Skip to main content

Grainfather Specifications for BeerSmith, Beer Tools Pro, and Other Software

Recently, I've been trying to "dial in" settings in BeerSmith and Beer Tools Pro so that I can do a better job getting my actual brewing results to match up to the figures in the software. Below are some of the figures I've worked out with my US Grainfather. Given manufacturing variances and possible measuring errors on my part, these might not match exactly to yours, but hopefully they're close enough that it will help you.

BeerSmith Equipment Profile:

  • Brewhouse Efficiency: 83% (based on my experience, yours may vary)
  • Mash Tun Volume: 8 gallons
  • Mash Tun Weight: 8.82 pounds
  • Mash Tun Specific Heat: 0.12 Cal/gram-deg C
  • Mash Tun Addition: 0 gallons
  • Lauter Tun Losses: 0 gallons
  • Top Up Water for Kettle: 0 gallons
  • Boil Volume: 6.25 gallons
  • Boil Time: 60 minutes
  • Boil Off: 0.40 gallons per hour
  • Cooling Shrinkage: 6%
  • Loss to Trub and Chiller: 0.53 gallons
  • Batch Volume: 5 gallons
  • Fermenter Loss: 0.40 gallons (yours may vary)
  • Whirlpool time: 0 minutes
Beer Tools Pro Vessel Profile:
  • Shape: Circular/Elliptical
  • Width: 12 inches
  • Length: 12 inches
  • Height: 17 inches
  • Capacity: 8.3 gallons
  • Heat Capacity: 1020.5 J/K
  • Dead Space; 0.5 gallons
  • Heat Transfer Coefficient: 5.51 W/m2 K
  • Environment: 68.5F
  • Infusion Volume: 5.0 gallons
  • Infusion Temp: 148F
  • Temp After 5 minutes: 147F
  • Temp After 65 Minutes: 137F
Beer Tools Pro Heat Source Profile:
  • Environment: 68.7F
  • Calibration Volume: 5 gallons
  • Vessel Heat Capacity: 502.8 J/K
  • Time to Heat 18F (10C): 10.5 minutes
If, as I do, you use hops bags to keep particulate out of the kettle, you may want to factor in adding about 10% additional hops to account for possible losses due to the bag. 


Labels:

Comments

  1. Jeremy AronsonMay 10, 2020 at 4:43 AM

    I just want to say this is extremely useful, thanks for taking the time to write this. BeerSmith 3.0.8 Crack

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Note that comments to this blog are moderated in order to minimize spam comments and things that might be offensive to readers.

Popular posts from this blog

2022 Batch 01 - St. Gambrinus Spiced Holiday Ale (Kit)

I purchased a St. Gambrinus Spiced Holiday Ale Kit from Great Fermentations in Indianapolis a few weeks ago and decided to get it made today... a tad late for the holidays, but it will give me a good idea if I like the recipe for next Christmas. The kit basically comes as a bag of crushed grain with a packet of Northern Brewer hops.  You supply your own spices and order yeast separately. Ingredients 8.5 pounds Two-Row Brewer's Malt 2 pounds Munich Dark Malt 1 pound Honey Malt 8 ounces Simpsons Dark Crystal Malt 0.5 ounces Northern Brewer hops (60 min.) 0.5 ounces Northern Brewer hops (30 min.) 1 package White Labs Edinburgh Scottish Ale yeast 1 tsp. Irish Moss (15 min.) 0.5 oz. Bitter Orange Peel (10 min.) 2 cinnamon sticks (I used 3) (10 min.) 0.5 tsp. Ground Ginger (10 min.) 0.25 tsp. Allspice (secondary) 0.25 oz. Ground Cardamom (secondary) 0.25 oz. Ground Cinnamon (secondary) 1 Tbsp. pH 5.2 Stabilizer added to mash after grain 6.8 gallons of RO water, treated with: 3 grams Gyps...
Post a Comment
Read more

2022 Batch 02 - Pecan Brandy Mead

I watched an episode of Moonshiners: Master Distiller   late in 2020 where one of the contestants made a Pecan Brandy that he (and the judges) described as being very tasty, like drinking a pecan pie.  I thought that sounded good, and although distilling it into brandy would not be a legal option for me, turning it into a mead would be quite possible and might be good. The recipe as described on the show was pretty simple... honey, water, yeast, and pecans. Ingredients 12 pounds of Wildflower Honey 2 pounds of Pecans, crushed and ground 4 gallons of water, treated with some gypsum 1 tsp. yeast nutrient 1 package of Premier Des Cotes champagne yeast Batch Size: 5.0 gallons (actual and estimated) Original Gravity:  1.090 (actual and estimated) Final Gravity:   0.984 (estimated) Brewing Instructions Bring water to a boil and sterilize wort chiller. Add half the pecans in a muslin bag.  Add the other half, in a different muslin bag, to the fermenter. Gradually add ...
Post a Comment
Read more

2021 Batch 1 - Rice Wine made with Yellow Label Angel Yeast

I've become a big fan of the Still It channel on YouTube.  About a month ago, Jesse posted a video about how he made rice wine using nothing more than water, rice, and a purported "magic" yeast from China called Yellow Label Angel Yeast. Perhaps even more amazing was the fact that he was able to make the rice wine without gelatinizing or mashing the rice.  He shows three batches in the video.  One was made by cooking the rice before adding the yeast mixture. Another was made by adding uncooked rice to boiling water.  The last was made by adding uncooked rice to room temperature water.  All three fermented out to roughly the same amount of alcohol in about two weeks. He was amazed by this, as was I. I resolved to buy some of this magical yeast from Aliexpress.com and try it out. In the Still It video, the rice is ground up in the grain mill into smaller chunks to make it easier for the enzymes in the yellow label yeast to convert and ferment.  I'm changin...
Post a Comment
Read more