I hope to brew my second all grain this saturday; an ESB kit. But I have a question Brewcipher does not agree with the OG my kit came with (go figure right? I mean, who gets an accurate kit? I haven't seen one). OG is supposed to be 1.057 and Brew Cipher says for 5.1 gallons it will be 1.063. Am I putting in the ingredients wrong? Should I increase water to 5.5 gallons and have a 1.059 OG? Should I just not care? Lbs % Ingredients 10.25 87% Maris Otter 38 0.75 6% Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L 34 0.5 4% Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L 34 0.25 2% Caramel/Crystal Malt - 120L 33 1oz Nugget - 60 min 1 oz Kent Golding - 15 min Danstar London ESB dry yeast.
Could be differences in expected efficiency. Your kit seems to assume 65% mash efficiency by my calcs.
You'll want to change the efficiency to match what you get with particular setup. Not everybody gets the same efficiency. On a side note: I'd pick up a couple more ounces of EKG to throw in late boil and/ or flame out.
Since your new to all-grain brewing you will need to find out your efficiency as stated above. This will help you become accurate at hitting your intended volumes and help with planning a grain bill for future recipes. I would say a safe number to use initially is 70% if you are batch sparging using a Igloo. To calculate your effiency you will need to compare your estimate Pre-boil gravity with the actually pre-boil gravity you hit. Here's a link to brewers friend that can help you do that on brew day. http://www.brewersfriend.com/brewhouse-efficiency/
Does efficiency change per batch? For instance: would a smaller grain bill with a larger proportion base malt (smash session blonde ale) have better efficiency than say an ESB or imperial stout with larger bill, and in that bill a larger proportion of specialty malts.
Yes, efficiency varies with the grain bill. Typically the higher the OG, the lower the efficiency (this relationship might be pretty negligible at low OGs, but it becomes highly significant at high OGs).
It definitely changes with the size of the grain bill. BrewCipher has a tab called "Mash Efficiency Predictor." If you know your Mash Efficiency with "X" lbs of grain, it will compute your expected efficiency with "Y" lbs of grain, given your system/equipment parameters. It will also predict changes in efficiency from switching from sparge to no-sparge and vice versa. Or combine a grain bill size change with a sparge/no-sparge change. It's just math.
Ya know, I had to look to verify that 74% is indeed the default. But you can (and should) change that once you dial-in your system.
I went ahead and adjusted it to 70. I'll see if I can't start tracking an efficiency this weekend. Though, I think this ESB might not be a good baseline for comparison.
And it's done! Cold crashing right now. It has some strong fruit notes, which was a pleasant surprise to be honest. I used Danstar London ESB yeast. It look off like a monster, and was impossible for me to control the temp. It was hovering at 68-70 at it's peak when I was shooting for 66. Blow off was needed less than 24 hrs in. I really need to insulate my temp probe better from the fermentation fridge ambient air. And I'm really looking forward to this batch!
