Effeciency

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Sweetchuck

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I'm wondering if I could have miscalculated here, but is my efficiency getting better?

Brewed two batches today. First a pale ale.

9lbs 2-row
1lb Caramel #20

Drew off a 6 gallon batch and read a sample at 130 degrees @ 1.030 Added 1.013 for the temperature and divided that sum by .833 to convert to a boiled down 5 gallon batch. That left me with an OG of 1.053 or something like that.

Felt ok about that, then I brewed a porter next.

9lbs 2-row
.5lbs caramel #10
.5lbs chocolate
.5lbs roasted barley
.25lbs black patent

Drew off a sample, same math and it came to 1.062

The porter batch - the wort seemed stickier, when sparging and all that you get a few splashes here and there, very sticky.

The other thing was the grain bed in the lauter. It packed in there - moreso than my first several batches (and the previous). Took a while for the liquor to work it's way through.

One other thing I was careful with both batches (moreso with the second batch) was grain crushing. My wife caught this - she noticed that some of the grains in the porter batch weren't crushed all the way so I ran it through again.

Any insight would be appreciated. What did I do right here?
 
Your hydrometer readings aren't going to be terribly accurate at 130ºF, so pretty much all bets are off here on efficiency.

But, beyond that, you've got nearly an extra pound of grain in the second recipe. That will account for a good amount of the difference, no? Better sparging and better crush will also help, of course.
 
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