90% Efficiency?

[daanmuller]

Ok I put on a new brew last night and on OG reading of 1060 I found that I had acheived 90% efficiency..

Here is the recipe

23L in the fermenter
5KG - Pale Ale Malt
100G - Crystal
25G - Pale Choco Malt

40G - Fuggles Plugs @ 60mins
10G - Cascade Pellets @ 30 mins
1EA - Whirlfloc Tablet @ 30 mins
10G - Cascade @ 5 mins
10G - POR @ flame out

From my beertools calc I was expecting and OG of 1050. I checked the OG at 21C and it read 1060.

I used a 1 hour mash at 64.5C and mashed out at 78C

I was expecting a 5.5% ended up with 5.9%

is a 90% efficiency just luck or can it realisticly be achieved. Would like to know so I can retrace steps and see where the error or success went.

Cheers

 

[brettprevans]

temp of wort could have increased the OG giving an untrue indication. some hydrometers have a temp correction scale on them. of course i suppose you could have got 90% in which case, bloody good work!!!

only 25g of pale choc and 100g of crystal though? i like choc. interesting hop selection

 

[daanmuller]

temp of wort could have increased the OG giving an untrue indication. some hydrometers have a temp correction scale on them. of course i suppose you could have got 90% in which case, bloody good work!!!

only 25g of pale choc and 100g of crystal though? i like choc. interesting hop selection

I brewed a Pale Ale with the same recipe minus the Pale Choc, I found it to be lacking in the back end, no slight hints of maltyness. Yes I know pales are ment to be bitter via hops. But I thought I would give this a try to see how it turns out. I guess its more of a ESB but I kept the floral hops more toward the citrusy end. Just experimenting really.

 

[newguy]

Happened to me once. I was expecting 75-80% and ended up with 95%. I have no idea why it was so high or what I did to make it that high. I haven't been able to reproduce it but perhaps you'll have better luck.

It seemed to be one of those once in a lifetime kind of things.

 

[Stuster]

Yes, it's certainly possible. Sounds like you've measure it right. Did you use your own mill? Did you do anything different this time?

I'm with CM2, the hop bill looks, well, interesting. Might be great though for all I know.

One thing is that the whirlfloc won't do anything. The best time to add it is at 5-10 minutes before the end. Longer than that and the proteins that have coagulated will tend to break up again.

Anyway, well done on the efficiency.

 

[daanmuller]

Yes, it's certainly possible. Sounds like you've measure it right. Did you use your own mill? Did you do anything different this time?

I'm with CM2, the hop bill looks, well, interesting. Might be great though for all I know.

One thing is that the whirlfloc won't do anything. The best time to add it is at 5-10 minutes before the end. Longer than that and the proteins that have coagulated will tend to break up again.

Anyway, well done on the efficiency.

Same mill nothing different other than brewing at the new place (just moved). Curious to know what you guys think about the hop selection, why so interesting? I was looking for more of a citrusy finish and went with Cascade and POR.

As far as whirlfloc, I have conflicting statments on when to add. A few brewing books specify 15 mins others 30 mins and here 5-10 mins. Curious to know what the optimum use is.

 

[Stuster]

As far as whirlfloc, I have conflicting statments on when to add. A few brewing books specify 15 mins others 30 mins and here 5-10 mins. Curious to know what the optimum use is.

Daan, have a look at the pdf about whirlfloc that MHB posted in post 20 of this thread. The main point is that

Kettle finings should be added to the boil ten minutes
prior to the end of the boil for a semi-refined product and
five minutes for a refined material. The addition times
reflect the length of time required to dissolve and
disperse the carrageenan into the wort. Should kettle
finings be added too early in the boil, then degradation
of the polymer will occur and product efficiency is lost.

 

[yardy]

there's a chance your brew can become astringent with high efficiency like that, i suppose it's good to get the numbers but i prefer the mid 70's.

cheers

Yard

 

[matho]

"I checked the OG at 21C and it read 1060."

"temp of wort could have increased the OG giving an untrue indication."

i thought that most hydrometers are calabrated at 20 deg and as the temp goes up the reading drops so when the wort is hot you add a certain number to the reading to correct it, is that true or have i been reading my hydrometer wrong?

cheer's matho

 

[darrell.wallace]

"I checked the OG at 21C and it read 1060."

"temp of wort could have increased the OG giving an untrue indication."

i thought that most hydrometers are calabrated at 20 deg and as the temp goes up the reading drops so when the wort is hot you add a certain number to the reading to correct it, is that true or have i been reading my hydrometer wrong?

cheer's matho

My hydrometer is calibrated to 15.6 degrees and anything within about 7 or 8 degrees is fairly acceptable. Both beersmith and promash have hydrometer correction tools built in that will help you. I deliberately test my post boil wort with temps as high as possible because my hydro only goes to 1.040 and if i have brewed a 1.065 beer then obviously i cannot read it properly so i adjust readings in beersmith.

the other thing to consider in achieving a random high efficiency is the hardness or softness of the water. If you have just moved then the alkalinity levels and salts etc in the water might be greatly different, giving you different extraction rates. Have you tested the PH of the water since moving? If you are using the same gear then i suggest this may be the difference.

as for the whirfloc, i wouldn't go any longer than about 15 minutes at the outside time. i normally add at 10 minutes, but lately 5. this is because i whirlpool before chilling and it sits for an extra 5 minutes at almost boil temps anyway.