Calculate efficiency from the runnings?

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Octavius

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The refractometer has arrived and I'm excited to correlate the readings with an hydrometer. I'd like to calculate the "efficiency" of the system and also get an idea of the final abv of the beer.

The problem with taking a reading after the boil is estimating the volume. I have a calibrated dipstick for the keggle but don't want to stick it in cooled wort for fear of contamination - there is usually about a foot of hops in there as well so I couldn't get an accurate reading anyway.

Taking a pre-boil reading would mean waiting until all the runnings were in the keggle whereas I like to get the boil ASAP on the first runnings while I'm waiting for the sparging, just to lessen the hours on brew day.

It just occurred to me that I could take readings on the runnings and I would know the volumes because I use calibrated food-grade buckets for collection. Then calculate a weighted mean of the gravity points.

Does this sound feasible - I haven't seen it mentioned in the forum.

Cheers!
 
Not sure if this helps but to find my post boil volume I have lines drawn on my fermenter that indicate the volume.
 
Bheher,
Yes, thanks for the reply.
Right now I ferment in kegs but I may switch to those plasic containers folks are using in the no-chill method, so I will bear that in mind about marking them beforehand.
Cheers!
 
I can't see why that wouldn't work to give you a fairly good estimate.
I also think you would be able to measure from the kettle after adding the last batch of sparge water and stirring, as there would not be much evaporation by that point; unless you add the wort throughout the boil to prevent boil overs.

-a.
 
The first runnings will give you a conversion efficiency. That will tell you if your mash worked well or not. If you have consistent sparge efficiency you can make a guess for pre-boil gravity. Kia has some good info on his site but it's geared more towards batch sparging. Fly sparging is going to be a little harder to predict. If the conversion is normal your BHE should be as well.

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/Understanding_Efficiency
 
ajf,
Many thanks for responding. I've started doing First Wort Hopping (adding hops to the first running) so taking a reading of the total volume with hops on the surface may be difficult but I'm thinking next batch I will filter them out, stir big-time, take a reading and put the hops back in. Then see how well the reading corresponds to the weighted average. I'll be doing this with the refractometer so it will be a piece of cake :).

Malticulous,
Wow! Do you mean that an SG of just the first running can give you an idea of the conversion efficiency? I was under the impression that an SG of the final volume was required.

Thanks for providing the link - looks like some good reading!

Cheers!
 
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