How many all grain brewers don't measure efficiency?

I was wondering if I'm in the minority of All Grain brewers who don't measure my efficiency or if there are more of us out there!

I BIAB 5 gallon batches. I took all my measurements on my first attempt and was shocked at how high my efficiency was ~89%.

Since then I haven't measured efficiency and haven't had a bad brew.

Are there others out there like me, or am I just lazy?

zero, (my mistake I had no idea there were people who don't measure efficiency)

I maintain an 82-84% efficiency with my BIAB rig so that is the number i use to build my recipes but i still measure efficiency every time just to verify my process.

I don't as long as I am close to the OG I'm a happy camper.

Double_D said:

zero, (my mistake I had no idea there were people who don't measure efficiency)

Click to expand...

You're wrong Double D... your number should be 1 because of THIS GUY!!!

I guess I don't measure because no matter what... I WILL drink it!

That and I trust the process.

I will only measure if I'm doing something new or different with my process.

I measure mine randomly at best.

I calculate efficiency for every batch I brew.

I do once in a while. I can guess my efficiency pretty good by the OG though.

If I kept notes and took measurements as often as I should, I shold be able to go back and calculate efficiency easy enough. I just don't measure everything and write notes like I should.

I might if I had a refractometer, but I don't. I usually calculate it after the fact, but I don't bother to take any readings or adjust during the process.

I usually stick between 70 and 75 so if I hit my OG i'm happy. I don't do it every batch or even every 5. Only when I make a big change in my process or adjust the gap on my mill.

I have never calculated efficiency since going AG a few years ago. Based upon the grain bills I use, and my resulting OG's, I am satisfied. I crush pretty fine and have never lacked gravity points, and have always been just about where I anticipated.

I think some get wrapped up in the numbers, I laugh when I see someone figuring strike and sparge volumes to two decimal places?

I just brew...

I calculate it just on OG from the wort because I take the SG reading and compare it to my expected yield. It's actually really helpful for recipe creation. Once you know that your single infusion is 85%, you put 85% into your calculator, if you get 92-95% reliably for a decoction mash, you don't really want to put in 85% because your beer will not be what you want and it could be significantly off espeically if you plan 75% and you get 95% and really, everything is off about that.

Once I did a few batches of various mash types, found my grain crush, condition my grain and repeated it about 10 times I got a good base for recipe creation. Everything after that is just numbers and making sure if something really strange happened, I can pin it to a particular problem.

Double_D said:

zero

Click to expand...

Right....

I don't. As long as I hit my planned OG, there really is no need to.

If you measure your grains, and you measure your OG, and adjust anything based off repeated experience doing this, you are measuring and tracking efficiency, even if you don't put a number to it. Efficiency is a useful tool which most everyone ought to at least understand, even if you don't feel the need to calculate and brag about your exact numbers on a forum.

If you use any free or paid for software for your batches, you'll usually get a predicted OG based on whatever eff. you set. I brew AG in 10 gallon batches and build my recipes based on a 75% eff. Lately due to grain conditioning and crush I'm hitting 85% regularly. If this stays on target, I will adjust my recipes so I use less grain in my bill. FG post boil you will do anyway with a hydro right?

I use hopville and i'm pretty pleased with it

I don't bother. As long as I'm within a couple points of the OG, it's good.

Wow, I'm a terrible person. Don't calculate efficiency, don't measure OG or FG. If the beer tastes good, I did OK.

I do because what the hell else am I going to do while the wort boils for 60-90 minutes?

I am already surfing the net so what is so hard about doing a calulation?

I always measure pre/post boil OG, along with FG. Everytime. I am working on being able to repeat brews, so I have an extremely detailed brew log of every session, so I can duplicate beers easily, which is tough for many home brewers. I used to not care, but once I did an IPA I wish I could have repeated, but I didn't have a good enough log.

I've been AG for 2.5 years, and have never calculated efficiency and don't really care about it. If I hit my OG, I'm happy- game over.

If you use a recipe and all the numbers work or you use software and have plugged in all the correct info you have calculated the efficiency numbers. You may choose to ignore them or inflate and brag about them for some reason but they are what they are. If you just dump stuff into the pot and turn the heat on, well that is another story entirely - and yes I've seen that done.

I hardly ever measure efficiency. Math is no fun for me.

RyanWeary said:

I calculate efficiency for every batch I brew.

Click to expand...

+1, I would be crazy if I didnt know what I had in the fermenter

I measured efficiency for my first few batches but I don't bother with it anymore.

SEVEN "I measured efficiency for my first few batches but I don't bother with it anymore."

Me too.

I live and die by the numbers. I want to no as much as I can about the product I'm creating.

I always measure my efficiency. Every batch.

I measure the first time I use a new system, adjust my procedure as needed and then just go from there. As long as I am hitting my gravities I know all is well. In all the time I worked in commercial breweries, I only ever checked efficiency as a percent at one location... and that was simply as matter of curiosity. I had noted that my gravities were slightly lower (1/2 -1 degree Plato on average) than a previous system. I checked the efficiency percent and then looked for ways to bump it up a tad. I determined that the geometry of the mash tun was the culprit (i.e. nothing I could do mechanically) and bumped my grist up a wee bit. Gravities hit again, consistent... make beer, drink beer, be happy...

david_42 said:

I don't bother. As long as I'm within a couple points of the OG, it's good.

Click to expand...

rico567 said:

I've been AG for 2.5 years, and have never calculated efficiency and don't really care about it. If I hit my OG, I'm happy- game over.

Click to expand...

This and this.

I usually don't even measure OG. I've been focused on making sure everything is perfect from pitch on. Once I feel like I have that nailed, ill worry about efficiency.

jmlabeck said:

Wow, I'm a terrible person. Don't calculate efficiency, don't measure OG or FG. If the beer tastes good, I did OK.

Click to expand...

Yes. I've measured my efficiency a few times to make sure nothing was horribly wrong. I've measured OG and FG for most batches to make sure nothing was horrible wrong. Now, I just drink the beer and enjoy it!

That being said I also think it's very important to understand, measure, adjust, and measure again all of that stuff. Then when you really know what's going on it's a lot easier to slack off and rely on your experience.

OG and FG for me. That's it.

I measure everything, OG, FG, efficiency and conversion. I know it has helped me brew better beer.