Efficiency

[trunky]

Is it typical to achieve 75% efficiency for an AG brew? Can you realistically achieve more?

I am interested because I have been analysing some of my old recipes with a view to returning to AG brewing and I was regularly achieving 75% to 78% efficiency. That was using a right cobbled together mess of equipment, no insulation, no shineyness, makes me wonder :wha:

Fairy nuff if I can be more efficient I might make the effort, if not - I'll just cobble some **** together again :)

 

[Aleman]

I regularly get 80-85% with no problem . . . even batch sparging :shock: I'm not particularly slow or careful about it either. . . . I have achieved over 95% on occasion (Decoction mashing) . . . but a high efficiency figure is not necessarily something to aim for . . . I still formulate my recipes using 75% as it means I can sparge less and still get teh wort I want . . . with less risk of tannin extraction

 

[Vossy1]

I get 74% batch sparging usually but when I fly sparge the average is 85% every now and then 90%.
I too don't sparge slowly and I have no doubt that if I sparged more slowly the eff would go up.

 

[Wez]

I get the same as V 80% to 85% when fly sparging.

 

[Brewmarc]

how do you calculate efficiency :wha: The promash calculator seems a little complicated to me :wha: so it would be nice to Know the mash efficiency for dummies approach

 

[Vossy1]

how do you calculate efficiency

Each grain that we use for brewing has a maximum amount of sugar which can be taken from it. Under laboratory conditions it is possible to remove 100% of the sugar, this is known as the maximum extract potential (MEP). Your homebrew shop can supply you with the MEP figure for the malt you buy, and it usually expressed as deg per litre per kg of malt.

Eg, pale malt may have a MEP of 295 deg/ltr/kg

So you have a recipe which calls for 12kg of pale malt and has a 60ltr brew length. Using the equation, quantity of malt x MEP divided by the brew length that gives you 12 x 295 / 60 = 59, so 100% efficiency would give you a brew of OG 1.059.

So you want to know what 75% efficiency would give you, 59/100 x 75 = OG 44.25.

Lets say you used 12kg of pale and got 60ltr of OG of 1.040.
How would you work out your efficiency, well, divide the MEP by 100 and multiply by 40 ie, 59/100 x 40 = 67.79% eff.

Brewing software is a god send

 

[Aleman]

And lets not even mention Mash efficiency and Brew house efficiency :lol:

Mash = what you get in the boiler before the hops are added and the boil begins.
Brew house = What you get in the FV following loss to hops trub and what's left in the boiler

 

[Brewmarc]

thanks for that Vossy & Aleman Ill take some notes from your posts & will work out what my brewhous efficiency is. :thumb: :

 

[Wez]

It's really useful to know your brewhouse efficiency to help you to calculate your OG's but don't get caught up on chasing high efficiencies - high efficiency doesn't mean great beer. I know of a few people who set their BHE at 65% in order that they extract what they believe to be the 'best' from the mash.