How to dial in Brewhouse Efficiency on Beersmith 3

[Dann0]

I seem to be having constant efficiency issues in my all-grain setup. I'm trying to dial in all of my volumes as accurately as possible so I can tighten up my process and try to stabilize my efficiency and stop always missing my target OG, but I just don't understand how BS reads these.

Some examples from the beer I have fermenting now, a Mad Elf Clone. In the Session tab it asks for measured batch size. What is included in this number? I grew up my starter to 3.75L then decanted it down to about 750mL, is this included? BS doesn't give me the option to include this, only the 3.75L.

I also typically add my simple sugar additions a couple days into fermentation. This time, as usual, I shorted my boil kettle a quart of wort, and then boiled it separately to dissolve my sugar and put it in a sterile mason jar. Should this be included, even though it won't be added for a couple days?

Then there is the cherries that get added to fermentation on day 3 or so, do I project these into that total? If I project all of these into my total, then the issue is that they add up to 6 gals, even though my projected post-boil volume was 5.25. This shows my BH efficiency as above my projection, even though I ended up 9 points short.

I also tell BS that I'm adding my simple sugar solution into primary, but it still throws my projected post boil OG off. So I have to add the sugar, look at the projected OG, then remove the sugar, look at the difference, in this case 9 points, then add the sugar back in. Then I try to game BS by measuring my gravity into the fermenter and adding the 9 points that I'll be adding in a few days.

But then what about the half gallon of cherry puree? Where does all of this sugar factor in? If I eliminate it from my recipe it doesn't change the projected OG, FG, or ABV, yet it has to have an effect?

I just really want to get my Equipment profile tweaked and my process tightened up so I can start hitting my targets again.

 

[brewfun]

The OG of any beer is the sum of all sugar additions, regardless of when they're added. Without that standard, predicting FG and alc% is less straight forward.

Measured batch size is the volume that ends up in the fermenter. Related is brewhouse efficiency, which is the total percentage of available sugars that make it to the fermenter. You can calculate it by multiplying your mash efficiency by the percentage of post boil wort volume that ends up in the fermenter.

This is relatively straightforward when all of your sugars are added by the time fermentation begins. It's blurry when sugars go in incrementally, such as your case. BeerSmith doesn't account for fermentation conditions, so, all sugars are added to OG for simplicity.

Sugars and fruits listed as Fermentables will add to the gravity if listed as going into the primary. No calculation is made for fermentables going into the secondary, tertiary or at bottling. To BeerSmith, those terms mean aging without yeast. It might be easiest listing all fermentation additions as "secondary" while your making the wort so you don't have to change weights. Then, change them all back to primary to let gravity and alcohol be calculated.

The sugar contribution of any fermentable is in the ingredient profile. There's a drop-down menu to define what kind of fermentable it is and lower down, there's a place to assign the sugar contribution per lb. Gravity numbers represent mixing the sugar to make 1 gallon, while fruits are determined by the actual brix of the juice itself.

 

[pricelessbrewing]

First definitions,

Batch size is the total volume into the fermenter. This should be equal to post boil volume - kettle losses. For the sake of simplification, I would not include the starter volume or any of the sugar additions as mixing two different liquids of different gravities and viscosities is difficult, and the gravity reading should be taken before any fermenter additions. Those additions will not affect any efficiency calculation, and will only impact the IBUs (through dilution), and the abv/fg.



Brewhouse efficiency is a calculation of gravity and batch size. It requires accurate measurements of both at reference temperature of your measuring device.

((sg - 1) *1000) * batch size / (weighted average of PPG * total grain weight * conversion efficiency).

ie 1.060 => 60 * 5.5 gal / (36 * 12 * 0.90) = 330 / 388.8 = 0.8488 => 84.88 % brewhouse.

It can also be calculated via mash efficiency and kettle losses. Brewhouse = Mash eff * (batch size / post boil size), where mash efficiency uses postboil volume instead of batch size in the above equation.

There's one important thing to remember, both brewhouse and mash efficiencies are a non linear function of the total amount of grain, the grain potential, and your equipment. The more grain you use, the lower your efficiency will be. As a result, your brewhouse and mash efficiencies will never be the same for any two recipes unless their grain bills are identical.

It is more accurate to aim for a constant (or nearly constant) conversion efficiency, and a predictable mash/brewhouse efficiency.

More info on my blog post here, https://pricelessbrewing.github.io/methods/Efficiency/