Interesting about the calculator. The fermentation tank loss number is what is throwing it off. I am really not sure what that is referring to, but if you put it to 0 then you get the same as if you worked it out simply by hand. With fermentation tank loss at zero I get 96% efficiency from my last batch instead of 100%.
I like this idea.
One batch vorlauf 1 qt
One batch vorlauf for an hour
See what I think is happens, is that most people will get close to 100% of the sugars converted, but then they don't get it in solution. Through recirculation you are "stirring" the wort and disolving the sugars.
Edit: LOL!!!! at getting a caveman dedicated to me!!!
VORLAUGHING DOES NOT INCREASE EFF! How do I know... when I went from a simple cooler setup to a HERMS that constantly recirculates, my eff. stayed the same. Nothing changed in my system besides adding a coil and a pump.
It matters little if the sugars are dissolved, they are as soon as they are created in 150F water. The point is during the lauter, even if the sugars are "dissolved" you need to extract them from the grain bed. If you are getting 100% eff. or close to it, that assumes that you are getting 100% of the sugars from the grain bed, which vorlaughing will not affect.
Again, RIMS and HERMS brewers are vorlaughing for 90 minutes when they simply brew a beer. To get nearly 100%, you will also have to have no deadspace in your MLT.
Again, wild claims, and your assumption that the vorlough has anything to do with eff. makes me question how well you understand what is really going on in there.
Most ppl probably do convert about 100% of thier sugars, but they cant get them out of the gran bed. Dissolving sugars into solution shouldnt be a problem for anyone as lojng as they dont have a cold grain bed during the sparge. What will affect the lauter eff. is the type of false bottom, manifold or braid.
False bottoms are most eff. followed by properly constructed manifolds and then lastly by braids... all other things being equal.
You may get 100% conversion eff. But I know some extremely experienced brewers who, even if they tried to, could never get 96% or 100% eff. into the kettle.
Again, are you claiming 100% conversion eff, lauter, or brewhouse? That makes a HUGE difference.