Beersmith And Boiler Sizes

[Ben]

Hi,

I'm about to put on my first AG, and I think I have it pretty well sorted (thanks Stagger). I've been playing with Brewsmith quite a bit, and it looks pretty good.

My question is this.

My boiler capacity is only probably about 40L (I want to avoid boil overs), but I was hoping to eventually do double batches of 44L. By fiddling with the numbers in Beersmith, I can actually create a 44L batch with a 32L boil, and then "dilute up" to my required 44L. All the calculations look ok - if I do a 32L boil, the OG is higher (1060), and after dilution to my required 44L, the SG hits the style target of 1043.

Obviously the water I use would be clean etc. Has anyone tried this kind of thing before? Will boiling at a higher concentration / SG and then diluting have any negative effect?

Also, Beersmith seems to be doing something funny with the sparge volume. The mash in is 17.91L, and then it asks for 4 "rounds" of sparging, of 4.9L each (total volume in boiler now = 37.51L). Beersmith then says "Add water to achieve boil volume of 31.68L"!!! Does anyone know what I've done wrong here?

Thanks for the help.

Benno

 

[Kai]

Ben,

One negative effect of a concentrated boil is it will lower your hop utilisation. However, beersmith will probably factor that in depending on the hop util formula you have it using (I've never used it, so I don't know how to take care of that).

 

[Ben]

Ben,

One negative effect of a concentrated boil is it will lower your hop utilisation. However, beersmith will probably factor that in depending on the hop util formula you have it using (I've never used it, so I don't know how to take care of that).

[post="71840"][/post]​

Thanks for pointing that out. I had to double the hops qty (ie 4 X a single batch) to get the IBU's back within the target range. I'm still confused as to where the excess water volume came from. Maybe I should stick to single batches, or get a bigger boiler.

Ben

 

[Ben]

Also, I wonder if I've got some numbers wrong elsewhere. It says I should have an OG of 1060, and has asked me to add water to reach 31L. In actual fact, after the sparge I will have 37L, so I'm assuming the OG will be wrong also.

I may just have to give it a try and see what happens.

 

[Kai]

I partial mash which means I adjust final volumes with water additions and I've noticed too that in the brewing programs I use I have a fiddly time of adjusting water quantities and stuff. I haven't bothered to figure it out properly, unfortunately.

 

[Ben]

Thanks again.

What happens if I don't sparge a sufficient volume? I assume that the wort in the boiler will only have a higher SG, since (from what I've read) the excess sparge water only seems to be used to get up to a pre-determined boil volume. Looks like this weekend is going to be a disaster!

 

[shmick]

Also, Beersmith seems to be doing something funny with the sparge volume. The mash in is 17.91L, and then it asks for 4 "rounds" of sparging, of 4.9L each (total volume in boiler now = 37.51L). Beersmith then says "Add water to achieve boil volume of 31.68L"!!! Does anyone know what I've done wrong here?

Thanks for the help.

Benno

[post="71839"][/post]​

G'day Benno

Beersmith always notes the step of adding water to achieve boil volume on the brewsheet. Doesn't seem to matter if you're already over or not.
Use it as a reminder/final check because it doesn't list the pre-boil volume anywhere else on the printout.
Sparge to the point you are happy and add the rest of the water afterwards.

I batch sparge and hit my targets exactly.
As a rough guide I use 15l mash in then 2 x 10l batch sparges or there abouts for 28.5l pre-boil.

If you adjust the % mash tun volume in the mash profile details it effects how many sparge rounds are required. 60-70% mash tun utilisation with the equal sparge volumes option ticked does it for me.
Once you have all the parameters (volumes/losses/deadspace etc) setup in Beersmith I've found it pretty accurate.

 

[Ben]

Ok, got it. Just one more question - you say that you use a 15L mash in, and 2 X 10L sparges. That adds up to 35L. What happened to the other 7L - soaked up by the grain?

 

[shmick]

Ok, got it. Just one more question - you say that you use a 15L mash in, and 2 X 10L sparges. That adds up to 35L. What happened to the other 7L - soaked up by the grain?

[post="71865"][/post]​

The rest is absorbed by the grain (5.5l) and mash (lauter) tun deadspace (1l) = 6.5 litres.

My overall efficiency is fairly low (65%) but always repeatable.
An extra 1/2 kg of grain is a small price for consistency.

 

[Ben]

Thanks mate. I'm glad I've got that sorted - you guys are lifesavers.

Benno