brewhouse efficiency

[cooldad]

Been using Beersmith for my last 2 brews before that I brewed at jubby's and he uses beer alchemy for the mac . And using alchemy and good old pen and paper have been working out efficicency going into the boiler ,and since using Beersmith had a feeling that somthing was not right with my calculations but put it down to inexperiance being new to it .But using Beersmith it uses beerhouse efficiency as Alchemy uses efficiency into the boiler , I didn't know there was a differance being new to the hobbie but talking to jubby about a brew reciepe the other night I put it into beersmith setting my efficiency at 85% which is what I worked my efficiency tobe (into the boiler)and got a completley different grain bill to achieve the same abv as jubby at the same efficiency.Alot of head scatching and then nocked the brewhouse efficiency down to 70% and got the same grain bill .

What is the differance between them?(And my efficiency now looks rubbish ,) also looking at peoples posts on this superb forum what do most people quote when doing brew's, brewhouse or mash tun efficiecy?

[flything]

Mash tun efficiency is a measure of how well you are extracting the sugars from the grain, normally taking into account any loses in the lautering process (i.e. dead space in you mash tun). I get 81% on my system

Edit: the 81% is really my yield agains what the lab got. At least I think thats how Beersmith calculates it!

Mash Tun efficiency should be closer to the theoretical maximum extraction calculated in a lab, but they do all sorts of things like grind the grain to a flour and use coffee filters to strain the wort, takes hours but means there are few if any loses due to headspace, tubing etc.

Brewhouse efficiency is a measure of how the whole system performs and takes into account loses to hops, trub, deadspace etc in your boiler, chiller etc, I get 66% because I've got a crap hop strainer and lose at least a litre there.

[Scooby]

But using Beersmith it uses beerhouse efficiency as Alchemy uses efficiency into the boiler ,

I use BeerAlchemy and although it states Mash Efficiency I think it actually
registers efficiency at each stage, ie if you input you pre-boil gravity
it calculates mash efficiency, as soon as you input the OG it calculates
your overall efficiency. Steve may correct me on this though.

Edit: The 'Usual Extract Efficiency' in the profiles is brewhouse efficiency.

[cooldad]

Thanks for explaining that , because of the efficiency differance's this did mess up my hop bill in a brew that I was looking for 33 ibu and using beersmith with my mash efficiency put in the brewhouse efficiency made the beer and tastes good but a bit weak know I now why . can't wait to brew again this time should get everything right using beersmith by putting the right efficiency into it and not being confused by what it is trying to tell me. It all makes sence now

[dcq1974]

Hi Cooldad
I found exactly the same problem using BrewSmith in that I calculated my overall brewhouse efficiency to be between 70-75% and I don't get the same grain quantities etc in the software until I drop this value to 65%!!!!!

Here is a link below to the BeerSmith site and brewhouse efficiency. Happy Reading!

http://www.beersmith.com/blog/2008/10/2 ... r-brewing/

[Buzz]

Yeah, I have to drop the brewhouse efficiency in BS to 60%, so you are not alone.

[cooldad]

At least i'm not alone but once you know everything falls into place on beersmith. and thanks for the link dcq1974.
I suppose I should have read up on beersmith before jumping in at the deep end and asuming that the efficiency setting was for mash efficiency even though it does say brewhouse on it, but as I had never heard of it thought it was an Americanism for mash efficiency as that is how i had worked out my efficiency before getting beersmith.You life and learn .

[dcq1974]

Hey no problem cooldad.
I only came across the link after subscribing to the BrewSmith email (I think this is once weekly) and then did a few old fashioned pen & paper calculations (or as BS put it - finding out what's under the hood)!!!!

Maybe they should release a "British" version

Corny 1 : Ruby Mohecan
Corny 2 : Santa's Tipple (or Vicars Quaff - Abbot Clone came out at 5.6% vol after BeerSmith efficiency calculations!!)

[booldawg]

I have to set my BE in Beersmith to 90% to get accurate results; I'm quite sure thats not the kind of figures I get 'in the real world' Will have to set pen to paper and work it out the old fashioned way!

[clogwog]

BeerSmith does 3 different efficiency calculations for each of your brews.

I have my Brewhouse efficiency set to 75%, and have no trouble achieving that.

If you click on Brewhouse Efficiency in your recipe, it will open up another box where you can enter details as you brew to give you these figures:

1.Efficiency into Boiler. Enter the volume into the boiler and the SG reading (temperature adjusted), and it will calculate this based on the grain bill in your recipe.

2. Efficiency into Fermenter. Just enter the volume you drained into the fermenter. It will then calculate it, and allows for losses to trub left in the kettle. Provided you have accurately entered your usual boil off loss and kettle dead space in your system set up, it works well.

3. Brewhouse Efficiency. Enter the SG into the fermenter. On the recipe page itself you enter the actual batch volume you bottled or kegged. This allows for losses left behind in the fermenter, and you then get your true Brewhouse efficiency.

The trick with all these programs is to build up a history of your brews to establish a pattern of what your system delivers for you. Once you dial in the system to your setup and usual results, it's a breeze to design recipes and get close to the predicted results.