40% efficiency…

[Bobby_M]

Using more water in the mash usually ups the efficiency and doesn't lower it.

Yes that's true if you're going boil off that extra volume to concentrate. If your boil off is 1 gallon per hour and you increase your water by 1.5 gallons, you either have to boil off an extra 1/2 gallon (no loss of efficiency) or leave a 1/2 gallon of wort in the kettle as waste (a direct hit to brewhouse efficiency).

 

[Pale Ales and Such]

Ok, just did a test for boil off rate. I put two gallons of water in my 5 gallon kettle and let it boil for an hour. When the hour was up, I had 1 gallon and 6.5 cups left of water. That’s a boil off rate of 0.60 gallons (9.5 cups) for one hour.

looking into the amount of water I need, it seems about 2 gallons.

I plan on doing the mash at 155 degrees with a 2.25lb grain bill in 2 gallons of water then boil for an hour.

thoughts?

 

[Miraculix]

Well, you can always top of at the end with boiled water so I wouldn't sweat it too much... Just use enough water for your mash to be easy going and efficient.

 

[doug293cz]

Ok, just did a test for boil off rate. I put two gallons of water in my 5 gallon kettle and let it boil for an hour. When the hour was up, I had 1 gallon and 6.5 cups left of water. That’s a boil off rate of 0.60 gallons (9.5 cups) for one hour.

looking into the amount of water I need, it seems about 2 gallons.

I plan on doing the mash at 155 degrees with a 2.25lb grain bill in 2 gallons of water then boil for an hour.

thoughts?

Determining your boil-off rate as you did is a necessary step, but it appears you may still not have a complete understanding of how to determine how much brewing water you need to start with. These two posts might be of some help to you: 1 2

Brew on

 

[Pale Ales and Such]

Just an update everyone:

I just did another batch of the exact same recipe, only I used 2 gallons of water for the mash and boil. The volume left after the boil and cool off, was 1.10 gallon. I used the oven method to keep the mash at about 155 degrees

overall, end result of the second batch had an OG of 1.050, which isn’t too bad considering what I got on my first batch.

based on brewers friend, an OG reading of 1.050 would give me 60% efficiency on the grains. This is telling me that my grains were too corse and I probably needed to mash them for another 30 minutes or so.

either way, I just wanted to tell everyone how much fun I’m having with all grain brewing and I look forward to my beer making journey from here as I grow and learn more everyday. A lot of thanks to all of you for your wisdom and help.

 

[VikeMan]

Did you use the actual volume in your mash efficiency answer this time around? (It doesn't sound like it.)

Total Grain Bill Potential Points = 82.5 (YMMV slightly depending on PPGs assumed by a particular calculator)

The actual OG was 1.050. And the actual volume of the batch was 1.1 gallons.
50 x 1.1= 55 total points

55 actual points / 82.5 theorectical points = 66.7% Mash Efficiency.

You say that Brewers Friend reported 60% mash efficiency. I would guess that you didn't tell it that you got 1.1 gallons. If you entered 1 gallon (because "it's a one gallon batch"), the math would be...

50 x 1 (wrong volume) = 50 (understated) actual points
50 (understated) actual points / 82.5 theoretical points = 60.6% (incorrect) mash efficiency

I can't stress enough that the OG, without the actual volume of wort in the kettle, cannot be used alone to compute mash efficiency.

 

[Pale Ales and Such]

Did you use the actual volume in your mash efficiency answer this time around? (It doesn't sound like it.)

Total Grain Bill Potential Points = 82.5 (YMMV slightly depending on PPGs assumed by a particular calculator)

The actual OG was 1.050. And the actual volume of the batch was 1.1 gallons.
50 x 1.1= 55 total points

55 actual points / 82.5 theorectical points = 66.7% Mash Efficiency.

You say that Brewers Friend reported 60% mash efficiency. I would guess that you didn't tell it that you got 1.1 gallons. If you entered 1 gallon (because "it's a one gallon batch"), the math would be...

50 x 1 (wrong volume) = 50 (understated) actual points
50 (understated) actual points / 82.5 theoretical points = 60.6% (incorrect) mash efficiency

I can't stress enough that the OG, without the actual volume of wort in the kettle, cannot be used alone to compute mash efficiency.

yeah, and that’s my bad for not mentioning it. I did do the math and I to was getting 66.7%, which was confusing so I just lowered the efficiency in brewers friend until the possible OG showed exactly was my reading was. It showed accurate at 60% efficiency.

rethinking my kettle volume remaining before I poured into the fermenter, I’m thinking it was actually less than 1.1 gallons now. When I poured into the fermenter all I really had left in the kettle was troub.

so I’m going to say that perhaps I was off with reading my final volume pre-fermentation pour.

 

[VikeMan]

yeah, and that’s my bad for not mentioning it. I did do the math and I to was getting 66.7%, which was confusing so I just lowered the efficiency in brewers friend until the possible OG showed exactly was my reading was. It showed accurate at 60% efficiency.

That's not the way to do it. Measure the actual volume, make sure that it and the actual OG are correct, and then you can believe the mash efficiency number. i.e. the mash efficiency number that results from entering the other two numbers, or the mash efficiency number that you have to enter along with one of the other numbers to get the third. All three are interrelated, and which two you enter and which one is the "answer" depends on what calculator you're using (and whether it's making a prediction or calculating an actual). But bottom line... if you have to fudge an already known (i.e. measured) number to get the answer you were expecting, that's not going to be right.

rethinking my kettle volume remaining before I poured into the fermenter, I’m thinking it was actually less than 1.1 gallons now. When I poured into the fermenter all I really had left in the kettle was troub.

I think you're thinking that because it allows you to see the mash efficiency as what it needed to be to hit 1.050. But again, that's without using the actual volume, i.e. the one you saw with your own eyes before you rethought it.

I recommend reading the Mash Efficiency and Brewhouse Efficiency presentation available here:
http://sonsofalchemy.org/library/

 

[Pale Ales and Such]

That's not the way to do it. Measure the actual volume, make sure that it and the actual OG are correct, and then you can believe the mash efficiency number. i.e. the mash efficiency number that results from entering the other two numbers, or the mash efficiency number that you have to enter along with one of the other numbers to get the third. All three are interrelated, and which two you enter and which one is the "answer" depends on what calculator you're using (and whether it's making a prediction or calculating an actual). But bottom line... if you have to fudge an already known (i.e. measured) number to get the answer you were expecting, that's not going to be right.



I think you're thinking that because it allows you to see the mash efficiency as what it needed to be to hit 1.050. But again, that's without using the actual volume, i.e. the one you saw with your own eyes before you rethought it.

I recommend reading the Mash Efficiency and Brewhouse Efficiency presentation available here:
http://sonsofalchemy.org/library/

Thanks for the recommendation! Will utilize this in the future