I have my second AG batch in fermentation right now. (The first batch I didn't even try to calculate my mash efficiency.) I'm trying to determine my mash efficiency for future batches. Here's my information: Style: pale ale 10# 2-row pale 1# 60L Mashed at 157 avg. for 60 mins (160 start, 154 end, did not prewarm my mash tun) strike water 3.5 gallons at 173, grain 65 Fly sparge with 3.5 gallons at 164 (this is high for a desired 1:1 ratio but I must have a high evaporation rate because I lost a lot of liquid on my first boil) My preboil OG was 1.036 @ 156. I have a few questions: 1. What numbers in the future do I need to record to determine my mash efficiency? 2. My preboil OG seems worthless as all of the calculators I've found stop converting at 120. Do you all cool your wort to 120 to get an OG reading or just start heating it up for your boil? 3. Anything you see that I'm doing that could be improved? e.g. up my mash water and reduce my sparge water?
BTW, here's my recipe: http://hopville.com/recipe/1258975/...ipes/american-pale-ale---magnum-citra-cascade My primary OG was 1.050 so I was a little lower than my target.
You need your preboil gravity & volume or postboil gravity & volume, along with the ppg of each grain you used. Postboil is normally best, as you can calculate your brewhouse efficiency. Something is odd, as 1.036 @ 156 = 1.057 preboil, yet you were lower postboil. Assuming a 5 gallon batch of 1.050, you got 5 x 50 points of sugar from your grain = 250. You maximum ammount of sugar from the grain (using average ppg values: http://www.howtobrew.com/section2/chapter12-4-1.html) is 10 x 37 + 1 x 34 = 404 Thus your effieiency was 250 / 404 = 62% PS use http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/hydrometer.html?14615523 for above 120F PPS There are so many little things to note in each system. How long did you mash for? Did you check for conversion? What does your fly sparge setup look like?. One thing you should definitely do for next time is sparge warmer, it will help get some extra sugar into solution.
It took me a while to remember because it was about 2:30 in the morning when I was chilling my wort but I realized I had water leaking from the faucet, running down the tube, and into my wort. It probably added about 1/4-1/2 gallon of extra water, hence the lower post boil gravity.
I would suggest getting your hands on a saccharometer. That will enable you to test OG without having to wait for cooling, which is damn near essential in AG brewing. That'll take care of #2. Other than that, I'd say definitely prewarm your mash tun. You don't say anything about what sort of equipment you're using, but I would worry about having that much of a temperature swing in most situations. I know that for me, using a converted 10 gal cooler, temp usually drops about 1 degree over an hour... dropping six degrees would worry me. Also, that's a fairly high mash temp for a pale, but I assume you did that to increase body, which some people like...
Since the OP is taking gravity readings, I would assume he already has a saccharometer (hydrometer), or maybe a refractometer. Either way, he should be able to take readings any time he wants. Hydrometer readings need to be adjusted for temp. Refractometer readings may or may not need to be adjusted for temp, depending on the model.
Got it. Still, OP could use his hydrometer any time. Just needs to adjust for temperature using widely available conversion charts/online calculators.
