dierythmus
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2012
- Messages
- 107
- Reaction score
- 7
Hi All,
I had a nice brew day yesterday. I made the 5 gallon version of this Imperial Pumpkin Ale. It ended up smelling great, and the yeast is going nuts right now. Good stuff.
My question relates to efficiency vs. OG. Im a fairly new AG brewer and Im still tweaking my equipment. My last brew came in at 75% efficiency, which I was very happy with. However, my OG ended up significantly lower than expected (I didnt boil off as much as I thought I was going to).
With yesterdays brew, I used a different LHBS to crush my grains, and I believe the crush was quite different than my normal shop. Also, I assumed the mash was for 60 minutes, but the recipe made no mention. I think i should have mashed longer. I only ended up at ~62% efficiency, but I nailed my OG.
1) Im having a little trouble understanding how efficiency relates to OG. After I measure the pre-boil efficiency, would I need to make any adjustments for the boil? For example, if my pre-boil gravity is lower than expected (lower efficiency), does that mean Ive extracted less sugar from the grains, and should boil longer/hotter to evaporate more water to hit the estimated OG (even though that would potentially reduce the overall wort volume and throw off the hop bitterness ratio)?
2) How does a low efficiency affect the taste? Is hitting OG more vital to a successful brew than having a high efficiency?
I had a nice brew day yesterday. I made the 5 gallon version of this Imperial Pumpkin Ale. It ended up smelling great, and the yeast is going nuts right now. Good stuff.
My question relates to efficiency vs. OG. Im a fairly new AG brewer and Im still tweaking my equipment. My last brew came in at 75% efficiency, which I was very happy with. However, my OG ended up significantly lower than expected (I didnt boil off as much as I thought I was going to).
With yesterdays brew, I used a different LHBS to crush my grains, and I believe the crush was quite different than my normal shop. Also, I assumed the mash was for 60 minutes, but the recipe made no mention. I think i should have mashed longer. I only ended up at ~62% efficiency, but I nailed my OG.
1) Im having a little trouble understanding how efficiency relates to OG. After I measure the pre-boil efficiency, would I need to make any adjustments for the boil? For example, if my pre-boil gravity is lower than expected (lower efficiency), does that mean Ive extracted less sugar from the grains, and should boil longer/hotter to evaporate more water to hit the estimated OG (even though that would potentially reduce the overall wort volume and throw off the hop bitterness ratio)?
2) How does a low efficiency affect the taste? Is hitting OG more vital to a successful brew than having a high efficiency?