First AG BIAB Efficiency and BeerSmith Help

[DHdriver]

Yesterday I brewed my first AG batch and it had a few hiccups but overall I think it went pretty well. I had some troubles with mash temp but kept it within about 7 degrees, I'll be doing some searching of the effects of that later.
I brewed a 5.5gal batch of 'hooked on bitters', previously I had done an extract batch and it disappeared quickly so I thought I'd try this in AG.
I'm going through my notes and trying to figure out my efficiencies, I know I way over shot all my gravities and added some water to compensate as well as make up for higher then expected boil off. I calibrated the recipe to 70% eff based on reading other threads.
So here are the numbers
Pre boil vol. 5.7 Gal and 1.062 (BS est. 6.2 and 1.044) I should have topped up then...
After boil/OG 5.6 Gal and 1.063 (BS est 5.5 and 1.049)
Here is the grain bill
9Lbs 2-row
1.5lb toasted 2-row
1lb crystal 60
.5lb cara-pils

BeerSmith is giving me a measured efficiency of 90.9% and mash eff 91% a far cry from 70%. I know by adding water after the boil started screwed things up a bit.
I know the definitions of brewhouse/total eff and mash eff but the real world application/implication of them are a different thing.
Mostly I'm trying to figure out what I actually got and how to put it into my next recipe.

Any input is really appreciated
Thanks

 

[solbes]

I like to use this site to track my brewhouse efficiency. I calculate with my pre-boil vol and gravity so I know if I need to adjust prior to wort chill.

http://www.brewersfriend.com/brewhouse-efficiency/

I calculate an 80.5% brewhouse efficiency. Pretty darn good for a first attempt! My first was 67% and had to adjust some things. With a small brew kettle that I mash in, I hit around 76% with that size grain bill. I get higher efficiencies with smaller grain bills (max out around 88-90% with a small 1.040 beer).

So if you are making a smaller beer, I would target a higher efficiency than your 80% baseline (say 85%). If you are making a bigger beer, target a lower efficiency (say 75%). Then adjust your estimates based on actual data.

Great job stepping up to AG! You will love it.

 

[DHdriver]

I like to use this site to track my brewhouse efficiency. I calculate with my pre-boil vol and gravity so I know if I need to adjust prior to wort chill.

http://www.brewersfriend.com/brewhouse-efficiency/

Thanks for the link, I quickly looked at that last night when I was trying to make sense of the numbers and that didn't help the confusion with the 80% eff. and Beer Smith was telling me 90.

BIAB really wasn't much harder then extract with a few pounds of grain, just a bigger bag, my bag has a zipper so I just closed it and stirred the whole thing in. Just some issues with the air trapped in the grain displacing more water then I would have liked....

 

[DHdriver]

I think I solved my problem.
When I was first messing around with beersmith and entering this recipe I changed the 'yield' in the grain to 70% (down from 80) and after changing that back I got the 80%. So I was a little heavy with the base malt, I now have 6.2% instead of the 5.4 I was shooting for, but a good learning experience.