Beersmith Tips Cheats and Questions

[Leann ull]

Braver than me saying that

[Leann ull]

So if I lower  Brew house efficiency,  to say 69%  ,  it will have the effect of lowering or (normalizing)  the Alcohol content ?

Simple Stella Clone at 72% 4.7% abv  I did a couple of years ago for a pal. (Dislaimer statement)

[Leann ull]

By Reducing my efficiency to 65%

[Leann ull]

Or increasing it to my current 85% the impact on the extractables and ultimately abv is significant

[Leann ull]

Missing OG number by a point or 2 is not a problem and I get freaked out when I hit my numbers on the nail, its not an exact science there are other things that come into play like quality and freshness of ingredients that can also influence as well.

So if your target for OG was 1046 don't freak out if its in the 1044-1048 range, that comes when its 1035 or 1060    

[nigel_c]

Hitting a high efficiency isn't everything. You are better getting a consistent efficiency rate and hitting you numbers every time then erratic numbers on brews.
You may have to add an extra 500g of base malt but I would be much happier knowing I was gonna hit my 68% numbers each time then struggling to get an extra % the odd time.
For me its all about knowing your system and knowing what you will hit each time then trying to keep up with the 80% efficiency minority.

[Leann ull]

the 80% efficiency minority.

Wonder can I get a grant for being a minority, I often feel that by mangling and rinsing every last % out does it impact on the flavour, would I be better off with "gear and a friend" rather than "coke and hookers", one of life great ponderables.

Herms V's straight Mash Brewoff in the same gear coming up in the summer months methinks, with a proper not bullshit set of evaluators

[nigel_c]

I got 82% once and it convinced me to rebuild.
Will take a few brews to dial in the effiency and start hitting then each time.

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

My No1 tip is to read This before you buy Beersmith. They have increased the price since I posted it but it still works out substantially cheaper than buying with our discount code, as you are paying in Aus $ rather than Yankey $

[neoanto]

Just a quick question on the mash tun dead space.

When draining your mash tun after a mash/sparge do people drain it 100%?
It would take me so long to do that, there is alot of liquid that is held in the grains that eventually drains out.

My point is that I have a copper manifold and if I were to put water in and drain it I would have maybe 200ml left. Almost nothing.

If I do a sparge and drain after an hour Ive got most of the wort, only dribbles coming out.
I usually continue my brew day and leave the mash tun to drain out into another basin before chucking the grains.

So I have now counted that leftover wort as the deadspace.

Is this wrong?

[molc]

Spot on. Your deadspace is your wastage or extra runnings that you need to make but don't collect.

[Ozbrewer]

I would recommend creating multiple equipment and mash profiles for your brewing. These need to be updated somewhat based on my last couple of brews, but this is what I do:

[Ozbrewer]

oops - wrong attachment on one.

[molc]

Oh, 5 step mash for your schwarzbier? do share!

[Leann ull]

Or you could just copy a previous recipe with that profile and adjust for new ingredients