Add mash dead space to My Equipment

janbth

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I brew all grain, and I use a malt basket in the kettle when mashing. The basket leaves 4-5 liters of liquid outside the basket, which I need to take into account when I calculate the mash thickness. Not a big deal, but it would be useful to have an entry for "mash dead space" in the My Equipment setup to handle this.

By the way, note that "mash dead space" is different to "kettle dead space" and "lauter dead space"
 
...which I need to take into account when I calculate the mash thickness.
I think I see what you are aiming for here, but afaik "deadspace" refers to a loss. Having liquid around your grain doesn't get lost, just like the liquid above my grain, after it settles during the mash, is also not lost...it is just liquid without grain in it.
As far as the calculator is concerned, and all calculations regarding utilization, your mash thickness doesn't change based out how much liquid is directly mixed in with the grain and how much is somewhere else within the tun.
If you are worried about a stuck sparge, then just keep note of what works for you. I don't think "deadspace" is the right place to be making adjustments...
PS, with a basket, you aren't likely to have a stuck sparge, but imo the calculated mash thickness still remains the same...at least with stirring.
 
I think I see what you are aiming for here, but afaik "deadspace" refers to a loss. Having liquid around your grain doesn't get lost, just like the liquid above my grain, after it settles during the mash, is also not lost...it is just liquid without grain in it.
As far as the calculator is concerned, and all calculations regarding utilization, your mash thickness doesn't change based out how much liquid is directly mixed in with the grain and how much is somewhere else within the tun.
If you are worried about a stuck sparge, then just keep note of what works for you. I don't think "deadspace" is the right place to be making adjustments...
PS, with a basket, you aren't likely to have a stuck sparge, but imo the calculated mash thickness still remains the same...at least with stirring.
OK, it isn't "dead space" in the sense that the liquid is lost, but the liquid outside the malt basket is outside the volume where the mash conversion takes place. I'm not sure how important this is, but supposedly mash thickness does have an impact on enzyme activity, hence conversion efficiency.

In any case, in order to get my water requirements right the way tings work now, I need to put a higher, incorrect value for Starting Mash Thickness when editing my recipes. A new field for "dead space" (or whatever the correct term would be) would allow me to work with the correct values, and take that into account in the water requirements.
 
I agree it would be easier, I use a Guten 40L which has 9 litres under the grain basket, including the dead space. When my Mash water comes up it shows approx 13 Litres say, then shows 21 for sparge. This amount is correct but what I currently do is add my 9 litres to the mash and take it from the Sparge and I hit the numbers, I just have to remember to do this on my brew sheet. So it isn't dead space as such its more space unaccounted for
 

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