Beermsith clarifications on my efficiency and batch sizing

[olotti]

SO from a previous thread I just posted I'm trying to nail down my actual efficiency in Beersmith in regards to how it helps me scale the recipes to my efficiency. But I need clarification on what my efficiency is per Beersmith. I have 7 recipes entered into Beersmith, my measured efficiency after all the numbers have been entered is I'm presuming what my overall efficiency is? So if that's the case here's the measured efficiency for those batches: 65,72,68,69,68,64,63. That avgs out to 67% so do I need to change my equipment profile to 67% brewhouse efficiency instead of the 72% it sits at right now?

That being the case when I input a recipe I'll already have my equipment profile selected so the recipe as written, that is of a wrote with a higher efficiency, will obviously come in with a lower OG due to my lesser efficiency. Is the proper way to scale to a recipe to change the lowered OG up to the proper recipe OG and that will in turn increase the grain bill to account for my lower efficiency?

If I'm getting 68% on moderate gravity beer how low would I drop my efficiency with a higher gravity 1.070 OG +, so I can have a separate setup for higher gravity batches.

 

[olotti]

Anyone please any help would be great. I want to make sure I'm approaching this correctly so I don't miscalculate the grains and end up with poor efficiency.

 

[CarboyBoy]

I'll try to address some of your questions in this post and your previous one.

When I input someone else's recipe, I include not only all the ingredients but also as much of their process and equipment setup as they specify. For example, I brew a lot of the recipes from Brewing Classic Styles. He writes all the recipes to end with 6 gallons after the boil, 5.5 gallons into the fermenter, and 5 gallons for packaging. So it is a 5-gallon recipe, but as far as mash efficiency, it's a 6-gallon batch.

So, when I add that recipe to BS, I check all the numbers to see if they line up with the specs in the recipe: OG, IBUs, SRM, etc. if anything is off significantly, it usually means I didn't put something in correctly. Once it's all in and I'm happy that the recipe I typed in faithfully represents the written recipe, I then scale it to my own equipment profile.

In short, scaling a recipe is a much better way to adapt the recipe to your own equipment than just changing the efficiency number. If you just change the efficiency, none of your ingredient amounts will change, but you'll need to add grain if you get a lower efficiency than the recipe calls for. So, if you do just change the efficiency number, then you'll also need to adjust your grain amounts up or down to compensate. (Depending on the recipe and what the difference in efficiency is, you can usually just adjust your base grains.)

Based on your efficiency numbers, I'd use 68% for now. But watch that number over the course of 10-20 batches to see where it goes and how it's affected by OG.

As far as adjusting your efficiency for OG, that will unfortunately be something you'll have to experience for yourself. That is, your results will not necessarily be what others see. That said, I usually see a 5-8% drop in efficiency above about 1.080 and a 5-8% gain below 1.040 (with 1.050 as a reference).