Efficiency

[jqstave]

What does it means when someone says they have ___% efficiency, and how is this ratio calculated?

Thanks!

 

[GetLooseontheGoose]

They are referring to the efficiency of their mash/later tun. lbs grain/OG

so...5gal batch
13lbs grain/ 1.061 = 65%
13/1.066=70%
13/1.070=75% and so on

there are many calculators online to find out the efficiency of your MLT

 

[RitsiGators]

www.hopville.com has a good recipe calculator. Just click on the beer calculus link.

After you brew you can adjust the efficiency up or down on hopville until your calculated OG is equal to your actual OG. That will be your efficiency for that batch.

The main purpose of efficiency is to figure out if you need more or less grain than the author of the recipe to get the same strength beer. After a few batches you will have a rough idea of what your efficiency is, and then you can scale recipes accordingly.

 

[wolverinebrewer]

The efficiency of your mash is equal to the total gravity you actually get in the wort, divided by the potential gravity available from your grains.

Efficiency= Total Gravity/Potential Gravity

Its hard to explain. You need to refer to a malts chart and read Chapters 5&6 in "Designing Great Beers" by Ray Daniels

 

[StandEight]

Is it true that most efficiency is lost in the wart boil?

 

[cimirie]

Is it true that most efficiency is lost in the wart boil?

No, that's not the case. The boil is the one portion of the brewday where there is the least loss of efficiency (although there is definitely some there, it's just minor).

There was just a decent sized thread earlier today that went off into a tangent of in-depth exploration of efficiency. Find it here...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/experiment-returned-confusing-results-221901/

The thread didn't start off as an explanation of efficiency, but it turned into a debate on one. But in a nutshell, Wolverinebrewer nailed it.

Go Blue by the way, Wolverinebrewer. What a recruiting day for the maize and blue!

 

[wolverinebrewer]

Is it true that most efficiency is lost in the wart boil

Efficiency is lost in many areas; poor crush, poor mashing technique, too little sparge water etc.

What a recruiting day for the maize and blue!
Today 04:32 AM

I don't want to get off topic so I'll just say. I was a skeptic at the hire but now I'm a Hokamaniac, drinking the Hokacola, and doin the Hokey Pokey, hopin he can turn the team around!

 

[StandEight]

Thanks for clarification on that.