[curtdogg]

Good day to all.

I'm still working all the bugs out of my brews and refining my processes. I need clarification on the batch sparge steps in beer smith 2. After mash it tells me " Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun , 2.44gal) of 168.0 F water". Am I to take this literally and divide the 2.44 gal in two and batch sparge twice?
Isn't once enough? What is the benefit of batch sparging twice besides the obvious (rinsing all the sugars).

Any and all opinions/comment are appreciated.

Brewing an English brown ale with maple syrup for the holidays. WLP023.

R, Curtis

[denny]

Good day to all.

I'm still working all the bugs out of my brews and refining my processes. I need clarification on the batch sparge steps in beer smith 2. After mash it tells me " Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun , 2.44gal) of 168.0 F water". Am I to take this literally and divide the 2.44 gal in two and batch sparge twice?
Isn't once enough? What is the benefit of batch sparging twice besides the obvious (rinsing all the sugars).

Any and all opinions/comment are appreciated.

Brewing an English brown ale with maple syrup for the holidays. WLP023.

R, Curtis

You should just ignore those instructions.  Beersmith is a tool to help you brew the way you want to.  It is NOT instructions on how to brew.  Once is enough as long as your mash tun is big enough to fit all the sparge water at once, and most are.  You will gain a slight bit of efficiency by sparging twice, but I've never found it's enough to warrant the extra time and effort.  Just mash with whatever ratio you like and sparge with enough water to hit your boil volume.

[oginme]

Good day to all.

I'm still working all the bugs out of my brews and refining my processes. I need clarification on the batch sparge steps in beer smith 2. After mash it tells me " Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun , 2.44gal) of 168.0 F water". Am I to take this literally and divide the 2.44 gal in two and batch sparge twice?
Isn't once enough? What is the benefit of batch sparging twice besides the obvious (rinsing all the sugars).

Any and all opinions/comment are appreciated.

Brewing an English brown ale with maple syrup for the holidays. WLP023.

R, Curtis

The two steps are (1) drain mash tun and (2) add sparge water and drain.  It can be a bit confusing when first looking at it.  Really, follow Denny's advice.  BeerSmith is a tool and not a tutorial on how.  You should alter the mash steps to match how YOU brew and not look to it to teach you how to use your system.

[curtdogg]

thank you gentlemen,
I ended up just sparging once like I normally do. It seems like I notice new things in the directions all the time. I never really follow the directions and my volumes and gravity are always off.
I finally got a small chest freezer to control ferm temp. I want to do it right and make a great beer this time.

 I followed the directions, my volume was right on and my OG was only 2 point shy. Feeling good about this one.

This time around I also noticed new things I don't normally do. It says to add yeast nutrient at 3 days into fermentation. I normally add it at 15 min left in the boil along with fining. The fermentation steps were 4 days in primary 10 days in secondary and 30days in the bottle all at 65 degrees. Normally I do 2 weeks in each primary and secondary and then bottle where I use corn sugar and store at room temp for 10 days.

Any suggestions?

[dzlater]

I don't use the fermentation profile.
How does BeerSmith know when my beer is done fermenting?

[denny]

thank you gentlemen,
I ended up just sparging once like I normally do. It seems like I notice new things in the directions all the time. I never really follow the directions and my volumes and gravity are always off.
I finally got a small chest freezer to control ferm temp. I want to do it right and make a great beer this time.

 I followed the directions, my volume was right on and my OG was only 2 point shy. Feeling good about this one.

This time around I also noticed new things I don't normally do. It says to add yeast nutrient at 3 days into fermentation. I normally add it at 15 min left in the boil along with fining. The fermentation steps were 4 days in primary 10 days in secondary and 30days in the bottle all at 65 degrees. Normally I do 2 weeks in each primary and secondary and then bottle where I use corn sugar and store at room temp for 10 days.

Any suggestions?

Do what you know is right, not what the software directs you to do.

[tommymorris]

All Beersmith profiles are highly editable. You can change the fermentation profiles to match your plans or you can change the fermentation profile after the fact to match what you did (so you have a record).

I too just ignore the fermentation profiles. But, they are there for you if you want them.

[Frankenbrew]

If you're stuck on using BeerSmith to figure your sparge water volume, (I use it) click on the "mash" button while in "Recipe Design." First, figure the amount you want to use for the mash--usually 1.5-2 quarts per lb. of grain. On the lower right side of the screen under "sparge/lauter" it will give you an amount for "sparge volume." That is the amount for a single sparge, and you can ignore the amount on the recipe view.

[curtdogg]

Thanks a lot for the help guys, Initially I started using beer smith for the recipe design aspect. I started following the directions thinking it would help me make better beer. I will stick to the basics as yall have suggested.

So its been 24 hours since I pitched my yeast, no action yet. Only thing I did different from what I normally do was, like I mentioned earlier, I left out the yeast nutrient in the boil. I am using temperature control this round as well.
I cooled the wort as I would normally into the 80's. Then I put the fermenter into the chest freezer to continue to cool to 65 degrees (recommended range 65-70). I pitched yesterday at 75 degrees while the wort cooling. Still no action.
For now Ill try bumping up the temp to 80 and see what happens. This is a first for me. I guess I will pitch again if bumping the temp doesn't work?

Any suggestions are much appreciated.

R,
Curtdogg.

[oginme]

I don't use the fermentation profile.
How does BeerSmith know when my beer is done fermenting?

BeerSmith does not 'know' anything.  The fermentation profiles (and other profiles) are set up by the user to reflect your experiences, recipe instructions, or your knowledge of your particular fermentation process.

[denny]

Thanks a lot for the help guys, Initially I started using beer smith for the recipe design aspect. I started following the directions thinking it would help me make better beer. I will stick to the basics as yall have suggested.

So its been 24 hours since I pitched my yeast, no action yet. Only thing I did different from what I normally do was, like I mentioned earlier, I left out the yeast nutrient in the boil. I am using temperature control this round as well.
I cooled the wort as I would normally into the 80's. Then I put the fermenter into the chest freezer to continue to cool to 65 degrees (recommended range 65-70). I pitched yesterday at 75 degrees while the wort cooling. Still no action.
For now Ill try bumping up the temp to 80 and see what happens. This is a first for me. I guess I will pitch again if bumping the temp doesn't work?

Any suggestions are much appreciated.

R,
Curtdogg.

DON'T DO IT!  Just be patient!

[curtdogg]

Thanks Denny.
 I waited it out and it started today. I will continue doing what I normally do and ignore those presets.
I will stick with the recommended temp range for the yeast and let it do its thing.
Any other recommendations for my new journey into temperature control?

I appreciate all the feedback.

R,
Curtis.

[denny]

Thanks Denny.
 I waited it out and it started today. I will continue doing what I normally do and ignore those presets.
I will stick with the recommended temp range for the yeast and let it do its thing.
Any other recommendations for my new journey into temperature control?

I appreciate all the feedback.

R,
Curtis.

I like to ferment at or just below the recommended temp range for most yeasts.  Sometimes a lot below!

[curtdogg]

Any particular reason why Denny? I am keeping it in the upper range (69F) because from what I gather you get more esters that way.

I had a shocking experience yesterday. I stuck my head down into the chest freezer to take a whif of the fermenting wort and got a burning nose full of Co2 gas.  I haven't jumped that high in a while. I just didn't realize until that moment that all the Co2 was settling in the bottom half of the freezer.

As I mentioned in an earlier post I'm working on holiday ales. Anybody have any good recipes for a strong ale?

[denny]

Any particular reason why Denny? I am keeping it in the upper range (69F) because from what I gather you get more esters that way.

I had a shocking experience yesterday. I stuck my head down into the chest freezer to take a whif of the fermenting wort and got a burning nose full of Co2 gas.  I haven't jumped that high in a while. I just didn't realize until that moment that all the Co2 was settling in the bottom half of the freezer.

As I mentioned in an earlier post I'm working on holiday ales. Anybody have any good recipes for a strong ale?

Yeah, it's because in general I don't like the esters that you like!  In the styles I make I generally want the malt and hops to come through and the yeast to not get in the way.  That's becasue I make mainly American and German styles.

This is what I make for a holiday beer....http://wiki.homebrewersassociation.org/BourbonVanillaImperialPorter