I did a single decoction on a Big Barley Wine. My Decoction boiled at 220F, I let it cool to 212 before adding. How can I get BeerSmith to use the higher temp that actually occured so I don't have to wait for it to cool.
Fred
Fred
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Decoction Temps
- Thread starter bonjour
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Fred,
Unless you are at a level well below sea level or you have a gigantic high pressure system over your area, you should not have water boiling at 220F. In fact you would have to be about 3000 feet below sea level or have an incredibly high barometric pressure to get an 8 degree difference.
I would recommend you take a look at your thermometer. It may be reading a bit on the high side.
You can do a high precision calculation of the boiling point of water in your area if you have the actual barometric pressure (current) off the weather channel for your location:
http://www.biggreenegg.com/boilingPoint.htm
From this you can boil some water to get an accurate temperature calibration for your thermometer.
Cheers!
Brad
Unless you are at a level well below sea level or you have a gigantic high pressure system over your area, you should not have water boiling at 220F. In fact you would have to be about 3000 feet below sea level or have an incredibly high barometric pressure to get an 8 degree difference.
I would recommend you take a look at your thermometer. It may be reading a bit on the high side.
You can do a high precision calculation of the boiling point of water in your area if you have the actual barometric pressure (current) off the weather channel for your location:
http://www.biggreenegg.com/boilingPoint.htm
From this you can boil some water to get an accurate temperature calibration for your thermometer.
Cheers!
Brad
Brad,
agreed, but unfortunately in a decoction we are not boiling water (which just happens to boil at 212F on THIS thermometer) but grist which has (only from waters point of view) considerable impurities, namely the crushed grain and the sugar content that has already converted. Â Water with impurities boils at higher temps. Â In fact is I were to just add sugar to water I would be able to achieve a boiling temp of in excess of 350F, just consult any cookbook and look under candy. Â While we are NOT going that far with our sugars and such, we are more than capable of exceeding the boiling temp of water.
Fred
agreed, but unfortunately in a decoction we are not boiling water (which just happens to boil at 212F on THIS thermometer) but grist which has (only from waters point of view) considerable impurities, namely the crushed grain and the sugar content that has already converted. Â Water with impurities boils at higher temps. Â In fact is I were to just add sugar to water I would be able to achieve a boiling temp of in excess of 350F, just consult any cookbook and look under candy. Â While we are NOT going that far with our sugars and such, we are more than capable of exceeding the boiling temp of water.
Fred
Fred,
You are indeed correct - I will need to adjust this as I made the incorrect assumption that water boils around 212F !
Do you have any good references for SG vs boiling point? Ideally I would like to have the program adjust automatically to the amount of sugar in it.
Thanks!
Brad
You are indeed correct - I will need to adjust this as I made the incorrect assumption that water boils around 212F !
Do you have any good references for SG vs boiling point? Ideally I would like to have the program adjust automatically to the amount of sugar in it.
Thanks!
Brad
I don't have any references for that. Two (actually 3) variables here. First, altitude, boiling point will vary by altitude orore specifically, true barometric pressure. The second, sugars in the wort, These would be easily measured by specific gravity and the boiling point should be predictable based on 'altitude' ans SG.
Third, the wild card, GRIST. Grist may be pulled several ways, for arguments Heavy, Medium, and Light. Here grist refers to the amount of grain pulled to boil for the decoction. The specific heat of the grist will be different depending on the amount of grain contained within it.
All things considered it would indeed be great to automate this. But I think it would be prudent, and easier, to allow for decoction adds in the mash, the ability to add a temp above 212.
For that mater I would like to enter a temp of infusion water, and have BeerSmith calc the vol of water I need.
Fred
Third, the wild card, GRIST. Grist may be pulled several ways, for arguments Heavy, Medium, and Light. Here grist refers to the amount of grain pulled to boil for the decoction. The specific heat of the grist will be different depending on the amount of grain contained within it.
All things considered it would indeed be great to automate this. But I think it would be prudent, and easier, to allow for decoction adds in the mash, the ability to add a temp above 212.
For that mater I would like to enter a temp of infusion water, and have BeerSmith calc the vol of water I need.
Fred
Bonjour,
I've found several references for sugar in water for boiling point effects, but nothing so far for wort in water. Even the links I have seem somewhat empirical in nature. For example the boiling point elevation appears to vary considerably with both the type of sugar and the purity of the sugar.
I guess an alternative is to offer a box for the measured boilling point and then back the calculation out from there. Still it seems like there should be a more accurate way to determine boiling point given the specific gravity. Also, we would seem to be in a "logical loop" here if you had measure the boiling point in advance to accurately calculate the decoction amounts (for example).
Anyone with a good reference or some solid data?
Thanks!
Brad
I've found several references for sugar in water for boiling point effects, but nothing so far for wort in water. Even the links I have seem somewhat empirical in nature. For example the boiling point elevation appears to vary considerably with both the type of sugar and the purity of the sugar.
I guess an alternative is to offer a box for the measured boilling point and then back the calculation out from there. Still it seems like there should be a more accurate way to determine boiling point given the specific gravity. Also, we would seem to be in a "logical loop" here if you had measure the boiling point in advance to accurately calculate the decoction amounts (for example).
Anyone with a good reference or some solid data?
Thanks!
Brad
J
Jon_DeBrewman
I brew at 7,000 feet here in Santa Fe NM, Water boils at about 200F here! Some kind of altitude correction for the decoction mash would be helpful, with the infusions it's not so bad as I can just adjust the amount of water added until I get 200F for the addition.
A box where I can enter my decoction boiling temp although not ideal would help.
A box where I can enter my decoction boiling temp although not ideal would help.
Jon,
Thanks for your input. At the moment the reasonable workaround appears to be a field in the decoction calculator and mash profiles to include the boiling point as an input.
I can easily add this to the next update.
Long term I would still like a way to calculate it if possible...
Cheers!
Brad
Thanks for your input. At the moment the reasonable workaround appears to be a field in the decoction calculator and mash profiles to include the boiling point as an input.
I can easily add this to the next update.
Long term I would still like a way to calculate it if possible...
Cheers!
Brad