Bigscience
Well-Known Member
Just curious, how do the people who claim >90% measure their volumes into their fermenters? Kettle volumes?
Just curious, how do the people who claim >90% measure their volumes into their fermenters? Kettle volumes?
insanim8er said:I have a blichmann boilermaker with a sight gauge
What increments is it calibrated to? What about your fermenter?
insanim8er said:It's a 20 gallon pot and the lines area set at half gallon marks. As for my fermenter, I ferment in 1/4 slim kegs. I weigh the liquid with a scale. 8lb = a gallon.
It's a 20 gallon pot and the lines area set at half gallon marks. As for my fermenter, I ferment in 1/4 slim kegs. I weigh the liquid with a scale. 8lb = a gallon.
Are we talking total brew house efficiency here or mash efficiency? I get mash efficiencies in the low 90s but my total efficiency (based on post boil gravity and volume) is usually around 78%. Is everyone talking abort the same efficiency calculation? It looked like OP posted pre- boil numbers.
I think you hit the nail on the head. Usually first runnings are used to measure the conversion effiancy. Conversion should always be above 90% or your brewhouse efficancy will suffer greatly.
Brewer's friend has a great write up of the different types of efficancy, I posted a quick link to there graphic below. The question is, what efficancy is OP talking about?
http://cdn.brewersfriend.com/understanding_efficiency_large.png
Without knowing when he took his measurments, it's hard to say what he's talking about. He mentioned 11 gallons at 1.077 (After watering it down). Assuming this is what ended up in the fermentor with his fermentables, that calculates to over 100% brewhouse efficancy.
There is an entire write up of how there calulator measures efficancy here for anyone interested.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/faq/#brewsessions5
The confusion is based on everyone using the term "efficiency" to describe what is normal and what isn't, and some of them are referring to different types of efficiency. The OP is slightly confusing because, while I read it as pre-boil efficiency due to the numbers given, the calculator states it is "brew house" efficiency, which I think actually refers to the final product into the fermenter.
I don't know why there is confusion. All the info is on the op.
It's the efficiency out for the mash pre boil. It was measured after first and second runnings were combined into the boil kettle.
I took 11.5 gallons combined at 1.064 - this is the information I plugged into the calculator for the post mash/pre boil efficiency.
I boiled it and the numbers were too high, so I diluted it down some and finished the boil with 11 gallons @ 1.077 before I added my lactose.
The 11 gallons was what went into the fermenter. And it's happily fermenting a way.
Huh, something doesn't add up. Your dilution, with water I'm assuming, means that you, in effect, boiled a 1.064 wort down to 11 gallons from 11.5. Your reading after the dilution should have been 64 * 11.5 = x * 11, so x ~= 1.067. Adding a pound of lactose wouldn't get you to 1.077 either. EDIT: Perhaps 1.077 is a typo?
How do you estimate what the gravity should be after say a gallon of boil off? Is there a way?
64points * 11.5gallons = Xpoints * 10.5gallons .. x = 64*11.5/10.5 = 70.09 (~1.070) ... You would have had to have boiled down to 64*11.5/77 = ~9.55 gallons to get to 1.077
So the entire basis of this thread is a number spit out by beersmith? I think that's where the confusion lies. I don't use that program, but know it's quite complex with lots of potential input/output errors. GIGO one of my teachers used to always say. Garbage in, garbage out. My point? You should be able to manually do all calculations in brewing before blindly trusting a number spit out by your computer. How else could you know if you're using it properly? Lots of brewers throw their efficiency numbers around like they lifted them on a bench press. I couldn't care less; I care what the brew in my glass tastes like. Knowing your mash efficiency can be useful info to help you understand your process better, but getting it from a computer will hardly generate the understanding you need to make better beer. If I want to spend all day wringing every last drop out of my grains I'm sure I could improve my efficiency. I'd rather spend an extra $2, shorten my brew day and focus on variables that will actually make my beer taste better...
It's not that I don't want to know it, I'm just not highly motivated to achieve very high numbers. If you got 93% and I got 73%, who's beer is better? You've got to taste it to find out right? That's all I'm saying.
By the way, your post boil gravity shouldn't be used in the calculation. That would most definitely be inaccurate...
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