your efficiency.

Top up water for the kettle is total boil volume minus what you get from your mini mash runnings.  Enter 0 for deadspace if not using a false bottom.

Mark
 
Trying to get clarification still on the top up water kettle because there is something off when I enter recipes and cant figure out what. 

"Top up water for the kettle is total boil volume minus what you get from your mini mash runnings."

Seeing my brew process above what would it be ?  What do you mean by mini mash runnings ?  The water I have poured through the strainer to get the last of the sugars fro the grain ?  The quart per pound of grain ?

I am entering in some recipes and I cannot seem to figure out what the issue is.

Thanks again !
 
I just went over the tutorial video for setting up equipment here -

http://www.beersmith.com/setting-up-your-equipment-in-beersmith-2/

In the video for the 'Top Up Water for Kettle' and the 'Top Up Water' he says the same thing.  For adding water after the boil.  Anyone know exactly what I should be entering here ?  My numbers are all off and I am still trying to figure out why.

 
Ahh...finally figured it out.

Top Up Water for Kettle - Enter zero here for most cases unless you add additional water between the mash and the boil.  So my final question on this, to sparge? I add the quart per pound of grain.  The to at boil I add a gallon.  Should I be entering 1 gallong or 1 gallong plus my quart per pound of grain ?  The numbers have improved.
 
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