PseudoChef
Well-Known Member
For the last 4 batches I've brewed, I have finally kept my equipment constant and it's really allowed me to dial in my process where it's repeatable, expected, and turning out beer that I enjoy. It also obviously makes for a smoother process, and I've enjoyed my brew days immensely more because of that (somewhat...I'll get to this later).
Now, with this said, I think I do everything right. I am a cooler MLT guy (48 qt Ice Cube) who does the double batch sparge method. Now, the way I have read is that you base everything off your boil-off volume: If you, say boil off 1 gallon per hour (just for the sake of sayin'), then you would want to start off with 6.5 gallons of wort to get to 5.5 gallons into the fermentor.
Now, I've been on a belgian kick lately, and thus I'm flying with a strict Pils base, so 90 minute boils for DMS reasons. I've calculated my boil-off to be around 16% an hour, and this is a value I have now dialed in repeatedly. Taking that into account I start with around 7.25 gallons pre boil.
This is where I get lost: I will sparge to this amount, and at the end of the sparge, I can still pull 1.040 wort most every session. I dial in my efficiency with my LHBS crush to around 67% as I usually do bigger than average beers. But this has happened mostly every time.
For the 888 I was pulling 1.040 wort until I was left with 11 gallons that I boiled down to 5.5. For my last brew day, a partigyle, I ended up (post-boil) with the small beer being 1.045 but I still pulled about a gallon of 1.040ish wort that I then canned for starters in the future. I didn't see how much volume it would have taken me to get down to 1.010 because I just wanted to start the boil.
So what's the true measure of efficiency? I could theoretically get 80-85% if I wanted to boil all day, but we all know we don't want to do that. But if I stick to my boil volume that I want, I'm around 65-67%.
Maybe a little long winded, but it's Friday morning and I have nothing better to do.
What say yous?
Now, with this said, I think I do everything right. I am a cooler MLT guy (48 qt Ice Cube) who does the double batch sparge method. Now, the way I have read is that you base everything off your boil-off volume: If you, say boil off 1 gallon per hour (just for the sake of sayin'), then you would want to start off with 6.5 gallons of wort to get to 5.5 gallons into the fermentor.
Now, I've been on a belgian kick lately, and thus I'm flying with a strict Pils base, so 90 minute boils for DMS reasons. I've calculated my boil-off to be around 16% an hour, and this is a value I have now dialed in repeatedly. Taking that into account I start with around 7.25 gallons pre boil.
This is where I get lost: I will sparge to this amount, and at the end of the sparge, I can still pull 1.040 wort most every session. I dial in my efficiency with my LHBS crush to around 67% as I usually do bigger than average beers. But this has happened mostly every time.
For the 888 I was pulling 1.040 wort until I was left with 11 gallons that I boiled down to 5.5. For my last brew day, a partigyle, I ended up (post-boil) with the small beer being 1.045 but I still pulled about a gallon of 1.040ish wort that I then canned for starters in the future. I didn't see how much volume it would have taken me to get down to 1.010 because I just wanted to start the boil.
So what's the true measure of efficiency? I could theoretically get 80-85% if I wanted to boil all day, but we all know we don't want to do that. But if I stick to my boil volume that I want, I'm around 65-67%.
Maybe a little long winded, but it's Friday morning and I have nothing better to do.
What say yous?