ACE Mash efficiency - advice needed!

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DaveK

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I've just completed my third ever all-grain brew, all three having been done with an ACE Microbrewery and an irritating pattern is starting to form already.

On all three brews, my pre-boil gravity has been way lower than Beersmith predicted (1.034 v 1.043 today) and consequently my OG is low also (1.046 v 1.057).

I'm using a Beersmith equipment profile that other ACE users are using happily, so I don't think that's my issue, but something is going wrong somewhere and I'm hoping people could give me some ideas.

Today, I went for a smaller batch size (11L to the FV), as I figure that way I can do more brews whilst I'm learning. I actually got 10.75 litres to the FV after a few samples - so at least that part of the Beersmith calculation seems to be sound!

My recipe today was a Northern Brown Ale based as closely as I could to Greg Hughes' recipe, with a bit of flaked barley added to hopefully give a bit of head and body.

I've attached pictures of my grain bill and session data in the hope that someone can suggest what I might be doing wrong. Also worth me mentioning that I took a sample of the recycling mash at about 30 minutes and that read 11.5 brix (1.046) so for a while I was on course but something went wrong after that. Any help greatly appreciated, thanks :)

NBA_bill.JPG


NBA_Session.JPG
 
Do you make water adjustments? What I set my mash efficiency at is 75%. Do you sparge or 'no sparge' ?
Once you get used to your system you will know what to expect and able to key in correct efficiencies.
 
I've not made any water adjustments to date, and yes I do sparge. I've attached the mash profile I followed today.

I've also attached the Equipment Profile I'm using, which I gather lots of ACE users are having no problems with (I assume it should be the same for everyone?). I'm now wondering where Beersmith gets the 87.3% Estimated Mash Efficiency from (because it seems like I actually only got 69.7% today). Would it calculate that from the grain-bill?

nba_mash.JPG


ace_profile.JPG
 
How do you crush your grain? That matters a lot. If you're having a place crush them they might not be crushing them good enough.
In your beersmith settings you should set it to your 67 or so number so the next brew will take that in mind.
 
How do you crush your grain? That matters a lot. If you're having a place crush them they might not be crushing them good enough.
In your beersmith settings you should set it to your 67 or so number so the next brew will take that in mind.

The grain came pre-crushed from The Malt Miller, so I'm pretty sure it would have been done right (a lot of people swear by them I think).

I can't see anywhere in Beersmith to enter the mash efficiency - it seems to be calculating it somehow (or I'm too much of a noob to figure it out). I notice that the grain details have a "potential SG" for each item on the grain bill. I wonder if that's part of the calculation. I'll do some googling....
 
The grain came pre-crushed from The Malt Miller, so I'm pretty sure it would have been done right (a lot of people swear by them I think).

I can't see anywhere in Beersmith to enter the mash efficiency - it seems to be calculating it somehow (or I'm too much of a noob to figure it out). I notice that the grain details have a "potential SG" for each item on the grain bill. I wonder if that's part of the calculation. I'll do some googling....

I don't use the PC version, I use the iPad version but under profiles, equipment you can set it. In your picture it is on the left
 
I'm guessing potential og which it's referring to is the total value of gravity points available assuming 100% mash efficiency.
 
I don't use the PC version, I use the iPad version but under profiles, equipment you can set it. In your picture it is on the left

You can set the Brewhouse efficiency, but not the Mash efficiency it seems but from what I am reading one does affect the other. I found some forum discussions on the topic which I shall have to read through - which is cool. I want to learn :)
 
I'm guessing potential og which it's referring to is the total value of gravity points available assuming 100% mash efficiency.

That would make sense - yes. Then it applies your equipments estimated efficiency to calculate your OG I suppose. I'm out for the next couple of days, but after that I shall see what I can learn about how it all works.
 
How old is the grain. Are you using the same grain as entered into beersmith I.e. From the maltster?

Grain arrived a few days ago from the Malt Miller and I adjusted Beersmith with EBC and potential SG values etc from the Malt Miller website. So I think that should have been OK.
 

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