+1 to that advice. I upgraded from batch sparging 5 gallonswith a bazooka screen in a Gott cooler to a 10-gallon, 3 kettle Morebeer sculpture a few weeks ago. In 3 batches, I have seen my efficiency go from 67-70% with my old gear to anywhere between 75-80% depending on the grist with my new setup.
I've overshot my gravity on know recipes each time I've brewed with my new gear. And the efficiency goes up a bit each time as I learn the equipment better. Thankfully I expected the efficiency bump and bought more hops when I started brewing with my new gear so I could adjust on the fly an keep the beers in balance.
I had always just about nailed my numbers every time using 70% as my expected efficiency in my software. With 3 batches under my belt, I think I have enough data to bump the efficiency to 75% and give that a try.
I would advocate using an interval adjustment approach like this. It sounds like what you're doing any way. Dialing in will always take a few batches when you introduce new processes and equipment to your brewery. Once you know what to expect, adjusting your numbers becomes easier. There are a couple of things I always do or items I try to keep on hand, especially web trying a new recipe, new equipment, or a new process:
- take a pre boil gravity. Most software will tell you what your pre boil gravity should be at a certain volume. You'll have an idea going into your boil where you're going to be vs your expectation.
- have some way of knowing your evaporation rate. This is on the other end of the scale from your pre boil gravity. Taken into consideration with your PB gravity, you know a lot about what will happen during your boil in terms of hop utilization
- keep some extra hops and a little DME on hand so that you can adjust based on the previous 2 pieces of data. If you're too efficient, adjust your bittering accordingly. If you're less efficient, make up for the lost gravity with some DME
