Efficency??????

[gregorach]

why is brew house not useful ?

presumably you are going to boil in a similar way each time?

Well, it's not that it's not useful at all, it's just I mainly use efficiency to get an idea of how well my mash and sparge are working, so I find it most helpful to concentrate on the MLT efficiency. Boiler losses are important, sure, but I look at those simply by comparing my post-boil volume in the boiler to my final run-off volume in the FV. Brewhouse efficiency just lumps too many different things in together for my liking... An unexpectedly low brewhouse efficiency tells you that something's gone wrong, but it's not much use in identifying exactly what.

[danskitt]

I have just finished my 3rd AG brew and it seems I have got an efficency of 93%. I think I must be doing something wrong, can you look over what I have done and see where I am going wrong?

Brew - Timothy Taylor Landlord from GW's book (a kit from Worcester hop shop)

pale malt - 4250 (I think this is Bairds maris otter) - Ldk 317 4.250 x 317 = 1347.25
Black malt - 30 - Ldk 209 .030 x 209 = 6.27
Total = 1360

from the sparge i gathered 25 litres of wort before the runnings came out at 1.008 and the hydrometer reading was 1.050 @ 24 deg

25 litres x 51 = 1275/1360 x 100 = 93%

[dynamic dave]

Where did you get the figure for Bairds maris otter - Ldk 317 from please?
I bought 25kg bag Bairds Maris otter and I am down to my last 5kg and I want to check my mash efficiency.

[gregorach]

I have just finished my 3rd AG brew and it seems I have got an efficency of 93%. I think I must be doing something wrong, can you look over what I have done and see where I am going wrong?

Brew - Timothy Taylor Landlord from GW's book (a kit from Worcester hop shop)

pale malt - 4250 (I think this is Bairds maris otter) - Ldk 317 4.250 x 317 = 1347.25
Black malt - 30 - Ldk 209 .030 x 209 = 6.27
Total = 1360

from the sparge i gathered 25 litres of wort before the runnings came out at 1.008 and the hydrometer reading was 1.050 @ 24 deg

25 litres x 51 = 1275/1360 x 100 = 93%

Your calculations are correct. If anything's wrong, it must be in your measurements...

[coatesg]

As long as you hit the brew length spot on and fermented out to the expected FG then this is true.

Efficiency has nothing to do with the fermentation...

It should also be noted that (unless you are a huge macro brewer where +efficiency means ++money), having an efficiency that is through the roof is not always a good thing - having very high mash efficiencies for example by sparging right out to nothing *may* (depending on water chemistry, temperature and other factors) increase the amount of tannins extracted during the sparge. Clearly losing less liquid along the way (eg deadspaces) will mean you have more beer for the same work, but the cost savings really don't add up to much on a homebrew scale. Even a 5% efficiency change for something like a 4.5% bitter is only equivalent to using 300g more or less grain.

[danskitt]

Dunc, when you say the measurements could be wrong do you mean the weight of the grains, hops etc or how much wort was collected? I bought some pre measured kits from worcester hop shop but didn't weigh the grain, I just assumed that the weights would be right. I did notice that there were more hops than in the GW version though so I weighed out the correct amount for those.

[danskitt]

Where did you get the figure for Bairds maris otter - Ldk 317 from please?
I bought 25kg bag Bairds Maris otter and I am down to my last 5kg and I want to check my mash efficiency.

I got the LDK from this website http://www.mashspargeboil.com/a-guide-t ... fficiency/ courtesy of another poster in another thread. The value is a generic maris otter not Bairds, I have no idea if this is right or not, I am kind of bumping around in the dark still.

[gregorach]

Dunc, when you say the measurements could be wrong do you mean the weight of the grains, hops etc or how much wort was collected?

All of the above, plus the gravity...