Help with my efficiencies please? Notes included

[doug293cz]

Make sure I am right here. Still not sure I achevied the results I am looking for.

1. 14lbs of grain * 1.038- 1 = 532 pts
2. 532 / 5 gallons = 106.4 / 1000 = .1064 = 1.1064 ( is this correct?)
3. 1.1064 = 24.82 plato
4. 1.106 x 8.329 lbs/gal * 5 gallons= 46.076 lbs of wort
5. 46.076 * 24.82 wt% sugar= 11.43 lbs of sugar @ 100% conversion

Strike water weight
1. 18.06 / 4 * 8.329= 37.605

Max Plato = 100% * 11.43 / (11.43 + 37.605) = 23.3

23.3 plato= 1.096 Max SG

Conversion efficiency= 1.090 ( actual measured first runnings) / 1.096= 99.45% conversion efficiency!!!!! Boooo Yah!!!!

I mashed for 90 minutes instead of my normal 60. Seemed to make the difference. But hold on……..

pre boil volume of 6.75 gallons.

pre boil gravity of 1.046 = 310 pts into the BK

mash efficiency= 310 / 532= 58.36 conversion efficency

lauter efficiency= 58.36 / 99.45 = 58.68

So this data now tells us that my problem is in my lautering, or sparging process. I think I may revert back to a batch sparge on my next brew and see if I see positive results.

Let me know if you see any inaccuracies in my calculations. Thank you so much for all of this help!













Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
9 lbs Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 64.3 %
5 lbs Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 35.7 %
0.75 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 45.0 min Hop 3 10.5 IBUs
0.25 oz Hallertauer [4.80 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 4 1.9 IBUs
1.0 pkg Weihenstephan Weizen (Wyeast Labs #3068) Yeast 5 -


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 14 lbs
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Mash In Add 18.06 qt of water at 165.4 F 150.0 F 90 min

Sparge: Fly sparge with 4.40 gal water at 168.0 F
Notes:
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Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com

All your math looks good, except for the conversion eff calculation. Your conversion efficiency should have been:

(1.090 - 1) / (1.096 - 1) = 0.9375 => 93.75%​

In that case your lauter efficiency would be:

0.5836 / 0.9375 = 0.6225 => 62.25%​

Still nothing to write home about.

How long did your sparge take? Unless you did a very fast sparge, my best guess for the low lauter eff is that you somehow got significant channeling during the sparge.

Trying a batch sparge to compare is a good idea. In that case you should increase your strike water and reduce the sparge water to get equal volume for the first runnings and sparge runnings (as that gives you the theoretical maximum efficiency.) I calculated your grain absorption as 2.165 gal or 0.1546 gal/lb. You want 6.75 / 2 = 3.375 gal in each running, so strike water would be 3.375 + 2.165 = 5.54 gal and sparge water 3.375 gal.

Brew on

 

[Baldy246]

I brewed the famous Centennial Blonde recipe yesterday. It didnt go well, had several major screw ups but the data ended up better.

Conversion eff- 95.24%- 90 minute mash- I supposed this is going to become SOP with my brew shops crush, until I decide to crush my own.

Mash eff- 75.5%

Lauter eff- 79.27%

It was your text book bad brew day. Forgot to heat up my sparge water!! How does someone miss that!? I batch sparged with cold tap water, it wasnt till I filled up my MLT with it that I realized what I did. Oh well, chalk it up as lesson learned. I screwed up my volume calculations, so my cold sparge water was several qts less and had to add that back in later. Then to top it off i forgot to get my OG sample prior to pitching. Oh well, it will still turn out delicious!

 

[strahmhv]

Ouch, youd be better off letting the mash go longer while you heated the sparge water up. Next time

Calculating sparge water more precisely, and heating it more got me over 80% eff. I now heat the sparge water to 180 and the mash bed still doesnt get above 165.

 

[doug293cz]

I brewed the famous Centennial Blonde recipe yesterday. It didnt go well, had several major screw ups but the data ended up better.

Conversion eff- 95.24%- 90 minute mash- I supposed this is going to become SOP with my brew shops crush, until I decide to crush my own.

Mash eff- 75.5%

Lauter eff- 79.27%

It was your text book bad brew day. Forgot to heat up my sparge water!! How does someone miss that!? I batch sparged with cold tap water, it wasnt till I filled up my MLT with it that I realized what I did. Oh well, chalk it up as lesson learned. I screwed up my volume calculations, so my cold sparge water was several qts less and had to add that back in later. Then to top it off i forgot to get my OG sample prior to pitching. Oh well, it will still turn out delicious!

Sparging with cold water is not a screw up. Kai has shown that if you have essentially complete conversion, that sparge water temp has no effect on mash efficiency. In your case, since your conversion was not quite complete, a hot water sparge might have helped you get slightly better conversion, because of longer time at temp, and additional agitation. Also, having the proper sparge volume would have increased your lauter efficiency somewhat.

I'd call it a successful, if not perfect, brew day.

Brew on