Efficiency question

Hey guys, I am consistently getting a high pre-boil and post boil gravity readings and I'm not sure why. I fly sparge in a keggle with a pump and gravity feed my sparge water out of a cooler. I brewed a kölsch this last weekend and wanted my OG to be around 1.040 and instead I hit a reading of 1.063. So I guess when fermentation is complete, I won't get down to around 1.010 where it's supposed to be instead, I'll have a kölsch that's around 7 ABV, not a very good session beer. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that am I getting really good efficiency or am I doing something wrong. Thanks.

What I would suggest is that you check the calibration of your instruments, specifically your thermometer that you are measuring your mash temps with. This would seem to be the most obvious source of this overly-high OG. It could also be that your hydrometer is improperly calibrated. Check it with distilled water to make sure it reads 1.000 at 60F. If your instruments are calibrated and your recipe calculations are in fact correct, then you are getting crazy efficiency. Have you calculated what it would be if this were the case?

Hey just finished checking my refractometer and my digital thermometer, ( which I put into a glass of ice water and read 32 degrees) both seem to be calibrated correctly. I use Beersmith do you think maybe I'm screwing something up when plugging in numbers?

I'm not really a BeerSmith wiz, but from my limited use of it that seems possible. Make sure you have your equipment profile set up to match what your equipment actually is. That is about all I can think of. Do you take temp readings at the beginning and end of your mash, or only at the beginning? The reason I ask is because sometimes when I mash if I take a reading only at the beginning things can seem to be at the right temp, but are actually higher and if checked a few minutes later will show that it is over my mash temp (did that make any sense?).

You are checking your mash temps, not just going by what the strike water calc tells you you need, correct? And you are incorporating your mash temp into your BeerSmith calculations?

Totally opposite most all grain brewers experience, lol. Add less base malt, set your efficiency higher in beersmith to help lower the numbers and get dialed in.

What efficiency % are you aiming for; what are you getting?

Recipe?

Here is the recipe. I seemed to have hit all of my mash temps, although I did have a couple of hotter spots in the mash which I thought was kinda weird. Anyways, if you guys see anything I did wrong, let me know.

Denny's Orange Kolsch
Kölsch
Type: All Grain Date: 4/17/2012
Batch Size (fermenter): 11.00 gal Brewer: Denny
Boil Size: 15.48 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 90 min Equipment: Stainless Kegs (10 Gal/37.8 L) - All Grain
End of Boil Volume 12.48 gal Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 10.25 gal Est Mash Efficiency 78.5 %
Fermentation: Ale, Single Stage Taste Rating(out of 50): 30.0
Taste Notes:
Ingredients

Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
16 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (4.5 SRM) Grain 1 78.0 %
3 lbs Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 14.6 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 3 7.3 %
2.00 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 16.7 IBUs
1.00 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 5 4.2 IBUs
1.00 oz Coriander Seed (Boil 10.0 mins) Spice 6 -
0.75 oz Orange Peel, Bitter (Boil 10.0 mins) Spice 7 -
0.75 oz Orange Peel, Sweet (Boil 10.0 mins) Spice 8 -
Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.050 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.063 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.0 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 7.0 %
Bitterness: 20.9 IBUs Calories: 210.2 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 5.5 SRM
Mash Profile

Mash Name: Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out Total Grain Weight: 20 lbs 8.0 oz
Sparge Water: 11.53 gal Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F Tun Temperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE Mash PH: 5.20
Mash Steps
Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Mash In Add 7.41 gal of water at 165.0 F 152.0 F 60 min
Sparge Step: Fly sparge with 11.53 gal water at 168.0 F
Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).
Carbonation and Storage

Carbonation Type: Keg Volumes of CO2: 2.3
Pressure/Weight: 12.54 PSI Carbonation Used: Keg with 12.54 PSI
Keg/Bottling Temperature: 45.0 F Age for: 30.00 days
Fermentation: Ale, Single Stage Storage Temperature: 65.0 F
Notes

Created with BeerSmith

I see this is Denny's recipe with a batch size of 11 gallons, did you brew an 11 gallon batch?

If not, did you scale the recipe down to your batch size?

If not, there's your answer

Recipe set at 78% eff
Actual eff is 92%
That is quite a big difference!!!
Did this happen more than once?
Did u buy the grain preceushed in a bag from lhbs?
Did u weigh some of the grain and your friend the rest?
Bathroom scale?

I did not mean to seem flip on my first reply, I asked the question because I see that the batch size is for 11 gallons but the equipment being listed is a 10Gallon kettle, so I am wondering if you put in the recipe but forgot to scale it to your system set up.

If this is the case then you actually would exceed your expected efficiency because the grain bill was much higher than the system allows for and the beer was designed for.

It's cool, yeah I made the change back to 10 gallons and it did change the estimated OG and efficiency. I also think an extra pound of base may have made it into the mash on accident. (oops). That probably was my problem in the first place. Hopefully, it'll turn out ok but we'll see. I'll probably brew it again and see what I get next time. Thanks for all of the quick responses.