I've forgotten what I'm doing - water and BS3

[-Bezza-]

Planning on doing a brew on Friday and it has been so long that I've forgotten what I'm doing with my water additions.

Recipe is below - I can't remember whether I add all the additions in the "water prep" section to the total water volume, add what I need for the mash and make the further sparge additions to the remaining water for sparge? Or is the first lot of additions just for the mash water and the second lot just for the sparge water?

I do find the layout of the Beersmith 3 Brew Steps to be a bit frustrating.

Spoiler

Golden Lemon Biscuit Ale
Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 19.00 L
Boil Size: 23.00 L
Boil Time: 60 min
End of Boil Vol: 20.50 L
Final Bottling Vol: 17.00 L
Fermentation: Ale, Two Stage

Date: 29 May 2020
Brewer: Bezza
Asst Brewer:
Equipment: Grainfather
Efficiency: 65.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 73.6 %
Taste Rating: 30.0

Taste Notes:

Prepare for Brewing

• Hydrate yeast with 395.90 ml warm water and add optional 19.8 g of GoFerm
• Clean and Prepare Brewing Equipment
• Total Water Needed: 34.51 L
• Mash Water Acid: None

Water Prep

Amt​	Name​	Type​	#​	%/IBU​	Volume​
34.51 L​	-MY WATER- (11.8ml CRS, 0.5 Campden)​	Water​	1​	-​	-​
11.80 ml​	CRS (Mash)​	Water Agent​	2​	-​	-​
2.16 g​	Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash)​	Water Agent​	3​	-​	-​
0.97 g​	Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Mash)​	Water Agent​	4​	-​	-​
0.50 Items​	Campden Tablets (Mash)​	Water Agent​	5​	-​	-​

Mash or Steep Grains
Mash Ingredients

Amt​	Name​	Type​	#​	%/IBU​	Volume​
3.50 kg​	Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5.9 EBC)​	Grain​	6​	77.8 %​	2.28 L​
0.50 kg​	Biscuit Malt (45.3 EBC)​	Grain​	7​	11.1 %​	0.33 L​
0.50 kg​	Cara-Pils/Dextrine (3.9 EBC)​	Grain​	8​	11.1 %​	0.33 L​
1.82 g​	Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Sparge)​	Water Agent​	9​	-​	-​
0.81 g​	Epsom Salt (MgSO4) (Sparge)​	Water Agent​	10​	-​	-​

Mash Steps

Name​	Description​	Step Temperature​	Step Time​
Protein Rest​	Add 18.74 L of water at 52.5 C​	50.0 C​	30 min​
Saccharification (overnight)​	Heat to 67.0 C over 15 min​	67.0 C​	480 min​
Mash Out​	Heat to 75.6 C over 10 min​	75.6 C​	10 min​

• Sparge Water Acid: None
• Fly sparge with 15.77 L water at 75.6 C
• Add water to achieve boil volume of 23.00 L
• Estimated pre-boil gravity is 1.045 SG

Boil Ingredients

Amt​	Name​	Type​	#​	%/IBU​	Volume​
10.00 g​	Magnum [10.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min​	Hop​	11​	12.3 IBUs​	-​
0.25 Items​	Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins)​	Fining​	12​	-​	-​
15.00 g​	Citra [13.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min​	Hop​	13​	12.4 IBUs​	-​
15.00 g​	Citra [13.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min​	Hop​	14​	5.0 IBUs​	-​

• Estimated Post Boil Vol: 20.50 L and Est Post Boil Gravity: 1.048 SG

Cool and Transfer Wort

• Cool wort to fermentation temperature
• Transfer wort to fermenter
• Add water if needed to achieve final volume of 19.00 L

Pitch Yeast and Measure Gravity and Volume
Fermentation Ingredients

Amt​	Name​	Type​	#​	%/IBU​	Volume​
2.0 pkg​	Liberty Bell Ale (Mangrove Jack's #M36)​	Yeast​	15​	-​	-​

• Measure Actual Original Gravity _______ (Target: 1.048 SG)
• Measure Actual Batch Volume _______ (Target: 19.00 L)

Fermentation

• 29 May 2020 - Primary Fermentation (4.00 days at 21.0 C ending at 21.0 C)
• 02 Jun 2020 - Secondary Fermentation (10.00 days at 19.0 C ending at 19.0 C)
• 12 Jun 2020 - Tertiary Fermentation (7.00 days at 4.0 C ending at 4.0 C)

Dry Hop and Bottle/Keg

• Measure Final Gravity: _________ (Estimate: 1.011 SG)
• Date Bottled/Kegged: 19 Jun 2020 - Carbonation: Keg with 12.54 PSI
• Age beer for 14.00 days at 7.0 C
• 03 Jul 2020 - Drink and enjoy!

 

[Session]

I hated the water additions in BS3 and never found my pH values lined up with what BS said I was supposed to get. I ended up switching to BrewFather (you can import your BS recipes). I find it simpler to use and pH is bang on.
I appreciate that’s not the answer you were looking for!

 

[-Bezza-]

Quite a few comments on the beersmith website suggest the pH calculations are out. I can't say I'm that bothered by that particular element. But I would like to see a couple of changes to the layout of the brew sheet (which is what I refer to when brewing) and have CRS added as a water addition. That said, I'm going to scrap the CRS and just get one of the acids when I've finished my current stock.