Lets talk about effiency..

[GearDaddys]

Question about all of the talk in various threads regarding "efficiency"..

FWIW.. I'm still new to BIAB, as well as to BeerSmith. I have spent countless hours in the software, and think that I have a good grasp of the concepts behind "Mash efficiency" vs "Brewhouse Efficiency", as well as how they correlate with each other..

I have been noticing that in many threads on here, guys are referencing their efficiency values.. Are you generally speaking of mash efficiency, or your overall brewhouse efficiency?

Thanks! (Trying to soak as much of this up as I can!)

 

[WayFrae]

When someone just references "efficiency" they are referring to their overall brewhouse efficiency.

 

[ronjonacron]

Whoops, usually I mean mash efficiency, guess I need to get on board.

Edit: because I feel like there are a lot of different variables on brew house eff. How much trub your grain bill gives, how much you leave in the kettle, how much you lose to chillers, how well your yeast compacts, etc...

 

[emyers]

With BIAB your main mash efficiency will always vary depending on your target OG. Bigger beers will be less efficient where you can get as good as 80 percent efficiency with a small .1045 beer for example. Expect 60-70 percent on .1060+ beers ballpark.

 

[monkeyman1000]

I started BIAB 2 years ago after I found the BIABrewer site so I am more used to their terminology. I use Efficiency into the Boil, Efficiency of Ambient Wort and Efficiency of Fermentor. It would be nice if the home brewing world used the same terminology especially when trying to replicate or scale recipes. I usually look a the first two which are usually very close (and should be from what I understand). The last one I guess is like brewhouse efficiency where it really depends on your system, like ronjonacron mentioned. There is a good sticky on the BIABrewer site about brewing terminology and a Podcast they did on Basic Brewing radio. Not sure if I'm allowed to post a link and I'm not necessarily trying to plug their site but I do like the idea of being able to compare apples to apples.

 

[Gavin C]

Agreed

Efficiency seems to mean different things to different people. For scaling recipes one really needs to know the end kettle efficiency (Is that ambient wort eff?)

For dialing in one's process an accurate mash efficiency and brewhouse efficiency (into the fermentation vessel) are useful. Accurate measures are predicated on precise measures of volume, and specific gravity at the correct temperature of a sample. This is usually 60F or 68F depending on one's hydrometer.

Volume markings in the kettle and fermentation vessel facilitate the former, whilst adjusting the temperature of a sample negates the need for correction of the gravity reading. In this way comparison from one batch to the next can be compared and recipes refined accordingly.

 

[Rcbandl]

I am waiting for that one guy who says he consistantly gets 90% efficiency. There is always 1

 

[C-Rider]

From Brewersfriend.com

* There are four main types of efficiency in the brewing world. 'Efficiency' alone could refer to any of these. Each type references a different point in the brewing process. This calculator can compute each of them, but it is up to you to provide the corresponding volume and gravity:

Conversion Efficiency - The percentage of total available sugars that were extracted from the grains inside the mash tun.
Gravity - measured before the boil (blend of all runnings).
Volume - how much mash water was used (do not count grain absorption or mash tun dead space).
Pre-Boil Efficiency - The percentage of total available sugars that made it into the kettle.
Gravity - measured before the boil (blend of all runnings).
Volume - how much wort went into the kettle.
Ending Kettle Efficiency - The percentage of total available sugars that made it to the end of the boil, before draining the kettle.
Gravity - OG (measured after cooling, before pitching yeast).
Volume - ending kettle volume (when cooled, before draining).
Brew House Efficiency - An all inclusive measure of efficiency, which counts all losses to the fermentor. This can be thought of as 'to the fermentor' efficiency. Hops absorption factors into this, and is reduced on the same equipment by ~1% in super hoppy beers.
Gravity - OG (measured after cooling, before pitching yeast).
Volume - how much wort went into the fermentor.