Tell that to the beer you have already made. Better yet, ignore all the calculations that don't change your beer and just brew.
Sometimes it is nice to see the science behind what we do, sometimes it is just a distraction.
What's your MASH conversion effeciency
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Tell that to the beer you have already made. Better yet, ignore all the calculations that don't change your beer and just brew.
Sometimes it is nice to see the science behind what we do, sometimes it is just a distraction.
You don't have to be smart to make beer. There are many, many people around here who prove that.
What the science does is make it more predictable. I can make a recipe for the first time, with grain i've never used before, and hit a final volume, original gravity, wort pH, etc, with pretty good accuracy.
I don't leave much to chance. But that's just how I roll in life. I make my own luck.
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...until the cat chases a squirrel into the garage while you're lifting the kettle onto the burner after mashing...
(I now only brew with the doors closed now. Not because of the @Yooper story, but because of critters.)
One of many reasons why I elected to move my hobby to the basement...
I get 72% efficiency with my 5.5 gallon batches and about 79% with 11 gallon batches.
Cato1507
Well-Known Member
I've just done a couple BIAB batches and my numbers have been low according to the calculator I just used at Brewers Friend. 62.24%
I used Qbrew software to input my recipe and expected OG was 1.060 and I got 1.048.
I just got a grain mill and have not tightened the gap yet. I didn't put a gauge on it but its credit card thickness.
I've been mashing at 152F for 60 min. so I may try mashing at 90 to see if that will help. Might try a double crush on my grains too!
I used Qbrew software to input my recipe and expected OG was 1.060 and I got 1.048.
I just got a grain mill and have not tightened the gap yet. I didn't put a gauge on it but its credit card thickness.
I've been mashing at 152F for 60 min. so I may try mashing at 90 to see if that will help. Might try a double crush on my grains too!
Mashing longer may get you better efficiency but tightening the mill definitely will. With BIAB you can tolerate a very fine milling and that sends your efficiency up as well as shortening the conversion time.
60->90 minutes will have more of an effect on your attenuation than your efficiency. you don't need to be that fine to get 100% conversion efficiency. i mill at a modest 0.035" and have no issues at all.
can you heat your mash? doign a step mash will do a lot more for your efficiency.
can you heat your mash? doign a step mash will do a lot more for your efficiency.
Gnomebrewer
Well-Known Member
Are you measuring mash conversion efficiency, mash lauter efficiency, or brewhouse efficiency?
To clarify, conversion efficiency is simply how much of the starch you extract from the grain and then convert to sugar. It's measured in the mash, before any losses due to sparging. From what I can tell, Brewer's Friend doesn't have a calculator to measure it.
Mash Lauter efficiency is your efficiency during the boil. Basically it's your mash conversion efficiency minus losses due to sparging.
Brewhouse efficiency is total efficiency into the fermenter. It's Mash Lauter efficiency minus losses from boil kettle to fermenter (i.e. trub loss).
When you're getting poor efficiency, it helps to measure all three to help identify where your efficiency issues are coming from. If you're getting poor mash conversion efficiency, then crush or mash temp/pH are the probable culprits. But if it's close to 100%, the issue lies elsewhere. My brewhouse efficiency takes the biggest hit in the final step, because I choose to leave behind a lot of trub.
Same until my mill got loose.
re-adjusted and set spacing to thickness of a plastic movie gift card
Cato1507
Well-Known Member
Lol, I thought that the Brewers Friend calculator was measuring my mash efficiency. I entered my batch size, my OG before pitching and each of my grains.
To me that would seem to be the key number of interest. I understand I'll lose some due to grain absorption, a small amount in the kettle, and a little over a quart in my fermenter, but those are constants on every batch.
I've done a couple batch sparges, and next batch will try a full volume boil.
Definitely will take a closer look at my grain crush.
Thanks for the reply!
http://www.homebrewing.com/calculators/?page=tools§ion=efficiency
Above is the calculator I use. Last brew was 93.55% mash eff. on BIAB dunk sparging in 2 gallons. 5 gallon mash, 2g sparge for 7gallon total brew. In my opinion this is not too bad for the space/equipment I have.
edited to spell opinion correctly LOL
Above is the calculator I use. Last brew was 93.55% mash eff. on BIAB dunk sparging in 2 gallons. 5 gallon mash, 2g sparge for 7gallon total brew. In my opinion this is not too bad for the space/equipment I have.
edited to spell opinion correctly LOL
Last edited:
Cato1507
Well-Known Member
Interesting I've not measured my preboil gravity just the wort going into fermenter. I'll try that on my next batch.
I don't see a mash efficiency calculator on that link. There's a brew house efficiency calculator though.
It all starts with the grain bill that can be used to estimate potential sugars. After that you need to measure all water amounts including how much you add as well as what you have left after each step. That gives things like grain absorption rate and evaporation rate. Gravity readings at each step allow you to compare what you got versus potential. That's how you can evaluate the efficiency of each step. You can skip measuring at each step and just measure at the end but then you only get the overall efficiency. There's nothing wrong with that except it can't be used to determine the efficiency at the steps.
I would recommend drawing your sample after mash and putting it in a water bath etc to get it to your pitch temp - you will want to shoot gravity at all stages at the same temp
when calculating mash efficiency you're comparing your pre-boil gravity to the total possible gravity points available from your grain bill against your water volume - this is what i use the linked calculator for
here is another less in depth version https://www.grainfather.com/brewing-calculators?___store=us this one does not allow you to tag your individual grain, rather the whole bill weight
when calculating mash efficiency you're comparing your pre-boil gravity to the total possible gravity points available from your grain bill against your water volume - this is what i use the linked calculator for
here is another less in depth version https://www.grainfather.com/brewing-calculators?___store=us this one does not allow you to tag your individual grain, rather the whole bill weight
it actually is a mash efficiency cal, their label is pretty terrible for it - its just a straight efficiency calculator - here is their text description under the choice drop down:
The Brewhouse Efficiency Calculator calculates your mash extraction efficiency in percentage terms and points per pound per gallon (ppg). The Efficiency Calculator is useful for all grain beer brewers to calculate their actual efficiency at extracting sugars from the grain during the mash. Enter the pre-boil gravity, amount of grains, total extracted wort and the grain bill.
How exactly is everyone "adjusting ph?"
Cato1507
Well-Known Member
Lol, I haven't really. Truthfully, I haven't even messed with it. Once I switched from tap water to bottled spring water the beer has tasted fine, and I've only been brewing a year, so been concentrating more on improving my set up and skills.
I did get some test strips, which I know aren't terribly accurate but they showed my strike water ph was in the 5.0 range, and I've only added a little stabilizer to try and hold it there during the mash.
I'll probably get a ph meter before long, cause I do want to learn more and have purchased the gypsum, and other commonly used chemicals, just to have on hand.
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