Equipment Profile Setup

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Nails111

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I’m a new brewer trying to hone in on my numbers for accuracy. For some reason I’m really not understanding the “Mash-Tun Addition” number and exactly what that means. My mash tun, which is a 10 gallon round cooler with a false bottom, has 2.5 quarts of unrecoverable dead space underneath the false bottom. I put this loss under the “Mash Lauder Tun Losses” section. I put the same amount under the “Mash-Tun Addition” section, but I’m guessing that I was wrong, since everything under my false bottom is not recoverable.

So, for my situation, should Mash Lauder Tun Losses be 2.5 quarts and the Mash-Tun Addition be set at 0?

Sorry for the noob question, but I’m trying to be as accurate as I can. Thanks

A8F2F003-ED2B-4C5B-912F-2E41F4D86174.jpeg
 
I've never seen it - so maybe I should revisit the settings - but I would say they are the same value (and there was probably only one value originally) In order to define the correct total mash water the lost volume of water in the first stage has to added to the sparge water so you don't lose TWO lots of lost volume overall but why the calculator needs two entries to cover the same "lost Volume" and the second one is somehow different to the first escapes me. No doubt some systems treat the volumes differently but I wouldn't - just double the first volume?
I'm sure there is a good reason for this though....
 
I think that's how I interpret it too, would be how much you lose so you add it in to make up for it? I don't have a false bottom so I don't have anything for that.
 
They way I interpret those are the Lauter Tun Losses is wort you will never be able to drain. The Mash Tun Addition is wort you will be able to drain away. It is used in the mash thickness calculation which is the amount of strike water per amount of grain (quarts/pound or liters/kilogram). However, since the water underneath the false bottom is not mixed in with the grain it needs excluded from that calculation.
@Yooper or @Pricelessbrewing, please correct me if I'm wrong.
 
BarbarianBrewer said:
They way I interpret those are the Lauter Tun Losses is wort you will never be able to drain. The Mash Tun Addition is wort you will be able to drain away. It is used in the mash thickness calculation which is the amount of strike water per amount of grain (quarts/pound or liters/kilogram). However, since the water underneath the false bottom is not mixed in with the grain it needs excluded from that calculation.
@Yooper or @Pricelessbrewing, please correct me if I'm wrong.
Click to expand...
Yes, that makes sense. The reason I’m asking is that I ended up with about a 1/2 gallon too much in my fermenter. I’m not sure if it was the 2.5 quarts I put for Mash Tun Addition or I just measured wrong during the process.
 
BarbarianBrewer said:
They way I interpret those are the Lauter Tun Losses is wort you will never be able to drain. The Mash Tun Addition is wort you will be able to drain away. It is used in the mash thickness calculation which is the amount of strike water per amount of grain (quarts/pound or liters/kilogram). However, since the water underneath the false bottom is not mixed in with the grain it needs excluded from that calculation.
@Yooper or @Pricelessbrewing, please correct me if I'm wrong.
Click to expand...

Yes, that’s it exactly! The mash tun addition is water, in addition to the X quarts/pound, added to the mash. The reason that was added is that many people have asked for a mash tun addition, since they may want to mash at, say, 2 quarts per pound, but they have .5 gallon of water space under the false bottom. That liquid is IN the mash and part of the calculation for water additions and volumes (and in the water calculator) but it’s an extra addition so that a certain mash thickness can be maintained if the brewer would like that.

The loss setting is a loss that will not make it to the boil kettle, and is instead an actual loss.
 
It's a relatively new option and works as @BarbarianBrewer describes. It was added as many of the new all in one electric systems have relatively large dead spaces beneath the mashing vessel that were distorting mash thickness and mash water addition calculations.

I don't see how too much in the fermenter would be influenced by the mash tun addition option. It should be influenced by the various options with losses in the name as well as grain absorption, hop absorption, boil evaporation rate.

Did you see the extra volume in the kettle as well as the fermenter? As I'd be looking at the grain absorption rate and boil evaporation rate as the two most likely to give you too much volume in the fermenter. Well that's what I'm always adjusting with new systems after I've got one brew completed.
 
There is a video that I like to refer new brewers to, for me it was an "aha" moment, when I came to understand water calculations. This is kind of unrelated to your equipment profile specifically, but understanding water requirements can help you understand how your equipment profile arrives at the calculations it does. Duplicate this search, and select the first result you see here. It was a bit of jiberish for me at first, but reviewing it and relating it to me recipe at the time was a huge learning moment for me.
I hope this helps!
Screenshot_20210323-180929_Chrome.jpg
 
This one?
 
That is the one, I would have posted the link, but I am not smart enough to do that, I am just a dumb salesman...
Just like in Hockey, Forwards are just dumb defenceman...
 
Oh god, what does that make defencemen? We're the ones dumb enough to step in front of shots.
 
Mark Farrall said:
It's a relatively new option and works as @BarbarianBrewer describes. It was added as many of the new all in one electric systems have relatively large dead spaces beneath the mashing vessel that were distorting mash thickness and mash water addition calculations.

I don't see how too much in the fermenter would be influenced by the mash tun addition option. It should be influenced by the various options with losses in the name as well as grain absorption, hop absorption, boil evaporation rate.

Did you see the extra volume in the kettle as well as the fermenter? As I'd be looking at the grain absorption rate and boil evaporation rate as the two most likely to give you too much volume in the fermenter. Well that's what I'm always adjusting with new systems after I've got one brew completed.
Click to expand...
I think I just messed up along the way somewhere and added too much water. I think it was just a fluke that it was about the same as the mash tun addition amount.

I went back to my water requirements... with and without 2.5 quarts listed under the Mash Tun Addition I still had the same total (9) gallons. The difference is in the strike water and the sparge water, but the overall totals are the same. Thanks, everything is making sense now. Here are screenshots of my water requirements. The first one is with mash tun addition set to “0” and the other is set to “2.5” quarts.
31119A81-24B9-44A6-9AF0-CEE24E1D660F.jpeg
1CC64A5C-9CB5-4435-96AE-EC32DE4A6BF7.jpeg
 
Craigerrr said:
There is a video that I like to refer new brewers to, for me it was an "aha" moment, when I came to understand water calculations. This is kind of unrelated to your equipment profile specifically, but understanding water requirements can help you understand how your equipment profile arrives at the calculations it does. Duplicate this search, and select the first result you see here. It was a bit of jiberish for me at first, but reviewing it and relating it to me recipe at the time was a huge learning moment for me.
I hope this helps!
View attachment 14814
Click to expand...
I’ll definitely take a look at this. Thank!
 
I find it's not 100% regardless of how well you dial it in. I vary by a litre or two on most batches even when using the same grain weight and volume of water. It depends on how well things drain and that is not entirely in your control.
 
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