Reducing effiency

[grevengrevs]

Quick dirty, with my set up I get effiency in the 80's. While this seemed awesome at first manyofmy beers are coming in at very high ABVs. Other than adding water after the boil is there a way to bring down effiency closer to what seems the standard of 75%?

 

[agrazela]

Use less grain?

 

[Auger]

Use less grain?

This. If you're ending up with a too-high FG, you can keep teh current high efficiency, and just use less grain to back off on the available sugars. I wouldn't purposefully sabotage a dialed-in process to get where you need to.

 

[grevengrevs]

Any calculators out there that can help with adjusting grain bill?

And thanks for the advice guys

 

[m1k3]

Any calculators out there that can help with adjusting grain bill?

beersmith

 

[beerlover77]

Brewtarget

 

[HTH1975]

If you're using software (I use Brewers Friend), then you can adjust the efficiency when inputting the recipe.

 

[grevengrevs]

Thanks guys

 

[Jim311]

I wish I had this problem. Start brewing BIAB with full volume mash and it'll take care of that issue for you

 

[Chanoc]

A High efficiency is tne holy grail for most brewers...
It takes a lot to achieve. If you are already there, take advantage of it and save some gràin...
Extra wort may be used for starters or kraeusening batches yt? Properly handled/stored.
Some times I use final running or sludge from my booil kettle to make lemonades...

 

[pdxal]

I wish I had this problem. Start brewing BIAB with full volume mash and it'll take care of that issue for you

Slide over to the BIAB forum and you'll see many people getting 80+% efficiency with that method.

Personally, I'd keep the consistent process and use less grain, mash higher temps, or switch out base malt for more crystal malts if you don't mind more mouthfeel.

 

[bendog15]

Props to you if you're already hitting 80% efficiency. Many Brewers spend a lot of time and money and still don't hit that mark. I'm at 82% efficiency myself, very simple system, couldn't be happier. I use beersmith to design my recipes. You can enter brew house efficiency on there and hit your numbers. Without getting super high abv.

 

[NoIguanaForZ]

I've hit nominal efficiencies as high as 94% (though I think my LHBS habitually overrunning purchased grain quantities by a few ounces probably played a role too), and had some beers that were too strong for style but tasted too "blah" when dilluted, so I feel you.

I had to train myself to sparge less aggressively, that was kind of the deciding factor. >.> (Most of the styles I brew aren't harmed by an extended boil anyway. With some exceptions, IE my Irish Re...Aubur....Brown).

I found that, for a typical 5-6%, 5 gallon batch, ONLY letting myself fill up my 8.2 gallon pot for both mash and sparge helped.

 

[Sadu]

I wish I had this problem. Start brewing BIAB with full volume mash and it'll take care of that issue for you

haha yep. I started doing full volume mash with BIAB, getting 72% which I thought was cool. Next brew the guy at the homebrew shop said to try reserving some water for a sparge, which I did, got 84% on that brew. Brown porter turned into a robust porter just like that.

I'm targeting my next recipe at 78% efficiency and aiming for OG / ABV about mid-range for the style. Then if my efficiency is good then the beer comes out a bit stronger, no big deal. One could also adjust the water volumes to keep the ABV constant if that's preferable.

And +1 for beersmith - very cool program for modding recipes to suit your own process and equipment, scaling recipes, also great for adjusting hop amounts if your supplier has different AA% to the recipe and just for recording notes.

 

[grevengrevs]

Thanks everyone for the bits of advice. I went ahead and got beersmith and working my way through the learning curve. Seems easiest way to do this will be to use less grains. Which means a little more money for me!

 

[bendog15]

Beersmith is not the most user friendly program, but you'll get the hang of it eventually. Watch some online tutorials. I have had it for 3 years now and love it. I never design a recipe or brew without it. It's an amazing tool!

 

[Calder]

Thanks everyone for the bits of advice. I went ahead and got beersmith and working my way through the learning curve. Seems easiest way to do this will be to use less grains. Which means a little more money for me!

BeerSmith may seem a little difficult at first, but when you get used to it, you will not be able to do without it.