Puzzled with Boil size water requirements

[WM7793]

Hi everybody, I am a little puzzled why there is such a difference in required water needed for my next brew (a 5.5% ABV IPA).

I am using Beersmith, and it is now set up reasonably accurate for my system with a half a dozen all grain brews under my belt.

Previous brews have allocated similar water requirements for small experimental batches of 13L of beer, of around 25-27L. These have been standard bitters in the 4.3% ABV region or thereabouts.

With the IPA it is only asking for around 21L of water needed. Boil volume is 16.5L, pre boil OG of 1.048

Estimated post boil of 13.5L, OG of 1.061

Now my Beersmith equipment profile is set up for my boil off, of which is around 5.2L/hour which after a 90 minute boil is 7.8L !!!

Now if these numbers are correct then we have 16.5L minus my boil off, 7.8L gives me only 8.7L remaining!!!!!

The only difference I can easily spot between the other brews is that the calculated mash efficiency is only 62% on the IPA whereas on earlier brews it was estimating a higher mash efficiency of over 70%

What is going on here?

As a relatively new brewer, I would very much appreciate if someone could throw some light on this one.

Best regards,
WM7793

 

[Duxuk]

You'll have more grain so after sparging you'll have more water trapped in the grain bed. You will thus need more water than with a less strong beer. Don't know why the software is telling you this, but I certainly wouldn't believe it! Are you sure you entered the figures correctly?

 

[WM7793]

I have tried entering a blank new recipe into Beersmith, without putting any grains, hops, etc. It is still showing only around 19L total water required for a 13L brew. Adding the grains to the recipe does not make any difference to the required water.

Very odd, any other ideas?

Best regards,
WM7793

 

[WM7793]

Sorted! A fellow brewer from the USA realised that all data had somehow disappeared from the equipment profile, ie trub loss etc.

This tallies with a weird error code that I reported to Beersmith last month. All recipes created from this time onwards had displayed the same problem with low water volumes.

Just thought I would post this in case any others experience similar issues.

Best regards,
WM7793

 

[Duxuk]

:thumb:Glad you got it sorted