Beersmith

[arsenewenger]

Did an ag tonight and got a low final volume of 13l whe i was suppose to get 23l

Last week i had some trouble with my final volume but thought it was boiling too hard and extra evap as well as i found a small leak. have change this for this brew and I have the same problem. I went o my beersith notes from two years ago and it is sayin gthat i neew to prepare 33l of water but my beersmith now says to prepare 29l of water

I have the same equip that i have always used and I think its is the euipment tap in beersmith that is problem

Can anyone help me set this up I think its the evap rat and the loss to boil trub and chiller bits that arenot filled out

I use 50l legal kegs for my equip set up on a brew stand.

Cheers
AW
ask any more questions if need eb but its late and I am well cut we knocekd off a carton making this beer

 

[AndrewQLD]

Without seeing your equipement setup in BeerSmith it's a bit hard to answer.
Here's a copy of mine, see how it compares to yours.



let me know if you need more help.

Andrew

 

[arsenewenger]

Thanks Andrew

I have copied the weight of the mash tun and the evaporation loss from your set up , I must just losing alot more to evaporation during the final boil than I thought , I will just have to make the boil a little less vigorus(?) .

Second brew for a long time and I now brew inside the shed which means I am getting only 13l in the fermenter which is ten liters less than I hoped for cheers for your help

Just means I will have to brew more to get it right so every cloud has a silver lining after all

AW

 

[AndrewQLD]

Evaporation loss varies from one system to another. Calibrate your boiler so you know how much wort your starting with and how much you end up with, I use a dip stick marked in 1 lt increments.
My average loss is 4 lt/hour if your losing 15 lt something is not right, either your not getting all the volume into the boiler or your boil is way to vigorous or you need to partially lid your boiler to reduce evaporation.

Andrew

 

[goomboogo]

AW, i just checked the thread about your brew a couple weeks ago. Your printout states an initial boil volume of 27.7 litres and a 90 minute boil. Are these numbers the same for this second brew? If the numbers are the same, a 90 minute boil with an approximate evaporation rate of 4l/hr will have you down under 22 litres without accounting for any kettle and cooling losses. So you could easily have under 20 litres. If you are experiencing a higher evaporation rate, the 13 litre final volume is not out of the realms of possibility.

Did you measure pre-boil volume? If not, do you have the litres/kg of mash water and the volume of sparge water used. I suspect your pre-boil volume is low and combined with a high evaporation rate is causing your problem. Although I could be completely off the mark considering you were brewing previously using the same set-up. You are right about the 29 litres of water. Assuming around a 5kg grain bill, 29 litres of total water is not going to be enough to finish with 23 litres.

 

[arsenewenger]

did not check the pre boil volume but next time i will for sure.

I think the pre bol volume might be low and therefore it is going to throw everything out I will check all my levels again today and see if the markers that were on my kettle are right although they used to be so who knows Maybe i will just use the old brew sheet i mentioned in earlier post and go from there, the only thing is trying to get beersmith to add that into all my current recipes . I did try and it sent the prepearation water way higher than I ever had it before .
Anyway thanks for the help I will let you how it goes

Cheers
AW

 

[warra48]

I find BeerSmith a bit trying in its mash and sparge volume and temperature calculations.

I bypass it with my own simple method.
I heat my HLT to about 9C higher than my desired mash temperature.
I open the tap on my HLT and let the water drop into my mashtun while I stir the mash. I keep a close eye on my temperature and stop when I'm at the desired level.
I do a mashout by topping up my mashtun, but that's up to you.
I drain my mashtun, and measure how much I have in my kettle. I have a marked copper dipstick, which I calibrated when I got my kettle.
The difference between what I have in the kettle, and what I want pre-boiled is my sparge volume.
I ignore BeerSmith on its recommended volumes and temperatures, as I've never been able to dial it in accurately, in spite of numerous attempts.

 

[browndog]

And in contrast to Warra48's post, I'll say I reckon Beersmith is fantastic for hitting you mash temps bang on ( once you have it set up right) You should only need to do a couple of brews recording every detail to be able to calibrate Beersmith to your system.

cheers

Browndog

 

[TidalPete]

And in contrast to Warra48's post, I'll say I reckon Beersmith is fantastic for hitting you mash temps bang on ( once you have it set up right) You should only need to do a couple of brews recording every detail to be able to calibrate Beersmith to your system.

cheers

Browndog

I have only done 3 brews using BeerSmith after swapping over from ProMash (97) & after a few initial setting up hiccups think it's an excellent prog.
Warra, have you tried the BeerSmith Forum for help in sorting out your problems with BeerSmith?

TP

 

[warra48]

I don't have a problem.
I love BeerSmith, and it does everything I want it to do for me.
I don't need it to work out volumes and temperatures, as I've worked out my own method, which works fine with me.
I am a member on the BeerSmith forum.
Pleased to see you have it working for you.

 

[arsenewenger]

Well I have been going through my old and new recipes and have noticed that I was only doing a Single infusion medium body batch sparge 1 step, whereas the new recipe was with a single infusion full body batch sparge. I have made some adjustments to my equipment profile and I should have started with 44liters of water not 33. I am using the batch sparging methos as discribed by Pistol Patch many moons ago and have redone and redone my sums and it seems to working out(in my feeble little brain anyway) so i will be able to confrim on the next brew if it is right.

Does 44liters souns like alot of water to start with or is that round the mark that most people start with. When I was doing it the other way i did not have to start with much

Thanks
AW

 

[buttersd70]

It's not so much the starting water that should be of a concern, but rather the volume coming out of your tun and into your boiler.

for 23L, I aim for 31L into the boiler, myself, for a 90min boil....which means that I need about 37 (ish)L of water at the start of the process.....The main point I consider is, that with the evaporation and losses in the kettle that I get, I need 31L in the kettle to output 23L. I don't even look at the amount of water required at the start....I've just looked that up for the first time, to make this post.

Might I make a suggestion....given the (apparantly) huge losses your getting in the boil, it might be an idea to invite another adelaide brewer over to have a squiz at how your doing things. I tend to think (just off the top of my head) that your boiling too hard, and this is causing a lot of your issues. But theres nothing like having some eyeballs on you whilst you're doing things to say..'ey up, theres your problem'.

 

[boybrewer]

What butters said. I myself have calculated from beersmith what l need for a particular beer style . lf doing a PA l have worked out loss to trub , boil etc and my vol is 33lt so l end up with a final vol of 23lt . This also depends on your system as to evaporation , dead space etc. Measure and re-measure so you can dial it in.


Cheers
Mike (BB)