Pre-boil efficiency

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Scuba

Active Member
Joined
Oct 3, 2008
Messages
37
Reaction score
0
My question is about pre-boil efficiency. It seems that pre and post boil efficiencies are going to be quite different. If, say, 75% is a good post boil efficiency what would be considered a good pre-boil efficiency?

Or, another way to ask it is what kind of pre-boil efficiency are you shooting for so you have a clue as to whether your extraction was good or not?
 
although im no expert, i believe pre and post boil efficiencies should figure out to be to be pretty much the same. yes you have a higher sg post boil but you have less volume to balance that out. dont quote me on this, as i have never actually tested it, but i believe the gravity to volume ratio shouldnt change over the boil. the volume will decrease proportionally to the gravity increasing. and its the ratio that matters for efficiency.
 
That's correct, Jay. You have the same amount of sugar and and dissolved stuff in the boil before the boil and after. Well, that may not be completely true, but it's close enough so that your gravity readings should not vary significantly. I calculate what I expect my wort volume and gravity to be, based on what I want my final volume and gravity to be, and then hope the beer gods smile on me. That's how I measure my "pre-boil efficiency."


TL
 
IMHO, post boil/in the fermenter/or my favorite "brewhouse" efficiency CAN be the same as mash/lauter if you absolutely get all the wort out of the hops/trub. If you use pellet hops in a nylon bag, this is usually true. However, if you leave ANY wort in the kettle or tubing between the kettle and fermenter, your post boil efficiency will be a bit lower. I lose about 3% if I let my pump lose prime and wort gets locked up in the CFC.
 
Back
Top