Am I really getting 90% mash efficiency?

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bongoman

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Still dialling in my numbers on my 2 gallon batches.

But after my latest batch, a Brown Porter, with a 1.8kg grain bill, BeerSmith is giving me an actual mash efficiency of 90%.

This is with a 90 minute mash with vigorous stirring every 15 mins (90 mins includes a 10 min mash out at 75.6C) and a very strong squeeze of the bag. Grain absorption is around 0.43 fl oz per oz of grain.

Also, the grain was milled by a shop that offers finer milling for BIAB and the operators there brew using BIAB themselves, so I trust the crush was optimal too.

It seems very high and I'm a little hesitant to plan my next recipe on the basis of these numbers unless I'm certain I can be consistent with this.
 
It's absolutely possible. Numbers (volumes and gravities), as mentioned by btbnl, would be helpful.
 
Both fine grist and lots of stirring........... and of course the long mash make this very probable. When you know your volumes and how much grain, and have accurate gravity measurements, it's pretty much carved in stone.


H.W.
 
We would need the grain bill, measured pre boil volume and gravity to better determine your mash efficiency. After lots of reading I've come to the conclusion that mash efficiency had better be close to 90% or higher and its laundering that reduces the "mash efficiency" down to 70-85% depending on each brewing setup.
 
As others have said, mash efficiency is usually about 95~ +_4 %. You're probably thinking of brew house efficiency, as that's what people normally refer to when they talk about their eff. Please provide all the details of your recipe, brewday, gravity readings, and actual volumes and we can confirm.
 
Thanks for the replies and sorry for the delay adding in more information.

Recipe was for a Brown Porter:

Code:
Ingredients:
------------
Amt                   Name                                     Type          #        %/IBU         
1.31 kg               Veloria (Voyager Craft Malt) (8.0 EBC)   Grain         1        71.5 %        
0.25 kg               Brown Malt (Voyager Craft Malt) (160.0 E Grain         2        13.7 %        
0.17 kg               Caramunich III (Weyermann) (139.9 EBC)   Grain         3        9.4 %         
0.10 kg               Chocolate (Voyager Craft Malt) (800.0 EB Grain         4        5.5 %         
7.00 g                Warrior [15.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min        Hop           5        28.1 IBUs     
10.00 g               Fuggle [4.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min          Hop           6        6.0 IBUs      
1.0 pkg               SafAle English Ale (DCL/Fermentis #S-04) Yeast         7        -             


Mash Schedule: BIAB, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 1.83 kg
----------------------------
Name                     Description                             Step Temperat Step Time     
Saccharification         Add 12.80 l of water at 69.7 C          66.7 C        75 min        
Mash Out                 Heat to 75.6 C over 7 min               75.6 C        10 min

So, 1.8kg mashed in 12.8 litres for 75 minutes, a 7 minute ramp to mash-out temp, then hold, so roughly 90 minutes of grain-water contact during the mash.

Grain absorption left me with 12 litres to boil. At this stage, pre-boil SG was 1.043.

Post-boil I had 8.5 litres and an OG of 1.052.

Sorry about the metric, and yes, this was a roughly 2 gallon batch.
 
Is that post-boil volume in the kettle or in the fermentor? If the former, something is wrong (12x43 =/= 8.5x52).

Also, if I plug the grain bill into Brewer's Friend (using Maris Otter in place of the Veloria, which it doesn't have) then 1.052 in 8.5L comes out as 80% efficiency.
 
Smaller batches usually result in higher efficiency, I do 1 gallon test batches and consistently hit in the 92%-96% range. It is not abnormal whatsoever however consistency is what to strive for to achieve your desired brew.
 
Probably. I just got 94% mash efficiency with a small batch of centennial blonde. But like others said, this is the amount of the e.g. 80% coarse grind potential.
 
BIAB with a full volume mash and a finer grind can easily lead to 90+% efficiency. I got that much on occasion when I first started grinding my own grain. I've since backed off on the fineness of grind for consistency of results and repeatably get between 86% and 87% mash efficiency. I still get higher with lower gravity recipes (sub 1.040 target), but this works for the greater part of my recipes.
 
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