Efficiency Issues

[a1149913]

Hey guys, i'm having some issues with high efficiency. I made a bohemian pilsner last night and checked the OG this morning (before pitching) and it was 1.058. My predicted OG was 1.051. I'm not complaining if my efficiency is that good, but i find it hard to believe if it is! Am i missing something? I'll post up the recipe details for you all to suss. I ended up with 19.5ish L of wort in my fermenter and around about 3.8L of trub. I thought i'd drain without a hose and subsequently couldn't drain below my tap

My mash out volume was slightly lower than whats written as i couldn't fit enough water in my esky, so the left over went in as sparge water.

Recipe: 11. To George!
Brewer: JT
Asst Brewer:
Style: Bohemian Pilsner
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 27.98 l
Post Boil Volume: 24.23 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 23.30 l
Bottling Volume: 23.30 l
Estimated OG: 1.051 SG
Estimated Color: 7.5 EBC
Estimated IBU: 41.5 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 76.80 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 76.8 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
5.04 kg Weyermann® Pilsner (4.0 EBC) Grain 1 93.7 %
0.34 kg Weyermann® Carapils (4.0 EBC) Grain 2 6.3 %
14.00 g Magnum [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 3 21.1 IBUs
50.00 g Czech Saaz [3.70 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 4 16.5 IBUs
25.00 g Czech Saaz [3.70 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 5 3.9 IBUs
25.00 g Czech Saaz [3.70 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 6 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg Bohemian Lager (Wyeast Labs #2124) [124. Yeast 7 -
60.53 Items 375mL Bottle (Bottling 0.0 mins) Other 8 -


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 5.38 kg
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 14.09 l of water at 73.5 C 67.0 C 60 min
Mash Out Add 7.86 l of water at 93.1 C 75.6 C 10 min

Sparge: Fly sparge with 11.52 l water at 75.6 C

 

[seanokil]

Hey guys,

HI!

 

[chunckious]

sup?

 

[QldKev]

Hi mum

 

[bradsbrew]

Hey guys,

Can see what you mean! That post was pretty inefficient. Try adjusting the crush or double sparge your post next time

Cheers

 

[a1149913]

haha sorry to posters above. The comment box when starting a new topic is possibly the worst one i've ever come across as you can't highlight, paste text properly or edit already written text at all. So i start the topic, then fast edit where i can do all the above

 

[bignath]

Hey guys, i'm having some issues with high efficiency. I made a bohemian pilsner last night and checked the OG this morning (before pitching) and it was 1.058. My predicted OG was 1.051. I'm not complaining if my efficiency is that good, but i find it hard to believe if it is! Am i missing something? I'll post up the recipe details for you all to suss. I ended up with 19.5ish L of wort in my fermenter and around about 3.8L of trub. I thought i'd drain without a hose and subsequently couldn't drain below my tap

Can't do the calculations right now (at work) but i'd suggest if you actually got the 23lt you were intending into your fermenter, then your OG wouldn't have been that high.

Not trying to be Mr Asshole, but i'd suggest that what you were aiming for vs what you ended up getting are probably pretty much close to correct, and therefore may not have higher efficiency like you think....

If you had all 23lt in fermenter with an increase in OG as well, then you may have something. Maybe you need to adjust your recipe for system losses a bit more accurately.

 

[a1149913]

I agree that once i adjust for system loss the overall efficiency is down, but i chose to ditch the 3.8L of trub. If i'd put it all in the fermenter, i'd still have 23ishL of wort at 1.058. I'm more wondering why i got an OG of 1.058 when the predicted OG was 1.051

 

[chunckious]

Can't do the calculations right now (at work) but i'd suggest if you actually got the 23lt you were intending into your fermenter, then your OG wouldn't have been that high.

Not trying to be Mr Asshole, but i'd suggest that what you were aiming for vs what you ended up getting are probably pretty much close to correct, and therefore may not have higher efficiency like you think....

If you had all 23lt in fermenter with an increase in OG as well, then you may have something. Maybe you need to adjust your recipe for system losses a bit more accurately.

So Nath, could water be added into the fermenter to bring the volume up to 23L. Getting close to the desired gravity?

 

[a1149913]

You could add water to lower the OG but then the hop profile will be altered

 

[felten]

haha sorry to posters above. The comment box when starting a new topic is possibly the worst one i've ever come across as you can't highlight, paste text properly or edit already written text at all. So i start the topic, then fast edit where i can do all the above

I think you have to click the "switch between standard and rich text editor" button in the top right of the reply box to fix it.

 

[bradsbrew]

You could add water to lower the OG but then the hop profile will be altered

But your hop calcs are gone anyway due to the extra malt? If you calculated 23L @ 1051 why not add water to bring 19.5L @ 1058 to 1051 which would bring back your recipe calcs.

Cheers

 

[cdbrown]

My guess is that your volumes are out slightly - are you sure there was 24L post boil and not 22L? Therefore 18L fermenter, 4L left behind? This would give you about the right OG numbers.

Edit - adding 2.5L water will give you the 1.051

 

[a1149913]

This is the recipe with 87% efficiency which gives me an OG of 1.058, 3.8L of trub loss and then top up fermenter with 3.4 to 23L. The bitterness has dropped significantly from 41 IBU's down to 32 IBU's. Adding this water will also the hop flavor profile as your diluting the resins. You will also be diluting the malt too.

Recipe: 11. To George!
Brewer: JT
Asst Brewer:
Style: Bohemian Pilsner
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 28.09 l
Post Boil Volume: 24.34 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 23.00 l
Bottling Volume: 23.00 l
Estimated OG: 1.059 SG
Estimated Color: 6.8 EBC
Estimated IBU: 32.0 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 87.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 101.4 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
5.04 kg Weyermann® Pilsner (4.0 EBC) Grain 1 93.7 %
0.34 kg Weyermann® Carapils (4.0 EBC) Grain 2 6.3 %
14.00 g Magnum [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 3 16.3 IBUs
50.00 g Czech Saaz [3.70 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 4 12.7 IBUs
25.00 g Czech Saaz [3.70 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 5 3.0 IBUs
25.00 g Czech Saaz [3.70 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 6 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg Bohemian Lager (Wyeast Labs #2124) [124. Yeast 7 -
60.53 Items 375mL Bottle (Bottling 0.0 mins) Other 8 -


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 5.38 kg
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 14.09 l of water at 73.5 C 67.0 C 60 min
Mash Out Add 7.86 l of water at 93.1 C 75.6 C 10 min

Sparge: Fly sparge with 11.63 l water at 75.6 C

 

[felten]

In the fermentation details page, set your "Into the fermenter" stats as; 'Measured batch size' = end of boil volume, and 'measured OG' = end of boil OG and it should give you the proper efficiency on that page.

I have problems with the efficiency read out when I start taking trub losses into account. For me, Batch size = end of boil volume, trub losses = 0L and it comes out pefectly.

 

[bradsbrew]

Now do it again but change your fermenter volume to 19.5 because that is your efficiency. Did you take the the left over wort and measure it without the hop and protein sludge?

 

[a1149913]

I think i should have named the title of this thread better. I'm not too fussed about my actual brewhouse efficiency. I'm particularly interested in my predicted OG and actual OG. If you were in my situation with a 19.5L of bohemian pilsner sitting at 1.058, what would you do? Water it down to around 1.051 and loose some hop, malt and bitterness profile but end up with a proper FG or cop the high OG and resulting high FG?

 

[argon]

Personally i don't like having Pilsners/pale lagers over 12 Plato (1048) as i think you'll get too much going on in the ester profile of the beer due to the higher than optimum gravity fermentation. With pale lagers like this, any yeast stress can really show up in the finished beer. So i'd dilute to 1051 or so and make sure you're pitching the correct amount of yeast to keep things nice and clean.

Your predicted IBU was 41.5IBU @ 1051, so hitting over gravity and diluting will take some off that, but you'll probably still be in range for a pilsner... i.e. greater than 35IBU.

 

[Crusty]

I think i should have named the title of this thread better. I'm not too fussed about my actual brewhouse efficiency. I'm particularly interested in my predicted OG and actual OG. If you were in my situation with a 19.5L of bohemian pilsner sitting at 1.058, what would you do? Water it down to around 1.051 and loose some hop, malt and bitterness profile but end up with a proper FG or cop the high OG and resulting high FG?

I'm only guessing why your efficiency is better than expected ( good for you ) but for this particular batch if it was me, I would simply add 2.68L water & bring down your actual OG of 1.058 to 1.051 & just put up with the slight loss of hop & malt character. I think you will still be drinking a great beer anyhow. Next time adjust your efficiency a bit higher & see how close you get then. I did this on a few of my first ever All Grain beers & they were still crackers.
Cheers

 

[a1149913]

Thanks I'll dilute it down when i get home today. I pitched yesterday morning with 300ish billion cells.