Promash Efficiency Numbers.

Ok. I could use a little help from the ProMash folks on the board.

When you do your efficiency, do you take a volume measurement in the kettle or the fermenter? I've been using the kettle as I feel I can measure the volume better (though I'm starting to have some doubts about this).

Tonight, I brewed up my Belgian Wit and it looked like I had about 11.5 gallons in the kettle after the boil. Once I drained the kettles to the fermenters though, it looks like I'm closer to 12 gallons. When I plug the numbers into ProMash, I got a 80% efficiency with the kettle numbers and a 92% efficiency on the fermenter numbers. Sort of a big difference.

My last batch was about 82% based on the kettle numbers and 87% on the fermenter. The one before that would have been around 77% kettle and 87% based on the fermenter.

Anyone have a thought on why these numbers are so different?

I think I'm going to measure out each kettle and fermenter and mark them with graduation marks so I can get a better handle on this.

Shouldn't matter. You set your batch size in your recipe. Take a gravity reading beofre yeast pitch in and that SG vs the reicpes estimated SG (OG) shows if you are up or down on you est. efficency.

jdoiv said:

Anyone have a thought on why these numbers are so different?

I think I'm going to measure out each kettle and fermenter and mark them with graduation marks so I can get a better handle on this.

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You hit the nail on the head here. In order for the efficiency numbers to be correct you have to have accurate measurements in the fermenters and the brew pot. Another factor to take into account is how much wort is wasted due to grain absorption, loss in the mash/lauter tun, and loss in the brew pot. If you are only guessing or estimating all of these (like I do) your efficiency numbers will not be accurate.

I always thought that if you set your batch size for what you want in the fermentor,then your reading at that point would be the basis for your efficiency.

Blender said:

I always thought that if you set your batch size for what you want in the fermentor,then your reading at that point would be the basis for your efficiency.

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totally correct because part of efficiency is losses in the brewery and thats to take in account ALL losses. in the mash , in the transfer, in the boil, in the wort chiller ETC. its obtained gravity units from obtainable gravity units. But it has to get to the fermenter before you can measure it
Cheers
JJ

jdoiv said:

When you do your efficiency, do you take a volume measurement in the kettle or the fermenter?

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It shouldn't matter, as long as you're (a) getting an accurate volume measurement and (b) taking the SG at the same point in the process as your volume measurement. FWIW, I measure them pre-boil, to get just the efficiency of my mash/sparge. Nothing after that point is likely to change it much, unless you're losing a lot of wort somewhere.

Ok, I've figured out part of the problem. I take my measurements in the kettles by using a steal yard stick and doing the math to determine gallons. Only my math was wrong. I've always taken the measurement and multiplied by 1.4 (as in one gallon equals 1.4 inches in my kettle). But it should be 1.31. This meant my final volume was off by .8 of a gallon.

I think I'll also try to figure out where some of my other waste may be lying around.

Good news is that I have just over 12 gallons in the fermenters. Bad news is my hop utilization is going to be off some. This could explain why some of my beers don't have the hop bite I would like.

Thanks for the help.