Issue with Beersmith Efficiency Calculation

[TSMill]

Perhaps not a problem in Beersmith 2 (I'm still on 1.4), however I've noticed inconsistencies with my % efficiency, in particular it has been a few percentage points lower than expected using JW malts.

I've always blindly used the potential gravities for grains that I downloaded off the BeerSmith website, thought I would compare with available certificates of analysis (quite a few on the national homebrew website).

Based on the fields available in Beersmith, it suggests the % (dry basis) and the % moisture are used to determine the yield. For the mathematically minded, %(as is) = %(dry basis) *(100-moisture %)/100

As an example, JW pilsener has an extract % of 81.1 (fine grind dry basis) and 77.5 (fine grind as is), with a moisture content of 4.5%

Issue is, the potential value seems to be calculated off the dry grain yield field only, I can increase moisture content to 100% with no impact on the potential that is given.

So, it would seem to me the value in BeerSmith should be the %(fine grind, as is), and changing this my percentages jump back up the couple of % points expected. Looked at some Weyermann malts, numbers seem a little off but not as much as JW.

Just thought I would note it, see if it is a known bug, if it is fixed in 2.0, or if it is messing with anyone else's efficiency calculations (or if I have somehow broken BeerSmith).

 

[warra48]

I'd be interested to see the responses.

I use BS2 upgraded, but don't use it for volumes etc. With my 3V system I know well what volume/temp I need to dough in, to sparge, and top up the kettle.

The only efficiency measure I really look at is my mash efficiency, and I can get that within no more than a 1 to 2% range from consecutive batches using the same recipe. That allows me to work out pretty well where I want to end up without relying on BS2 to tell me malt quantities etc etc for a desired specific gravity.

As a matter of interest, have you considered asking this interesting question on the BeerSmith forum?

 

[TheWiggman]

I have a similar issue to OP - I think - in that the efficiency % I enter and the figures given by beersmith conflict.
I'm on about my 8th brew now and previously I would just sparge until I hit my pre-boil gravity. Now that I'm cubing, I'm targeting volumes so I need to adjust my efficiency to determine my recipes for a required ABV.

I found total efficiency 80% to be a good number which was close to 23l in most cases. I have this entered for my recipe on the 'Design' tab of each brew.
Yesterday, I hit 1.040 for pre-boil at my required volume. If however I enter 1.043 as my actual pre-boil then BeerSmith 2 calculates this to be an 85% efficiency -



What gives?
On top of that, I extended my boil for 15 mins (to 90 mins) to make up for the 3 point miss and ended up with an OG of 1.053.
Using the BeerSmith tool, this implies my pre-boil gravity was 1.043. I'm thinking maybe I took a dodgy reading but I did measure twice using a refractometer and got 1.040 both times, and stirred well to ensure it was mixed after the sparge.

So far I've done 2 cubes and both times I've filled the cube to 23l and ended up with high OG (3 or 4 points). This is of course fine so I'll just push my total efficiency until the numbers match in practice.

inb4 "don't worry about efficiency" - I'm after repeatability, not higher efficiency :drinks: