Breweasy Strike Temps

Hi,

I'm having issues hitting my initial mash temp with this system and Beersmith 3 software. I'm using an appropriate equipment profile for the 5 gallon system and an appropriate mash profile (BIAB). Yet, I'm consistently low when I mash in at the recommended temp in Beersmith. I suspect the calculation is assuming that the full volume will be used to strike; but, in reality, only the volume of water in the Mash Tun is actually heating up the grain. Since this is less than the full volume required by the system, the calculation is off. Is my thinking correct here?

For example, it's telling me to heat 8 gallons of water to 156 to hit a 150 mash temp. But, in reality only 4 gallons or so will be in the mash tun at any given time so my strike temp calculation should be based on that volume rather than the full volume.

Any ideas here?

Thanks,

I thought the Breweasy was a RIMS system,am I wrong?  In that case, ramp up the temperature to the desired strike temp, stop the pump, dough in, and then restart the pump to bring the mash up to temperature set point and hold it there. 

If I am wrong in how it works, you can go into your equipment profile and adjust the weight of the kettle down to get a strike temperature closer to your target.  It will probably take a few tries to dial this in.

Thanks. I don't think it's a true RIMS system. They call it a Kettle-RIMS system; but, conceptually it's more like a 2 vessel BIAB system. Typical process is to stop the pump and close all valves, turn off the heat, then dough in. Wait 10 minutes. Then, restart the system. During the dough in phase, the volume of water in the mash tun is probably around 4 gallons or so. This is out of a total of around 8 gallons in the whole system.

Using the recommended strike temp from Beersmith almost always leads to a temp in the mid 140's by the time you start the pump going again.

I will try tweaking the weight of the mash tun. I know I should be doughing in with a strike temp around 165-168 from experience; but, I'd like to understand the whole system and the software better.

You say you are using the "appropriate equipment profile". Does that mean you are using a profile that was supplied in the program without any alterations? You really should treat the default equipment profiles as starting points for creating your own, custom profile. Without doing that all of your measurements will just be guesses.

https://youtu.be/HwEbjOt8OR8

Started with the profile provided as a Beersmith add-on. I've modified it somewhat accounting for dead space in the pumps, trub/chiller loss, and a boil off rate higher than the default profile.

Thinking of this system as a BIAB may be your problem. It's not.

You fill the bottom vessel with half your strike water volume... and fill the top vessel with the other half. You heat your strike water on the bottom while recirculating it to the top. So you are heating your full 8 gallons to strike temperature... not just 4.

You shut off your valves and dough in and when that is done you open them again and begin recirculating between the two vessels.

I would do two things... use the video tutorial previously suggested and build an accurate equipment profile. Without that you will never get accurate results. (garbage in = garbage out). Next, I would stop using the BIAB mash profile and select one more appropriate to what you are actually doing like a RIMS/HERMS mash profile (you can create custom mash profiles too btw).

Thanks,

I just viewed the video and I'm going to do that and determine exact measurements for the system. That video is great.

I will also look at other profiles and may work on my own. Up to this point, everything in the forums has suggested using BIAB profiles for the mash.

I do know that if I put the following into a simple strike temp calculator you get a more realistic result:

1. actual weight of grain.
2. about 1/2 the actual volume of water used.

Realistically, I don't see why a BIAB mash profile would not work.  Your main issue is really dialing in the mass of the equipment and/or the specific heat to compensate for the temperature loss when adding your grains.  One quick check, are you entering the actual temperature of the grains into the mash tab to ensure that the program takes into account that variable?  While the equipment profile has a grain temperature, my grain temp is almost never where I set it at this time of year with my grains being stored out in the cold garage.