Efficiency Confusion with 2nd AG Batch

I recently brewed a 5.2 gallon IPA batch that I tailored from scratch and have some questions about the efficiency I saw.

Recipe was:

• 12# 2-row
• 1.5# Crystal 20
• 0.5# Munich 10L
• 1oz. Citra 14.1%AA @ 15min
• 2oz. Chinook 11.1%AA @ 10min
• 2oz. Citra 14.1%AA @ 5min

After my combining all my runnings I had about 5.2 gallons with a pre-boil gravity of 1.065. At this point I knew I missed my pre-boil volume and should have sparged with another 1.5 gallons or so, but I didn't.

Instead I boiled and ran everything like normal. After the boil I was left with roughly 4.2 gallons of wort and started chilling it. While it was chilling I boiled up an additional 1.125 gallons of water and added that to get my volume back to where I wanted it. I figured I was going to lose a lot to trub with all the hops in it so I wanted to get my volume up.

After adding the top-up and chilling my OG was at 1.065 @ 75F. I figured this was all good because it falls in with the style and seems to be fine.

My question is when I am trying to figure out my efficiency I am coming up with mixed answers. One calculator I use tells me I got about 71% efficiency while another is telling me I got roughly 65% efficiency. So which is right? Could anyone help?

Bueller?

VTrookie said:

Recipe was:

• 12# 2-row
• 1.5# Crystal 20
• 0.5# Munich 10L
• 1oz. Citra 14.1%AA @ 15min
• 2oz. Chinook 11.1%AA @ 10min
• 2oz. Citra 14.1%AA @ 5min

After my combining all my runnings I had about 5.2 gallons with a pre-boil gravity of 1.065.

Click to expand...

Ok, with 14 pounds of grain there, you get roughly 14 x 36 = 504 points of sugar to work with. 5.2 gallons at 1.065 is 5.2 x 65 = 338 points after lautering. 338 out of 504 is 67% mash/lauter efficiency or (into the boiler).

VTrookie said:

Instead I boiled and ran everything like normal. After the boil I was left with roughly 4.2 gallons of wort and started chilling it. While it was chilling I boiled up an additional 1.125 gallons of water and added that to get my volume back to where I wanted it. I figured I was going to lose a lot to trub with all the hops in it so I wanted to get my volume up.

After adding the top-up and chilling my OG was at 1.065 @ 75F.

Click to expand...

Well, this is where it gets tricky. How much volume did you have where you measured 1.065? If you added all of the 1.125 gallons to the 4.2 gallons, then you had 5.325 gallons.. did it all make it into the fermenter or was it closer to 5? If it was 5 gallons then 5 x 65 is 325 points out of 504 max. That's 64% "brewhouse" efficiency or "into the fermenter".

I appreciate the run down on the math!

After the boil, I transferred everything from the kettle to the fermenter. That was where I had 4.2 gallons. I didn't take a SG reading at this point. I instead boiled up 1.125 gallons of water and brought the batch volume up to 5.3 and chilled.

After chilling I was left with 5.3 gallons at 1.065. Does this mean 5.3 x 65 = 344.5 out of a potential 504 which is 68.35% brewhouse efficiency?

I am still trying to nail down my volumes and figure it all out. This is only my 2nd AG batch after all.

Thanks again for the help.

Yeah you have it right. Certainly sparging to the point where you only boil down to your fermenter volume is the way to maximize efficiency between water added post sparge only dilutes.