Ridiculous efficiency

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joex444

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Hey all,

Having some trouble figuring out the efficiency. I usually get about 65% with my LHBS crush, but went with BMW this time.

The recipe
7lb MO
0.5lb Crystal 20
0.5lb Crystal 60
0.5lb Crystal 80
0.5lb Carafoam
4oz Chocolate

(its basically BM's Newcastle clone, with carafoam but without corn.)

I collected 10qt from first runnings, 15qt from sparge for 6.25gal into the kettle. I measured my gravity at 80F as 1.060. Trying to figure out the efficiency, I ended up with over 100%. This is all pre-boil -- its heating up at the moment.

I checked the obvious - my thermometer is calibrated properly (did this yesterday), and my hydrometer reads 1.000 on tap water. I checked a Schwarzbier I brewed up in Feb, reads 1.014 which is what I was expected (1.012).

As far as mash goes, mashed at 150F for 60 minutes, added 1 gallon for mashout, stirred, waited, drained, vorlaufed three times, drained and then sparged with 3.75 gal. I'm able to boil indoors using a 40qt pot on two burners, so I have a decent boiloff rate.
 
It can really only be three things: 1) hydrometer error, 2) volume error, or 3) human error.

Seems like your hydrometer is fine. How confident are you in your 6.25 gallons in the kettle estimation? Are you positive you didn't mis-weigh any of the grains?

I always take my preboil gravity reading efficiency with a grain of salt, since it always seems to be about 5% higher than my postboil one, something I chalk up to volume measurement errors. I have yet to find a good way to adjust wort volume for temperature, so I really just take the preboil gravity to make sure nothing's ridiculously off. For efficiency, I always use post-boil, chilled back to room temp.
 
Yeah, I totally messed up something. Not sure how I messed up the volume, I collected into a pot with quart readings.

So, just finished up. Ended with 3.5gal @ 1.072. Not a chance I had that much boiloff.

Diluted to 5.5G @ 1.046, so everything is fine. My efficiency still went up; recipe was for 1.042, 5.0G and 70%.
 
Did you weigh the grains before you mashed, or just trust the label? It's always possible that there was some human error on the other end of shipping and you had an extra pound of grain in the bag too. (I've got a "Newcastle Clone" kegged right now that tastes and looks like a chocolate stout minus some hops that I suspect came from a LHBS mixup.)

@Budbo: Flaked maize is used in a lot of British beers as an adjunct to lighten them up a bit. Most of the recipes I've seen for Newcastle Clones include it, including the one from AHS.
 
Yeah, I totally messed up something. Not sure how I messed up the volume, I collected into a pot with quart readings.

So, just finished up. Ended with 3.5gal @ 1.072. Not a chance I had that much boiloff.

Diluted to 5.5G @ 1.046, so everything is fine. My efficiency still went up; recipe was for 1.042, 5.0G and 70%.
I find I have to keep a scratch tally when I'm measuring by quarts, or I totally forget where I am and skip a few numbers. I also measured water into my kettle by 1/2 gallons with measuring tape so I can go back and check if I forget if I tallied or not (each 1/2 gallon adds about 3/4"!).
 
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