should i change anything

[tnbrewer371]

Ok so new to ag and first batch my bhe was 84% last night was my second ag batch my bhe was 85% but I did everything the same so let's just say one of my measurements was off and let's call it 84% for my second batch bhe. Should I try to get my bhe higher or just be happy with what I've gotten so far? So I guess the question is to tweak my processes or let it ride?

 

[feenaughty]

84% bhe is good if you like your beer you made just keep doing what your doing

 

[Mysticmead]

exactly... 84% is great.. if the beer tastes great then keep doing what you're doing..

 

[TheMan]

Efficiency means nothing if you can't repeat it. I'd focus on attaining that 84-85% every time.

The only thing you are benefitting from over a guy that only gets 70% eff is a smaller grain bill (less cost).

Nice job, 85% is great and I see no need to improve on that.

 

[tnbrewer371]

Guess we will find out in like four wks, first batch has only been in primary for two wks so far, thanks for the input guys, I'm happy with 84 bhe so if the booze tastes good ill keep trucking, my whole process with cleanup is ony running me like 3hrs50mins as well which is only twenty min more than my extract partial mash brews

 

[DrawTap88]

Not to be a downer, but 85% seems too high. So high that it may be causing you to extract some tannins from the grains that will cause astringency.

Did you take a gravity reading of your final runnings?

 

[tnbrewer371]

no i didnt unfortunately, and the tannin extraction was what I have been fearing as well, I have just been following the profile (slightly tweaked) as set up by beersmith, I tasted the last of the runnings after I had achieved my preboil volume last night and it was sweet and tasted good (not that i have anything to compare it to, first time tasting the wort, never thought of it before), if I was extracting tannins would I have been able to tell from the wort I tasted? I tasted the very last amount coming out of the MLT?

 

[MachineShopBrewing]

Not to be a downer, but 85% seems too high. So high that it may be causing you to extract some tannins from the grains that will cause astringency.

85% could be a miscalculation of efficiency.

Did you accurately measure final volume? What was target OG and actual OG? Very common to miscalculate efficiency the first time. 85% is pretty high.

I am sure I'm gonna get flamed now by the "I get 95% eff. every time and my beer is awesome!" crowd.

 

[DrawTap88]

I am sure I'm gonna get flamed now by the "I get 95% eff. every time and my beer is awesome!" crowd.

That's exactly what I was worried about too.

Not sure if you'd be able to tell if you were extracting any tannins or not, since I only shoot for 70% and regularly get that (as far as my incompetent math calculations go).

 

[tnbrewer371]

to be perfectly honest if anything i overestimated volume and than calculated eff. with my worst case scenario (this includes, knocking one/two points off "what i think" my hydrometer is reading) im still reaching around 84-85 BHE. now back to my tannins question if the last of the runnings tasted fine, and not bitter or astringent should I be ok?

 

[MachineShopBrewing]

im still reaching around 84-85 BHE. now back to my tannins question if the last of the runnings tasted fine, and not bitter or astringent should I be ok?

You can measure the pH of the last runnings to be sure. There are so many variables to mashing and lautering. If your beer tastes good then leave it. You might not pick it up until the beer is finished fermenting due to the large amount of sugar in it. Let the yeast get rid of that sweetness and all the bad stuff starts to come out more. That is one of the problems with getting 80+% eff. The speculation is that you get a better quality wort at 60-70% than you do at 80-90%.

Bring on the flamers :rockin:

 

[tnbrewer371]

sounds good, I guess in the future use more grain and sparge less to reach my preboil volume and see what I get? itd be nice to have a number locked down I know i can do and also not waste anything but not extract any negatives...

 

[Mysticmead]

before you change anything, see how thee beer turned out. you might not need to change a thing.

 

[tnbrewer371]

Will do very truew thanks!

 

[jdoiv]

Not to be a downer, but 85% seems too high. So high that it may be causing you to extract some tannins from the grains that will cause astringency.

Did you take a gravity reading of your final runnings?

Efficiency has nothing to do with astringency until you hit 98+%. Astringency is brought on by poor pH or too high of temps in the lauter process. Commercial breweries operate at 97% with no astringency issues.

Agreed you need to check runnings and don't go below 1.008.