Brew house efficiency

[OrdinaryAvgGuy]

Making a Sierra Nevada Clone. Here is the grain bill that is being called for. 12 gallon batch. (post boil)

23.0 lb Domestic 2-Row (95.3%)
1.13 lb Crystal 60L (4.7%)

I of course halfed this to make a 5 gallon batch. so 11.5 or 2 row and .56 of crystal 60l.

The recipe claims an OG of approx 1.069 and efficiency of 95%!

I just brewed this and came up with 1.060 OG and using a calculator online I came up with brew house efficiency of 81%.

How are they getting 95%? Perhaps pre boil efficiency?

 

[OrdinaryAvgGuy]

Here's a link where I found this recipe

 

[Want2Brew]

Looks like mash efficiency. Is this for there pale ale? 1.069 would be a little high for that.

 

[OrdinaryAvgGuy]

Looks like mash efficiency. Is this for there pale ale? 1.069 would be a little high for that.

Yeah, SN Torpedo. I just can't figure out how they are squeezing a gravity reading of 1.069 out of basically 12 lbs of 2 row.

 

[OrdinaryAvgGuy]

Looks like mash efficiency. Is this for there pale ale? 1.069 would be a little high for that.

Don't most recipes refer to the brewhouse efficiency? Either way, not making much sense to me.

 

[Want2Brew]

Ok, took a look at the link. 1.069 os the OG and that would give you a pre boil gravity of 1.060 at 81% mash efficiency.

 

[Want2Brew]

So to answer your question, it looks like they were measuring brew house efficiency. Torpedo is a great beer, let us know how it turns out!

 

[OrdinaryAvgGuy]

So to answer your question, it looks like they were measuring brew house efficiency. Torpedo is a great beer, let us know how it turns out!

Yes, one of my favorites. I'll let y'all know.

So 95% brew house efficiency as measured when the wort hits the fermenter and before the yeast is pitched? This just seems out of line along with the 1.069 OG that I'm suppose to hit.

Sorry if i sounds like a moron. New to brewing and trying to grasp this concept.

 

[OrdinaryAvgGuy]

anyone else want to chime in?

 

[helibrewer]

Well 12 pounds of grain at 37ppg = 444 gravity points. Divide that by your batch size of 5 gallons to get 88.8 points at maximum extraction (1.089). If you get 1.069 you are actually at 69/89=77%

 

[OrdinaryAvgGuy]

Well 12 pounds of grain at 37ppg = 444 gravity points. Divide that by your batch size of 5 gallons to get 88.8 points at maximum extraction (1.089). If you get 1.069 you are actually at 69/89=77%

Sorry, I meant 6 gallon is 1/2 the recipe batch size, not 5 gallons. So 12lbs 37ppg =444 / 6 = 74 points max or 1.074.

When I brewed mine I came up with an OG of 1.060 which is 60/74 = 81%.

The recipe claims an OG of 1.069 which is 69/74 = 93% It states 95% efficiency.

Is it actually possible to achieve this type of efficiency?

 

[helibrewer]

I can get mash efficiencies in the mid to high 90's but my brewhouse is usually in the low 80's Maybe with no deadspace losses and nice slow fly sparging you could get the overall that high.

 

[OrdinaryAvgGuy]

I can get mash efficiencies in the mid to high 90's but my brewhouse is usually in the low 80's Maybe with no deadspace losses and nice slow fly sparging you could get the overall that high.

Okay, so in the link that I posted above, are they referring to the mash efficiency, no the brew house?

 

[helibrewer]

Okay, so in the link that I posted above, are they referring to the mash efficiency, no the brew house?

Impossible to tell without seeing the numbers they used. Efficiency is one of those loosy terms that can refer to several things. Kai has a great writeup on the various efficiencies and how they are derived and how they can be adjusted (http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Understanding_Efficiency)