Hello fellow brewers, I am a fairly new to the Brewersfriend recipe builder, so any guidance is appreciated here for sure. I have noticed after setting mash thickness in the recipe builder, the calculation is changing quite a bit within the "Quick Water Requirements" section of the recipe within the "Print" view. Within the recipe builder I have 5.01 gallons for mash infusion, with a 12lbs grain bill. By my calculation 5.01 gallons is 20.04 quarts, so the starting mash thickness will be 1.67 qt/lbs However, when selecting to view the recipe with the "Print" option, the Quick Water Requirements automatically show that 1.78 gallons are added to the mash volume for a total of 6.79 Gallons (27.16 quarts), though it still says that maintains a 1.67 qt/lbs mash thickness. From what I can tell, a change like that would make the mash thickness 2.26 qt/lbs instead. Why is this 1.78 Gallon addition being added automatically, and why does the mash thickness show incorrectly here? It makes sense that the software calculation expects that I am short by 1.78 gallons, but I don't understand why the mash thickness ratio would not update in relation to the added mash volume. Thanks in advance for any help here!
Are you sparging or not? I don't, but it looks like the program is taking extra water for the sparge. I use BIAB so I only start with what is in my kettle. It is usually 8 gallons. The grain eats up a gallon. The boil eats up a gallon, and the transfer eats up another. 8 gallons of water for 5 gallons into the fermenter. The only time I use anything with a calculator for water with BIAB is to calculate strike water temperature.
I've often found the quick water requirements (QWR) confusing as well. Maybe there is something in your equipment profile that causing the QWR to add extra water. If you make your recipe public and share the link we can take a look.
I went ahead and made it public! Here’s the link: https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1339151/pale-ale/449734
Hey LordBro, thanks for reaching out! The intent is that the user enter mash thickness should determine the apparent thickness of the mash, so you have a good idea of mash thickness for breaking up dough balls, any impact on pumps or stirring, and enzyme activity. With the 1.78 gallons of mashtun addition that is below/outside your mash basket/false bottom, the mash will behave in practice much thicker than the 'true' 2.26 qt/lb since the 1.78 gallons should be just liquid.
We're open to the reverse, but either way there will be confusion but wanted to maintain the actual thickness of the mash part to be true for the main purpose of enzyme activity and thickness of the portion that contains grains.
