This can't be right!! Efficiency?

Ok, fairly new to all grain brewing, but have been doing partials for about 4 years now. On third all grain brew. It's an American Amber Ale, shooting for a target O.G. of 1.065 and a F.G. of 1.016. Should be about 6.4%. Recipe is as follows

11.5 lb 2 row brewer's malt
1.68 lb Crisp amber malt
1 lb cara-pils
1 lb caramel 80
1 oz cluster @ 60
1 oz cascade @ 45
1 oz cascade @ 30
2 pkts SAFALE US-05

Ok, I thought I originally had low efficiency and when I went to calculate, my calculations show 160% efficiency!! WTF! Here is what I got. I collected 8.5 gallons of wort pre-boil at a gravity of 1.063. I did my calculation through "Designing Great Beers". Can someone help clarify this? Or you can just tell me that I am that friggin' awsome!!:fro:

100% is the maximum possible, so something is clearly wrong. Did you cool your sample or temp correct?

Ok, like i said, something has to be wrong. I did my calculation for gravity/temperature conversion from http://dd26943.com/davesdreaded/tools/convert.htm and it gave me a reading of 1.063. My wort temp was 154 and the gravity reading at that time was 1.042. Now, here is where some stupidity could be coming in. I was reading on a refractometer and read it at 10.5 brix. First time I have ever used one. Am I still going crazy?!

this is second time I have done this recipe. The first time i did a 3 gallon batch since I only had a 5 gallon cooler to work with. I recently bought a 10 gallon, so of course I can do a full batch. My last batch hit all the numbers perfectly. It could be a case of the monday's!

I plugged your recipe into BeerSmith and came up with much lower numbers. Assuming 80% efficiency, your OG was only 1.051 and FG of 1.011.

10.5 brix = 1.042 sg
If you measured with a hydrometer, they are completely un reliable at higher temperatures.

I can't comment on your situation, but I keep blowing the math on Hopville. I regularly brew 11.5 gallon batches with a hybrid BIAB method.

8 lbs malt (sometimes MO or combo of Vienna and Munich)
7 lbs Pilsen DME

And I generally hit about 1.050 for an efficiency of about 112%.

I bag mash in too much water, about 10 gallons, with regular dunking. And then I sparge the bag with about a half gallon at 170. I get really good extraction, I think. I can't figure it out. Maybe my boil volume ends up below 11.5? I get two kegs and leave the loose pellets and traub behind leaving the kettle and the fermenters. I like the results....

You know, I think I know the problems. One, I don't need to do a temperature conversion when using a refractometer and two, I believe I mis-measured the amount of wort collected. I think it is more along the lines of 7.3 gallons. I need rethink my measuring methods next time. I just replugged my numbers and came out with 88%. Hey, what can I say, it's been a long day. At least this is what I think is wrong.

i just did a double check with both the refractometer and the hydrometer with a cooled down sample, i am sitting at 1.054. gonna boil a little bit more to reach my target of 1.061. both numbers were the same when i used the cooled down sample with the hydrometer.

So, you've been boiling for awhile (and adding hops at timed intervals), and now you're at 1.054?

If you boil longer than designed, how will you control the hop flavor/bitterness?

If you continue to boil, all of your late hop additions will become bitter, adding to the IBU's.

I usually like to hit on the lower side of the IBU's since I am not much of a hop head. If I add some bitterness, that is fine, most people I know go for hoppier beer styles. I am also not boiling for much longer, it was maybe 10 more minutes, then I called it quits because I was not looking to do a hoppy amber. This is my second brew on the equipment, so there is a little getting used to it. I will let you know how the flavor profile ended up in about 4-5 weeks when I pop a bottle.

I think I understand what is happening now. Because I am mashing 8lbs in a bag in so much water I am getting big numbers. As I am dunking the bag tea bag style, I am getting a near perfect rinse, followed by a sparge. I don't think a traditional mash can get that much starch out of the grains. It's making sense to me now, I think.

Early8 said:

I can't comment on your situation, but I keep blowing the math on Hopville. I regularly brew 11.5 gallon batches with a hybrid BIAB method.

8 lbs malt (sometimes MO or combo of Vienna and Munich)
7 lbs Pilsen DME

And I generally hit about 1.050 for an efficiency of about 112%.

I bag mash in too much water, about 10 gallons, with regular dunking. And then I sparge the bag with about a half gallon at 170. I get really good extraction, I think. I can't figure it out. Maybe my boil volume ends up below 11.5? I get two kegs and leave the loose pellets and traub behind leaving the kettle and the fermenters. I like the results....

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