2nd AG in the primary; crazy efficiency!

EDIT: Okay, I have a question in regards to this brew. It fermented for 29 days between 62-66F. It finished at 1.020-- high but I did mash at 156 and only did a 60 minute mash.

My question after 29 days I went to crash cool it before transferring to keg (this will be my first time kegging). However with the craziness of Christmas I has been sitting at 36F for two weeks now.

I have seen when people Lager they raise it up to 60F+ for a diacetyl rest I believe. Then crash cool before kegging/bottling.

How should I proceed? Should I just go ahead and rack it to the keg? Or should I bring it up to primary ferm temps again for a day or two, crash cool for a day or two, then keg? Something else?!?

Thanks for the help.

END EDIT

ORIGINAL POST

Just got done with Northern Brewers Irish Draught Ale; I brewed it on a restaurant gas stove and it was my first time doing a full 5 gallon AG batch.

Amount Item Type % or IBU
6.50 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 76.47 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 5.88 %
0.25 lb Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) Grain 2.94 %
0.25 lb Oats, Malted (1.0 SRM) Grain 2.94 %
1.00 oz Challenger [7.50 %] (45 min) Hops 27.6 IBU
1.00 lb Honey (1.0 SRM) Sugar 11.76 %
Windsor Yeast pitched at 64 F

Mashed in @ 1.25qt: 1 lb at 156 F degrees and double batch sparged with 2.75 gallons at 168 F.

Boiled off more than I expected and ended up at 4.75 gallons.

These are my beersmith numbers for this batch:


Here are the ones from my Winterfest from November 1:



Am I understanding Beersmith correctly? My brewhouse efficiency is what I should calculate my recipes towards? However, the efficiency into fermenter tells me the actual efficiency for that particular batch because of the actual collected volume and specific gravity?

If that is the case, I think I am fairly consistent so far; 87.22% into the fermenter on my first batch on 11/1/08 and 88.98% into the fermenter yesterday.

Considering one was a 2.5g batch and the other 5g, and one was done on a ceramic residential cooktop vs. professional gas, I am pleased. However, seeing that I have hit over 80% on both batches, I should probably change my expected efficiency from 70% up to ~80%.

I've never had great efficiency, so I'll be the first to congratulate you and then say...

Congrads! What did the recipe have for the OG at 70%.

I am not sure what all goes into the brewhouse efficiency, but just do the simple math of how much liquid can you extract from what you put in.

In your case you put in a total of 7.84375 gallons and extracted 6.56 which leads to 83.6% efficiency. Pretty good by most peoples standards.

Congrads again!

Thanks lilsparky!


Humannbrewing... The recipe above was working under an assumption of 70% efficiency. Into the bk I was expected to hit 1.033 and I hit 1.040, and into the fermenter it was expected to be 1.046 and 5 gallons and I hit 1.060 at 4.75 gallons.

humann_brewing said:

I am not sure what all goes into the brewhouse efficiency, but just do the simple math of how much liquid can you extract from what you put in.

In your case you put in a total of 7.84375 gallons and extracted 6.56 which leads to 83.6% efficiency. Pretty good by most peoples standards.

Click to expand...

This isn't how efficiency works at all, sorry. You're simply calculating how much water was boiled off or absorbed, which while useful is not at all what he needs.

read this:
How to Brew - By John Palmer - Mash Efficiency

Efficiency is the amount of sugars extracted from the malt.

cyberbackpacker said:

Thanks lilsparky!


Humannbrewing... The recipe above was working under an assumption of 70% efficiency. Into the bk I was expected to hit 1.033 and I hit 1.040, and into the fermenter it was expected to be 1.046 and 5 gallons and I hit 1.060 at 4.75 gallons.

Click to expand...

Ahh, well I call this a nice mis-calculation I did the same thing on my porter, should have been 1.066 but was 1.078 because the efficiency was more. Oh well

Congrads and enjoy!

Kilgore_Trout said:

This isn't how efficiency works at all, sorry. You're simply calculating how much water was boiled off or absorbed, which while useful is not at all what he needs.

read this:
How to Brew - By John Palmer - Mash Efficiency

Efficiency is the amount of sugars extracted from the malt.

Click to expand...

Thank you for the enlightenment, I have a lot to learn and I must have skipped that chapter previously. Anyways, I will have to do some recalcs now and I forgot to take a PBG on this last batch so what stinks.

Okay, I have a question in regards to this brew. It fermented for 29 days between 62-66F. It finished at 1.020-- high but I did mash at 156 and only did a 60 minute mash.

My question after 29 days I went to crash cool it before transferring to keg (this will be my first time kegging). However with the craziness of Christmas I has been sitting at 36F for two weeks now.

I have seen when people Lager they raise it up to 60F+ for a diacetyl rest I believe. Then crash cool before kegging/bottling.

How should I proceed? Should I just go ahead and rack it to the keg? Or should I bring it up to primary ferm temps again for a day or two, crash cool for a day or two, then keg? Something else?!?

Thanks for the help.

You do not need a diacetyl rest because you had it in the primary plenty long enough. This is not a lager. Keg it.

Kilgore_Trout said:

This isn't how efficiency works at all, sorry. You're simply calculating how much water was boiled off or absorbed, which while useful is not at all what he needs.

read this:
How to Brew - By John Palmer - Mash Efficiency

Efficiency is the amount of sugars extracted from the malt.

Click to expand...

IIRC, Brewhouse eff has to do with the expected ratio of SG to volume as compared to what your system actually achieves. If you're getting a high SG with a volume that is closed to the expected runoff, your system/equipment is working well.

If you can duplicate your processes, you can use less malt and spend less money. This is how major breweries do business.

I think OG and volume into fermenter are probably more valuable, because that's a little closer to the finished product. Brewhouse eff is all about the bragging rights!