Sick and tired of my POS efficiency...

[DaleJ]

I'd suggest buying a copy of BeerSmith before a grain mill.

Among the many things it does, it'll help you compute infusion volumes, sparge volumes, and pre-boil volume and gravity.

Best to get a repeatable, consistent process in place before going all over the place with crush modifications.

 

[EamusCatuli]

I have a mac

 

[Bobby_M]

I'm pretty sure beertoolspro works on mac, though I don't have one myself. It's a good program.

 

[EamusCatuli]

I'm pretty sure beertoolspro works on mac, though I don't have one myself. It's a good program.

Im a big fan of NOT spending money, esp. on software haha.

 

[kelmore]

Im a big fan of NOT spending money, esp. on software haha.

come on buddy, think smart... your young apprentice probably has the software you need

either way, those grains were owned when you crushed them. i'm guessing 82% on today's brew

 

[Philip1993]

I have a mac

Simple. Install an PC emulator or install Parallels / Fusion and run it in a virtual windows machine.

Im a big fan of NOT spending money, esp. on software haha.

You don't own a grain mill, you don't know what your crush is, you guess at your sparge volumes, and you won't buy brewing software to help guide your mash/sparge.

All in all, it sounds to me like you're not that sick of your POS efficiency...

 

[MikeFlynn74]

All in all, it sounds to me like you're not that sick of your POS efficiency..

yea who the hell spends the $ on a Mac and then is a cheapass in life?

 

[Saccharomyces]

I use these on my Mac.

http://www.brewheads.com/batch.php
http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/

If I get brewing software it will be to maintain my recipes and notes. For now I just keep the hard copy printouts with notes from the tastybrew.com calculator.

 

[EamusCatuli]

Simple. Install an PC emulator or install Parallels / Fusion and run it in a virtual windows machine.



You don't own a grain mill, you don't know what your crush is, you guess at your sparge volumes, and you won't buy brewing software to help guide your mash/sparge.

All in all, it sounds to me like you're not that sick of your POS efficiency...

You got it all wrong pal! I don't own a grain mill because im already spending tons of $$ on other brewing **** for the now. It is of course coming in the near future, but for now there is no way of knowing what the crush of my LHBS grain mill is and I can only adjust to my liking (which I just recently have). I "guess" at my sparge volumes but not to the extent you are all thinking. Im usually using 1.5 qts/ lb. But I only use as much as i need per batch to reach 7.5 gallons! Thats where the "guessing" comes in. Im not a monkey with a brewing pot here.....

As far as brewing software, im not a fan of anything not freeware. So it is all of you who should be shunned! Rock on Qbrew, GreenBayRackers, and Tastybrew.

 

[EamusCatuli]

yea who the hell spends the $ on a Mac and then is a cheapass in life?

I got a pretty good discount for going to University of Illinois

Oh, and I don't remember when college students COULD'NT be cheapasses?

 

[MikeFlynn74]

Well I gotta believe you are not in your right mind being a Cubs fan and all

 

[EamusCatuli]

Well I gotta believe you are not in your right mind being a Cubs fan and all

I was born this way, its not like I had a choice.....

BUT I'm happy with that though because being born with no heart, loyalty, or tradition would blow.

 

[MikeFlynn74]

Hey Im a D-Rays fan. Ive had some rough years

ok all but this one so far

 

[EamusCatuli]

Hey Im a D-Rays fan. Ive had some rough years

ok all but this one so far

Listen, if you can say that you have watched more than 10 games in the years previous and your wardrobe didnt expand 100x with Rays sh*t now that your team is finally not 20 GB in July, THEN I will give you some credit.

Hold on tight though, the red sox are for lack of better terms.....good.

ANYWAY...haha

 

[MikeFlynn74]

I was going to 25 games a year in 2000.

Havent gone to many games since I now live in AK.

 

[EamusCatuli]

Look what I found! Its no $100 grain mill but would it work?? hah! ....its a meat grinder!

 

[kelmore]

whoa... looks like some sh*t from Saw. get a funnel and try it out - it's either gonna work or it isn't. it doesn't seem like there's much technology and precision involved in crushing your grains, yaa mean?

 

[clayof2day]

2 things.

1.) Beer Alchemy is great software and its very reasonably priced (send me a PM and I might be able to work out a shady deal for you, get the free trial perhaps we can extend it .

2.) This is for the general public here. There is a lot of complaining about being below 80% eff. I gotta say, if you're complaining about 70-74% don't worry about it. We're talking a $1-2 difference total on an all grain batch and if you're consistent that is THE most important part!! It will help you hit your numbers and that is MOST important. Also, there are folks (I'm not really one of them, nor do I necessarily agree with them) that say that too high of an efficiency leads to off flavors in your beer. Some even advocate no sparge to get get the absolute best flavors in your beer.

FWIW, I'm in the check your crush camp. If you can get to a consistent number near or above 75% done worry about it anymore.

 

[McKBrew]

FWIW, I'm in the check your crush camp. If you can get to a consistent number near or above 75% done worry about it anymore.

Believe me, I won't worry in the least bit. I've been dropping more and more Barley Crusher hints around the SWMBO lately.

 

[EamusCatuli]

I am currently mashing with grains that I crushed the bejesus out of, so ill let you all know what efficiency I hit today!

 

[henrychinaski]

i'm interested to see what you get.
my 2 cents:
on efficiency - i was baffled by the significant drop i had (80-ish% to 60%) when i switched from my 5-gallon igloo cooler to a 10-gallon. the grain crush was consistent throughout, so i thought it was due to channeling (i fly sparge). for my last batch, i stirred the mash every 10 minutes and got 79%.
on macs - rock on. 5 years now and i'll never go back. that said, i do run boot camp and have a pirated version of windows xp that i use solely to copy dvd's with dvd decripter and run promash ($20) on.

 

[EamusCatuli]

76% Thats good enough for me! But I can do better. . . .

 

[shafferpilot]

Wahoo! congrats!

 

[Kauai_Kahuna]

76% is good, maybe a few more tweaks, but its all about the beer. I'm glad you had a good brew session, it tends to take the stress out of planning the next one.

 

[Philip1993]

Higher eff is good but I plan for (and am happy with) 75%. That's been my rule for all two of my AG brews.