I did my first AG batch this evening and everything went very smoothly - far better than my PM mini-debacle the other night. I downloaded BeerSmith and plugged all my recipe information in - BTW I brewed John Palmer's Amber Ale, the only difference being that I used 8.75 lbs of UK Pale Ale malt (he calls for 8). I overshot the weight at the LHBS but decided to keep it.
Anyhow, he says my OG for 5 gallons should be 1.055. BeerSmith has it at 1.060 for the 5 gallons. My actuals were 1.062 @ 5.5 gallons. My volumes were spot on according to what the program was calling for, except I had that extra half gallon that didn't boil off. When I plugged in my numbers, it calculated a 77.5% efficiency and I felt great, thought I earned an A+! But the "Efficiency as calculated from actual volume" is at 85.3% Palmer's book has max % yield for pale ale malt at 81%. Something is wrong, but I can't figure it out. Any ideas?
PS: The only deviation was with the mash - BeerSmith wanted a 154° mash, but I was at ~158°.
Anyhow, he says my OG for 5 gallons should be 1.055. BeerSmith has it at 1.060 for the 5 gallons. My actuals were 1.062 @ 5.5 gallons. My volumes were spot on according to what the program was calling for, except I had that extra half gallon that didn't boil off. When I plugged in my numbers, it calculated a 77.5% efficiency and I felt great, thought I earned an A+! But the "Efficiency as calculated from actual volume" is at 85.3% Palmer's book has max % yield for pale ale malt at 81%. Something is wrong, but I can't figure it out. Any ideas?
PS: The only deviation was with the mash - BeerSmith wanted a 154° mash, but I was at ~158°.