What efficiency should I program, first brew.

[hammy48]

Hello,
Brewing tomorrow morning for the first time and wondering what efficiency to program in to beersmith. I have a gravity fed keggle system.

My mash tun drains out the bottom, which I gather increases overall efficiency because I am reducing dead space? Does this matter really even if I am doing a continuous fly sparge?

My MT is a really well insulated keg. Other than that I think my setup is the standard gravity keggle system.

I am using beersmith 2 and it defaults to 72%... does this sound about right?

I will be getting a better idea of my real efficiency after this first brew, but for the first one I am hoping to get in the right range.

 

[LabRatBrewer]

I'd start with the default and then adjust for your second brew, once you see your numbers.

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

I think most people start out around there 75% or so. I usually am around 80-85% on my system. The easiest for me to do was using my program after taking my pre boil gravity and temp my post boil gravity and temp and punching that into the program and it gives me my efficiency. Then the next recipe I try out I set my efficiency for what the program said I got on my last recipe which gives me a pretty decent estimate of where I will end up.

 

[iaefebs]

Depends on your target OG. If you are looking at 1.065 I'd go with 68% if you're shooting for 1.085 I'd go 64% , a 1.040 I'd go +72%..

 

[Qhrumphf]

Depends on your target OG. If you are looking at 1.065 I'd go with 68% if you're shooting for 1.085 I'd go 64% , a 1.040 I'd go +72%..

+1 not so much with the numbers, but with the sentiment

Since you're fly sparging, I'd figure you'd be in the higher efficiency range, assuming your system is well designed and you're not getting channeling which'll send your efficiency down the toilet. But the higher the gravity, the lower your efficiency will be. For a 1.060-1.065 OG (where my system maxes out for grain capacity and I have to use extract or sugar to get higher) I get around 70% efficiency. For a session beer (1.040 or lower), I usually get around 78%. But I also do BIAB with a limited sparge volume, so my efficiency would be higher using a traditional MLT and sparging.

So I think starting at 75% is a good ballpark for a normal gravity beer, but if you're doing a session beer I'd go higher, and if you're doing something high gravity I'd go lower.

But ultimately you're not going to know much until after you've run at least a couple beers through and figured out your system.

 

[hammy48]

Okay thanks a lot! Sounds like I should be programming around 75% for this pale ale and just being sure to record temp and pre/post boil measurements.

 

[Qhrumphf]

I would definitely take a pre-boil gravity reading, and keep some DME and extra water on hand to either add fermentables or dilute for a larger batch if you're going to be too far off.

 

[hammy48]

I take the pre-boil gravity reading in the boil kettle though right?

Unfortunately I don't have any DME, and it is sunday... LHBS is closed.

 

[Yooper]

I take the pre-boil gravity reading in the boil kettle though right?

Unfortunately I don't have any DME, and it is sunday... LHBS is closed.

Yes, stir it well, and then chill the sample. Read it at less than 90 degrees, and then convert to the reading at 60 degrees. Make sure you know your exact volume in the kettle- the reading is useless without know the volume!

 

[hammy48]

Hoping someone can reply to this soon... I am actually mashing right now. So I want to take the pre-boil volume, and also take a sample of the wort into my house and cool it to under 90 degrees and take a hygrometer reading.

After the boil...

I want to know the post boil volume and and take a hygrometer reading at lower than 90 degrees.

Right?