AIO system brewers, what mash efficiency do you achieve?

[Leard]

I'm currently brewing an oatmeal stout using a BrewZilla 4.

My mash efficiency? 107% apparently according to Beersmith.

Obviously I've messed up somewhere. But I don't know how. My hydrometer works fine, and I know how to use it. I gave the wort a good stir before taking the post-mash reading to ensure the sugars were evenly distributed. Somehow, I managed an impossible mash efficiency.

I'm currently letting the wort cool before I take a pre-boil/post-sparge reading. Is there a way I can work out the post-mash gravity based on the pre-boil gravity?

 

[Agentgonzo]

Brew house efficiency of 80% on a G30

 

[MashBag]

Brew house efficiency of 80% on a G30

Terrible. You clearly need to upgrade to a BZ3

 

[Agentgonzo]

Terrible. You clearly need to upgrade to a BZ3

Not a BZ gen 4?

 

[MashBag]

.. Damn and blast, I can't even blame that typo on the preemptive text

 

[Rwilts]

I get around 75% brewhouse efficiency on BZ 3.1.1

 

[MrJay83]

70-75% on a BZ 3.1.1. That could be a lot lower sometimes until I got more experience with it.

 

[Sadfield]

I'm currently brewing an oatmeal stout using a BrewZilla 4.

My mash efficiency? 107% apparently according to Beersmith.

Obviously I've messed up somewhere. But I don't know how. My hydrometer works fine, and I know how to use it. I gave the wort a good stir before taking the post-mash reading to ensure the sugars were evenly distributed. Somehow, I managed an impossible mash efficiency.

I'm currently letting the wort cool before I take a pre-boil/post-sparge reading. Is there a way I can work out the post-mash gravity based on the pre-boil gravity?

For mash efficiency in Beersmith you should be using your post sparge gravity. Beersmith has two gravity entry points, one under Mash Efficiency and another under Volume and Gravity Into the Boiler, this allows for adding sugars or malt extract into the kettle at the start of the boil, in case you were doing a partial mash, say. For a straight AG brew the gravity figure will be the same in both.

You have a Mash Efficiency of 107% as you haven't yet diluted the gravity with sparge water. Replace the pre-sparge measurement you put into beersmith with your post sparge measurement, and you should be back on track. Typically, around 80%.

 

[hoppyscotty]

Think I'm getting a mash efficienty in the high 60's on the BZ 3.1.1. Don't give a stuff really. I don't mill my own grains so it is what it is, I just adjust receipts to accommodate. I do get a different (worse) mash effieicny on my BZ 3.1.1than my mate gets on his. He's getting around 75% and we use the same ingredients and brew the same beers so go figure and use the same tap water and water adjustments. Keep meaning to investigate further but it makes next to bugger all difference in the resulting beers other than the on-paper ABV calculations, so ultimately irrelevant.

 

[Agentgonzo]

Totally agree with @hoppyscotty . Efficiency is just a number to me.

 

[Sadfield]

Meh, Brewhouse Efficiency may be a purely economical factor, how much beer you get from your ingredients. Mash Efficiency, however is a measure of how much sugar you extract from grain, so may be of importance if you think flavour is imparted to those carbohydrates extracted by the malting process.

 

[YeastFace]

75-80% mash efficiency in my G40, depending on batch size and whether I can be arsed to do a mini sparge.

 

[The Baron]

Totally agree with @hoppyscotty . Efficiency is just a number to me.

Consistency is more important for me so I can write a recipe efficiently

 

[hoppyscotty]

Well the consistency between mine and my mates brewhouse is good despite our 5% or so difference in mash efficiency. So I don't agree with @Sadfield comments that mash efficiency impacts flavour or the end result of the beer, at least in a detectable way. Also mash efficiency is also a commercial metric as if you can extract more sugars from the malt then you can reduce the malt weight for the same volume of beer. Only worth a few pence in malt on the homebrew scale, but if you're Molson Coors then its worth millions a year and after speaking with a previous director of brewing from Bass/Molson Coors he said that they got at least 99% mash efficiency (so basically somewhere between 90% to high 90's% per batch). If he got 98% mash efficiency on a batch he'd have got sacked. They had a £2Bn a year marketing budget so just goes to show the scale of these massive commercial breweries.

For me if I were interested in mash efficiency I'd be milling my own grains, I don't, I buy ready milled grains so have what I have and just crack on and don't sweat it. I control other parameters that I can...water chemistry, PH etc. but I think grain crush is probably the single biggest aspect for mash efficiency by a long way.

I agree with @The Baron. if you have consistency then whatever changes you make to your recipe will have consistent results from batch to batch so once you have consistency then you have the ability to chase stuff like mash efficiency if that is important to you. Like 0-60 times with cars...a metric people like to coalesce around but ultimately what utility does it really have?

 

[Twostage]

I got a slightly better number for OG than Brewfather calculated - 1.047 instead of 1.045. It has two efficiency percentages Mash and Brewhouse which are 80% and 76%. TBH I'd have to look up which one is relevant to the OG.

 

[The Baron]

Most use Brewhouse when they are referring to efficiency

 

[MashBag]

So I don't agree with @Sadfield comments that mash efficiency impacts flavour or the end result of the beer, at least in a detectable way.

Worry not. I don't agree with Sadfield on loads of things

 

[MashBag]

I agree with @The Baron. if you have consistency then whatever changes you make to your recipe will have consistent results from batch to batch so once you have consistency then you have the ability to chase stuff like mash efficiency if that is important to you. Like 0-60 times with cars...a metric people like to coalesce around but ultimately what utility does it really have?

Absolutely agree.

Brewing the same recipe consistantly helps you learn loads of effects and techniques.

 

[foxy]

Think I'm getting a mash efficienty in the high 60's on the BZ 3.1.1. Don't give a stuff really. I don't mill my own grains so it is what it is, I just adjust receipts to accommodate. I do get a different (worse) mash effieicny on my BZ 3.1.1than my mate gets on his. He's getting around 75% and we use the same ingredients and brew the same beers so go figure and use the same tap water and water adjustments. Keep meaning to investigate further but it makes next to bugger all difference in the resulting beers other than the on-paper ABV calculations, so ultimately irrelevant.

I agree efficiency is just a number but it is your number, efficiency isn't a claim to bragging rights. which some folk think it is.
But if I had a mate with the same system, the same grain bill, the same water and water additions getting a higher efficiency then I would be seriously looking for the reason why it was so.
Ask for a finer crush from your supplier the SVB's can handle it, you may get a couple of dough balls to break up but so what.
Have a close look at your temperatures in the mash tun both dough in and saccharification temperature. Are you keeping the same temperature throughout the mash? It is essential to make sure the temperature is uniform, that is one thing these systems don't do well. It is also essential for the alpha-amylase for reducing mash viscosity and to increase starch solubility. A regular stir and you can feel the change in the viscosity as the resistance to the paddle lessens.
When you mention the big breweries, 0.5C drop in temperature the mash stirrers and heating start-up to maintain constant temperature.
Doughing in too high a temperature can denature the beta-amylase which can happen quite quickly.

You may have a handle on the latter comments about temperature so just for the sake of those who aren't getting the maximum out of their system.

 

[Sadfield]

Efficiency is just a number, based on the extraction of Sugar. Just saying it isn't the only thing we're extracting from grain, but might be a useful indicator to the efficiency of extractions of the many other things we want, that require far more advanced equipment than a hydrometer to measure or quantify. Efficiency is increased by sparging, a rinsing process, were clear water goes in, colour, sugar, flavour, etc. comes out. Disagree, all you like, it doesn't affect my beer.

Worry not. I don't agree with Sadfield on loads of things

Thank **** for that, I'd worry if you didn't.