First time calculating efficiency...

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burninmules

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Okay, I have been brewing AG for a year now. Yesterday was the first time I have ever calculated my mash efficiency. I hope I did it right. Let me start by saying that this was a messy mash. I tried squeezing almost 26 lbs of grain into a 10gal rubbermaid mlt. I obviously had an overflow. I opened the valve and dumped enough water into a bucket so that I could fit all the grain. I then slowly poured most of the water back on top. This thing was to the rim! Then I proceeded to mash for over an hour. I used the efficiency calculator on brewers friend o figure my efficiency. I plugged in my pre boil volume (11.5gal), my pre boil gravity, calculated to 59* (1.089), and my grain bill. It says that the og at 75% is 1.062 and the og at 100% is 1.083. My og was 1.070. Does this mean I had 80-85% efficiency?
 
It's going to depend on what specific malts you used. Each has a different amount of potential sugar to give to the wort.

This chart will give you an idea:
http://www.onebeer.net/grainchart.html

There's an easy to use online calculator here:
http://www.brewersfriend.com/brewhouse-efficiency/

Most introductory brewing books will tell you how to do it. I learned on Daniels book, "Designing Great Beers". I recommend you buy it if you haven't already. It costs less than a grain bill and it really improved my brewing techniques.

That being said, most any brewing software will calculate this out for you. Nevertheless, it's good to know the calculations yourself. It will help you understand malts and grain bills a little better.

If you want to calculate it all out yourself here is an example:

Let's say you've got 10 pounds of 2-row, which has a potential of 1.037 and you mash it in 5 gallons of water.

Take 10 (the weight in pounds of the malt) x 37 (drop the 1. and just keep the 037) / 5 (mashing water volume). That all equals 34.

So 34 would be 100% efficiency in this case, so take your post-mashing hydrometer reading and divide it by this number. So lets say your OG reading was 25. 25/34 = .7352, or about 73.5%.

The potential extract for all grains is different, so you need to calculate the potential of each malt seperately just as above and add the numbers together to see what the total potential extract is. Numbers are often given as ranges, because there is always some variation from malt to malt, year to year, etc. I just use a number in the middle of the range.

Post you malt bill if you're unsure of the math and I or someone else can calculate it for you. Once you see the equations and do it a few times it will become second nature.

Happy brewing! :mug:
 
I already used the calculator on brewers friend that you gave the link for. I plugged my grain bill I to it. I used 21.5# of 2 row, 3# wheat, and 1lb 6oz carafa II.
I am planning on buying the Designing Great Beer book. It is on my list.
I was just wondering if I read the results correctly.
 
...and thank you binkman for helping me grasp this. I believe I get the concept. I just need to wrap my brain around it a bit tighter.
 
Does this mean I had 80-85% efficiency?

Yes. I penciled it out at 86% based on the info you provided. The base malt should yield about 36 pppg. I never bother with adjusting the yield for the specialty malts as normally, only trivial amounts are used in the grain bill. The math is very simple elementary school level stuff, so you shouldn't need a computer to figure it out.
 
Thank you. Math is one of my strong suits. This seems pretty simple. I am excited to track my efficiency now. 86% isn't too shabby, I hope I am consistent with that.
 
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