So, with Beer smith I have begun to formulate some beers and I have noticed that there are
some significant discrepancies. Specifically I cannot find how to edit my mash volume and
how it translates to my boiloff volume. It assumes a larger boil volume starting point and
a significant boil-off.
No matter how hard I try cannot get it to my specs.
So, I am looking for a recipe that is known to reach temps, attenuate as expected, and
be a base line to get my equipment calibrated.
Your volumes are part of your equipment profile. If you know what you generally get for mash and boiloff, edit it there. I’ve found it best to create a new profile rather than using one of the out of the box ones. Some of the settings stick, it seems. I think the key setting is to calculate the boil off yourself rather than letting BeerSmith do it automatically. It does some weird math.
Also look at the other variables that effect the numbers like grain absorption, boiloff rate%, mash tun heat capacity, mash tun deadspace, etc…
I have been tweaking these variables within Beersmith to optimize it to my brewing practices. All of these factors must be dialed in to your specific equipment and environment in order to get accurate end results. I also recommend going over to Beersmith’s forum where I think you’ll get a lot of feedback on your issue.
You can adjust the strike water ratio, but not the entire mash size. beersmith calculates it by working backwards from your final batch size. Starting with what you want in the fermentor, adding boil-off rate and boil time, adjusting for dead space in your kettle and mash tun, grain absorption of water, etc and then tell you how much water to add.
One “feature” I will write them about is that in tweaking recipe values the size of the batch sometimes reverts to 5.0 gallons. I brew in a variety of smaller batches, from 2.5 up to 4 gallons. For example, I went into a recipe set to 3.5 gallons, changed the equipment setup, and the recipe was suddenly 5.0 gallons. Also, even when that doesn’t happen, and even with my own equipment profile, the calculations for pre- and post-boil seem not quite right.
Not giving up on it yet… just finding 2.0 not as reliable as 1.4.
Yes. You enter the % of evaporation which corresponds to a given gal/hr rate that is calculated for you. It’s adjusted by %.
Both values are shown in the boiloff tool.