Quick Question About Efficiency and Beersmith

So I just started using Beersmith...It calculated that my OG should be 1.055 but I got 1.066.

I estimated and input 73% efficiency in Beersmith - does this mean I'm getting a better efficiency than 73%?

It could mean that but it can also mean that you boiled down a little more than you expected. Did you accurately measure how much volume you had in the fermenter? Did it match the recipe's estimated volume?

Oh ya, good call. Just checked and I have JUST shy of 5 gal which is what the recipe calls for. If I type in 4.75 as the batch size into Beersmith, it only gives me an estimated OG of 1.058...

So I just did a few calculations in Beersmith (factoring in the less than 5 gal volume) and it says I'm getting an 84% efficiency. I'm using a 3-tier Keggle/Round 10 G Cooler/ Keggle setup - does this sound right? I though along the lines of 70-75% was more common...

culaslucas said:

So I just did a few calculations in Beersmith (factoring in the less than 5 gal volume) and it says I'm getting an 87.86% efficiency. I'm using a 3-tier Keggle/Round 10 G Cooler/ Keggle setup - does this sound right? I though along the lines of 70-75% was more common...

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Depends on your crush and methods... some guys get 90% here, some get 50%.. good job!

What's weird, is I just calculated that I got a 59% the batch before this. WTF?

We'll see what happens with today's brew...

Hrmmm, taking good notes? Grain milled at the same place? There is some difference, interested to see how today goes.

Well yesterday's brew was a disaster -

For some reason I couldn't hit my mash temp to save my life - it was a wit and I couldn't get it above 150* - I even dumped in an extra gallon of 170* water - no dice. Iodine test said I had fully converted after almost 2 hours though. It was really weird - never had this problem before. I triple checked liquor & grist temps with 3 thermometers...I don't know what the deal was...

pickup tube kept getting clogged so I ended up having to pick up the keggle, pour it into a bucket & then pour it into the carboy - to top it all off, I forgot to mark volumes on the carboy so I have no idea how much liquid actually made it into there but up until then I was tracking at about 75% efficiency.

I guess only time will tell why I'm getting efficiencies all over the board...Thanks Pol for your help...

I have found a few things that affect eff. to a large degree.

Temperature (150-158F is probably the MOST widely used envelope, above 160F and you start to denature enzymes)

Time (make sure you mash long enough to get conversion, TOO long can increase attenuation)

Sparge (make sure you leave enough water out of the MASH to allow for an effective sparge. Too little sparge water will hurt your eff.)

PH (I use 5.2 buffer, but when I forget it, I still get 82% eff., still good cheap insurance on mash PH)

Thinner Mash (this can increase mash eff. but be aware it will steal water from your sparge volume, so you need to balance this. I do 1.5-2.0 quarts/lb in my mashes)