vortex
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- 25/10/11
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Finished my second AG brew today. First one I missed all my numbers and didn't worry, just went with it, so I didn't over-complicate things. Today I looked at the numbers, and I'm a bit worried.
I put a DSGA recipe into BeerSmith 2, using the supplied grain quantities and amounts, and then scaled to suit the batch size I wanted to make today (25L into fermenter).
It told me to mash the grain, 5.3kg, with 15L of water (give or take 100mL), I went with this. Mashed fine, drained probably 6 or 8L from the mash tun. BS2 suggested I then batch sparge with 5L, and then 15L. I assume the 5L is for mash out, but I combined it with the 15L and went for a 20L batch sparge. Let it settle for 15min, vorlauf and then let it drain. Sparge didn't get stuck, and I was left with 22L in the boil kettle @ 1040SG. I know efficiency isn't everything, but BS2 says 54% efficiency which could be improved.
BS2 thinks I should have had only 5L of water absorbed into the grain, but I had more like 10L. When I emptied the mash tun it was quite dry, not a lot of free water at all, so doesn't appear to be a stuck sparge.
Measured the mash water with a pot that has 3L graduated marks on it, 5 of those into the pot for heating the mash water. Simply filled the small pot for the batch sparge water, 18L... Pretty sure my numbers would be close enough within a litre or two. No way are they 10L out.
So, i'm at a loss as to what is going on. Would my crush affect the water absorption of the grain? My mill gap is 1mm. Is BS2 just that bad at getting it's grain absorption calc right that it needs a 3rd batch sparge perhaps? Do I need to hack around in BS2 and tell it to expect 10L of absorption perhaps?
Obviously there was no leak, pretty sure I would have noticed with the japanese army boots on
I put a DSGA recipe into BeerSmith 2, using the supplied grain quantities and amounts, and then scaled to suit the batch size I wanted to make today (25L into fermenter).
It told me to mash the grain, 5.3kg, with 15L of water (give or take 100mL), I went with this. Mashed fine, drained probably 6 or 8L from the mash tun. BS2 suggested I then batch sparge with 5L, and then 15L. I assume the 5L is for mash out, but I combined it with the 15L and went for a 20L batch sparge. Let it settle for 15min, vorlauf and then let it drain. Sparge didn't get stuck, and I was left with 22L in the boil kettle @ 1040SG. I know efficiency isn't everything, but BS2 says 54% efficiency which could be improved.
BS2 thinks I should have had only 5L of water absorbed into the grain, but I had more like 10L. When I emptied the mash tun it was quite dry, not a lot of free water at all, so doesn't appear to be a stuck sparge.
Measured the mash water with a pot that has 3L graduated marks on it, 5 of those into the pot for heating the mash water. Simply filled the small pot for the batch sparge water, 18L... Pretty sure my numbers would be close enough within a litre or two. No way are they 10L out.
So, i'm at a loss as to what is going on. Would my crush affect the water absorption of the grain? My mill gap is 1mm. Is BS2 just that bad at getting it's grain absorption calc right that it needs a 3rd batch sparge perhaps? Do I need to hack around in BS2 and tell it to expect 10L of absorption perhaps?
Obviously there was no leak, pretty sure I would have noticed with the japanese army boots on