From now on, if brewing efficiency is not given to you in a recipe, you can do these same calculations and figure it out for yourself.
To figure out yours, you have to brew that recipe on your system and see what kind of original gravity you come up with. Then you can figure out your own efficiency the same way. Good on ya! Your practices and system lend a little more efficiency. This means you could actually brew this recipe with slightly lower amounts of malt.
In this case your efficiency is lower than it really should be and you need to look at changing your practices or setup to increase it. You can do this by, taking the target original gravity 1. Like so:. So, you know you need 97 total potential grain points to hit 1.
Then you have to decide how you are going to divide those extra 14 points into the grain bill. The easiest way to do this is to get the points out of your base malt. In this case that would be the 2-row.
So, we play with the math:. As you can see, the math is telling us that each pound of 2-row is worth 7. Knowing this, we now figure out how much we need to add:. This would be account for the approximate amount that we need added. An adjunct is usually defined as any source of starch that is not malted, though many brewers will put things like malted wheat and rye in this category too. They can be further broken into two categories; kettle adjuncts and mashable adjuncts.
For our situation, we are only interested in kettle adjuncts. Kettle adjuncts are sugars that are readily fermentable. They include honey, candi sugar, molasses , any variety granulized sugar, malt syrup, malt extract, etc. Many of these can be added directly to the fermentation vessel, though putting them, first, in some heated water will help them solubilize. I have added honey straight to the fermenter on several occasions to up the original gravity. I would consider an efficiency assuming a regular gravity beer: up to 1.
Only when it is known where in the process the efficiency is lost a decision can be made about if and how the efficiency should be improved. While a low efficiency can be an indication of a suboptimal mashing and lautering process, Very high efficiency does not necessarily mean the best beer possible. The latter statement is targeted at over-sparging which can lead to the excessive extraction of unwanted grain compounds in particular tannins from the husks.
There are 2 main processes that affect the brewhouse efficiency: mashing and lautering. Mashing is a mainly bio-chemical process during which the extractable portion of the grain is made soluble through enzymatic and physical processes.
The result is sweet wort in which sugars, proteins and other compounds the sum of all that is called extract from the grain have been dissolved.
During lautering, a physical process, this sweet wort and the extract contained in it is transferred to the boil kettle while the insoluble parts of the grain husks, cell wall structure of the endosperm, coagulated protein, etc.
Both processes are influenced by different factors and should be evaluated separately from each other. Because of that I want to introduce the following formula for brewhouse efficiency or efficiency into the kettle:.
The subsequent sections will measure and evaluate the conversion and lauter efficiency separate from each other which gives shows where in the process efficiency is lost and which process step actually needs attention.
To determine the conversion efficiency we simply need to measure the gravity i. Calculating the specific gravity of the first wort based on the gravity potential of the grist is more complicated since the volume to be used in that equation is not the volume of the water used but the volume of the resulting wort which is larger due to the dissolved extract and more difficult to measure.
The easiest way is to calculate the water grist ratio and use the table to the right. The conversion efficiency can be estimated with this simple formula. When measuring the first wort gravity or strength make sure you get a sample after recirculating the wort through the grain in order to prevent measuring wort that was simply trapped under the false bottom or in the manifold.
If cooling of the sample is necessary it should be done in a way that minimizes evaporation. Weather or not they were in the correct range for other worth parameters e. If the conversion efficiency is satisfactory proceed to Determining Lauter efficiency , otherwise read on to learn about parameters that affect the conversion efficiency. Wort is best tested for starch on a piece of chalk or drywall Starch Test and to test the spent grain pick up a few pieces, rub them between two fingers and add a drop of iodine solution.
If they turn black-purple, they still contain starch wash hands afterwards. That unconverted starch is the cause of the low conversion efficiency and can have multiple causes:. There 2 ways to determine the Lauter efficiency. If batch sparging is used, it can be estimated from the total amount of water that was used and the total volume of wort that was collected. For fly and batch sparging it can also be estimated from measuring the extract that is still left in the grains after sparging.
The concept of calculating the lauter efficiency for batch sparging has been demonstrated in Batch Sparging Analysis. As this is a rather involved an cumbersome process I suggest taking accurate measurements of:. And then using the Batch-Sparging-Efficiency-Spreadsheet spreadsheet to calculate the theoretical lauter efficiency. If the theoretical lauter efficiency isn't close to the lauter efficiency determined from the conversion efficiency and brewhouse efficiency, the batch sparging process was suboptimal.
Have a look at the following:. Run-off speed and rest time after stirring the mash don't have any impact on the lauter efficiency in batch sparging. To some extend, the lauter efficiency can also be measured.
Based on that the percentage of extract that remained in the lautertun can be estimated. While a more detailed formula can be found in [Understanding Efficiency] not yet available , a simple table is used here. The Efficiency-Troubleshooting-Spreadsheet can also be used to do this calculation.
This is likely to be the result of channeling. Channeling is an effect where the sparge water doesn't rinse the grain bed evenly but finds paths of least resistance channels.
Causes of this can be a rushed run-off the slower the better the sparge water will be able to rinse the sugars from the grains or an inadequate manifold design. If the latter is the case, batch sparging may better be suited for the lauter tun. Here is an example from one of my batches where I dissected the efficiency into the kettle based on the material that was presented above:.
The grist was 4. I used 17 l water in the mash. After I stopped running the wort into the kettle I ran it into a large measuring cup and found that I had ml of wort in excess. This wort had an extract of 6 Plato. So it contained. I then gave the wort in the kettle a good stir and measured the volume and gravity.
This means I got the following efficiency into the kettle:. The factor 1. While the wort was heating and after I ran the grain bed dry i. This amounts to 2 l for each kg of initial grist.
After stirring well and making sure that I also dislodged the clumps of spend grain from the bottom I tested the gravity of this water with a precision hydrometer and it was about 2. This holds true for the other factors mentioned as well. Precisely dialing in your equipment profile will allow you to trust the predicitons of you recipe calculator and thereby improve your overall brewing consistency.
Different strokes for different folks. The key is messing around until you find what works best for you. A few months back, I made a batch that came in 0. I double-checked my mill gap, made sure to stir the mash 4 times before running off, and ensured my mash pH was on point for the next batch, yet my efficiency was still coming in way lower than target. To test this theory, I brewed a batch using base malt from a different supplier and, voila, my numbers were right on target.
Efficiency is one of those things homebrewers seem to fret over a bit more than they need to, with some apparently viewing it as a representation of their brewing prowess. Ultimately, by utilizing some of the tips above, you should be able to dial-in your efficiency well enough so that your regularly able to hit the numbers you expect. In theory, this seems like a good idea, running grain through a mill multiple times to get a finer crush.
If you have any thoughts about improving efficiency, please do not hesitate to share in the comments section below! If you enjoy this stuff and feel compelled to support Brulosophy. Great article. With consistent efficiency you can hit your numbers on brewday, and thus achieve the beer you want. Most of the people i know will happily add an extra hour to their brewing day via sparging and lautering and not using a bag, multi-rest mash etc.
About one every three or four brews, I will hit my SG on the head. To your point about malt, though. I read somewhere that the kernel size of Rahr PA malt can be inconsistent, potentially causing a bad crush, but that could be total internet bullshit. And also it is insanely easy to hit your OG if you hit a number above it: just add a bit of water in the last 15 mins of the boil.
Finally, I started taking almost an hour to sparge, 1 qt. I used to drain as fast as I could without getting a stuck sparge.
Great tips. The only problem with constantly tweaking and increasing efficiency is overshooting my OG and making bigger than expected beers. Another thing to think about is that malt batches can vary from bag to bag, season to season. If the Briess 2 row was great this season, it could be a little lower in starches next year.
Like grapes, some years and areas just produce a better product. So my question is for people who mill their own grains, when purchasing online or from your local shop, do you also have it milled there? Or do you buy whole and mill it once or twice yourself? A mill gap of 0. How do you mash? You can always snag a quality BIAB bag , which makes lautering pretty much anything super easy! I typically just mash for 1 hour in my kettle, wrapped in a couple layers of Infra-Stop insulation.
No sparging or anything. I have tried stirring, raising sparge water a few degrees, spending more time making sure I get the wort out of the dead space below the valve.
My beer seems to taste ok and most people who drink it seem to agree with me. Definitely need to do a few more!
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