Confused about setting up schedule

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milosh
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Joined: Sun Apr 07, 2013 3:00 pm

Confused about setting up schedule

Post by milosh »

I have difficulties to get the schedule application to work for me... I have set up my equipment and I have locked up the Final volume number in Volume settings, but the schedule seems to end up in the random volume... I am completely confused, how I should set up the schedule...

Basically I would like to see that the Mash In volume is calculated for me automatically, based on the requred final volume and infusion/sparge steps that I specify, but it doesn't seem to work in this way... Am I supposed to calculate the Mash In and infusion volumes by myself? How should I do it to have an automatic calculation?

In am doing all-grain brew with a BIAB, all in one vessel with the following stpes:

1. Add 18 C water to Vessel (with heating element).
2. Heat the water in the Vessel to about 74 C.
3. Put the mash bag with grains into Vessel (the same Vessel). The temperature of mash would decrease to 68 C.
4. Sacc Rest at 68 C for 60 minutes.
5. Mash out at 74 C for 15 minutes.
6. Take out the bag from the Vessel. No sparge. No additional water added.
7. Bring the wort to the boil and boil it for 90 minutes (still at the same Vessel).
8. Chill the wort and end up with the "Final Volume" that I locked in BeerTools.
...

What I would like to have to be calculated by the BeerTools is the volume of "Mash In". So I would like to know, how much water I should include in the vessel at Step 1 and what is the temperature to be reached in Step 2 before I put grains in (based on the grain bill and temperature of Step 3). Or at least I would like to know how much water and in which temperature I need at Step 3 (if I don't include Step 1 and Step 2 in the BeerTools schedule tab). The application doesn't suggest any sensible figure for the volumes I need...

Am I always expected to enter the Infusion Rate by myself? If true, then how I would get any indication, how much water I should infuse/add later to the boil to end up with required "Final Volume" once the wort is chilled?

How should I set up the schedule for these steps? At least points 3...5?
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slothrob
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Re: Confused about setting up schedule

Post by slothrob »

It is possible that you may be getting confused by the fact that BeerToolsPro corrects volumes for temperature, so the volume collected at the end of the mash will not match the volume of that same wort at boiling temperature.

However, BeerToolsPro doesn't automatically calculate mash in volume because that is a variable that a lot of brewers want to control. 1-3 qt/# is a commonly used range. 1.7-2 qt/# or even thinner, tends to promote conversion. For no-sparge, I usually default to 2 qt/#.

For no-sparge, which I do a lot, I have used a couple techniques:
-add a mash in step, an infusion step and a batch sparge step, click the lock volume box in the sparge,
-choose my preferred mash thickness of 2 qt/#,
-finally, use the schedule window to gradually increase the infusion volume until the sparge volume is "0".

or,
-add a mash in, as above, and add a batch sparge step, clicking the lock volume box,
-then, BeerToolsPro will calculate your mash out volume as the infusion volume in the sparge window.
-The trick here is to set the sparge Collection Vessel to "none", so that you will see the effect of the infusion on temperature of the mash, instead of temperature in the kettle.
BTP v2.0.* Windows XP
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