Echoloc8
Acolyte of Fermentalism
I've been working hard to get a better hold on my mash, lauter and brewhouse efficiency numbers, and came up against something this past weekend that raised a question for me.
I mashed this recipe for 75 minutes at 148 *F, and after vorlauf and running a few quarts into my boil kettle I took a refractometer reading that came to about 1.088. Since the range I use is 1.25 qt/lb, that was about 96%, so I was happy. But then I remembered I had prepped a 185 *F mash-out liquor addition, so I added it, stirred, and after another vorlauf came to 1.075ish, which is more like 82% mash efficiency.
At first blush, this seems to make sense, because more water should dilute the sugars, right? But then I wondered, shouldn't a mash-out liberate at least some sugars and thus do better than 82%?
As for the batch, my preboil gravity showed that I was on track for 72% brewhouse efficiency, and I wound up in fine shape for my OG, but this is my question: what effect should I expect from a mash-out?
-Rich
I mashed this recipe for 75 minutes at 148 *F, and after vorlauf and running a few quarts into my boil kettle I took a refractometer reading that came to about 1.088. Since the range I use is 1.25 qt/lb, that was about 96%, so I was happy. But then I remembered I had prepped a 185 *F mash-out liquor addition, so I added it, stirred, and after another vorlauf came to 1.075ish, which is more like 82% mash efficiency.
At first blush, this seems to make sense, because more water should dilute the sugars, right? But then I wondered, shouldn't a mash-out liberate at least some sugars and thus do better than 82%?
As for the batch, my preboil gravity showed that I was on track for 72% brewhouse efficiency, and I wound up in fine shape for my OG, but this is my question: what effect should I expect from a mash-out?
-Rich