Troubleshooting low Efficiency

@janky one thing I just noticed from your op is how you let the sparge sit for 20-60 minutes before draining. You don't need to wait that long. 10 minutes to let things settle before you vorlauf works fine. This won't change your efficiency, but it will save some time. Some people don't even wait that long and still get good efficiency.

 

If this is true, then John Palmer is flat out wrong. In the experience of myself and many others, crush can impact efficiency by 10% or more.

Double mill your grains next time and watch your efficiency jump by about 10%. I can virtually guarantee it.

 

I'll take mediocre mash efficiency every time as a homebrewer if the sparge doesn't stick and the beer tastes good. : )

 

BeerSmith defines 'batch size' as "the finished batch volume - i.e. the amount of beer you hope to brew." I interpret this to mean the amount of beer available for packaging.

 

If you rest the mouse on any of the parameters, a message appears and defines the parameter.



Packaging volume is batch size plus starter volume minus post fermentation loss. I routinely add 0.25 gal to the fermenter as a starter, so 5.75 gal in the fermenter. Then package only 5 gallons in the keg.

My total beer "loss" is 1.75 gallons from the kettle to the keg.

 

I looked through the website and it is different than the book! Swear I didn't make it up! In the book it was chapter 17, table 25 on page 179.

 

No argument the ToolTip sez what it sez but Mr. BeerSmith hisself has written otherwise elsewhere many many times.

 

This is true, and you can confirm it with Amazon's "Look Inside" feature if you don't have the book in front of you. (Amazon only allows certain pages to be viewed, but I was able to view this one by searching the book for "efficiency.")

The discrepancy can be explained in this way (quoting Palmer):

Increasing the degree of crush can significantly improve the yield from home mashing systems. It doesn't have much effect on the results from an ASBC Congress mash (fine/course difference typically about 1%). Why the difference in response? The ASBC method mashes a small sample of malt for two hours in a multi-rest mash. It is then lautered for another one to two hours! Homebrewers are diehards if they spend half that much time on 10 pounds of malt.
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Buy and read the book if you want a fuller examination of this issue, but the short version is that for homebrewers the fineness of the crush can make a significant difference, far more than the 1% difference it makes in a Congress mash. That said, the tradeoff may not be worth it given the relative expense of grain (cheap) vs. time spent on stuck sparges etc. (highly frustrating).

 

Turns out ... in BS v2: "BeerSmith also now separates the “batch or into fermenter” volume (before fermentation) from the bottling volume (after fermentation)."

Tweren't true in v1.4.

 

And you're consistent. If I know I have a 60% efficency then I can't predict my gravity and build my recipe off that. If I would rather have 60% consistency than 80% one time than 70% the next, etc.

 

Cool, I think the print and online versions are different. I'll look in the book later tonight. I'm curious to see what his parameters were for his test.