06/08/2016

BrewhouseEfficiencyforAllGrainBeerBrewing

BrewhouseEfficiencyforAllGrainBeerBrewing
byBradSmithonOctober26,200832comments

Brewhouseefficiencyisatermthatcausessomeconfusionforfirsttimeallgrainbrewers.Ipreviously
coveredhowtoimproveyourbrewhouseefficiency,butwefrequentlyseequestionsonourdiscusssion
forumfrombrewerswhodontunderstandwhatbrewhouseefficiencyisorhowitisusedinrecipedesign.
Brewhouseefficiencyisdefinedasthepercentofpotentialgrainsugarsthatareconvertedintosugarinthe
wort.Typicallythisincludeslossesforagivenbrewingsetup,andtheselossesaretakeninaggregaterather
thanaccumulatedindividually.Itisthereforeameasureoftheoverallefficiencyofyourbrewingsystem.
Brewhouseefficiencyisakeyinputwhendesigningallgrainrecipes,asitdeterminesyourestimatedoriginal
gravity.Ifyoudonthaveanaccuratebrewhouseefficiencynumberforyourparticularequipment,your
originalgravityestimateswillbewayoffandyouwillmissyourtargetgravity.
Everygraininanallgrainrecipehasapotentialyield,listedasthedrygrainfineyieldonthemaltsheet.The
drygrainyieldisdeterminedinlaboratoryconditions,bypowderingthegrainandextractingasmuchas
possibleandthenextractingmaximumpotentialfromthesample.Yieldsvaryfrom50%87%dependingon
thetypeofgrainused.Youcanalsoexpressyieldasapotentialsuchas1.038.
Theactualbrewhouseefficiencyismeasuredforanentiresystem.Unlikethedrygrainyieldorpotential
measuredinalab,realbrewersachieveonlyapercentageoftheidealnumberduetorealconsiderations
suchasefficiencyofthemashingprocess,andlossesduetoboiling,deadspaceortrub.Thispercentageof
thepotential,asmeasuredacrossthewholesystemintothefermenter,isthebrewhouseefficiency.
Arelatedtermismashefficiency.Unlikebrewhouseefficiency,mashefficiencymeasuresonlytheefficiency
ofthemashandspargingsteps.Mashefficiencycanbethroughofasthepercentofpotentialfermentables
extractedduringthemashingprocessthatactuallymakeitintotheboiler.

CalculatingEfficiencies
ProgramssuchasBeerSmithwillcalculatethebrewhouseefficiencyfromagivenrecipe,volumeand
originalgravity.Howeveritisimportanttounderstandwhatsgoingonunderthehood.Letslookfirstathow
tocalculatethetotalpotentialofthegrainforabatchofbeer:
(potential_pts)=(grain_pts)*(weightlbs)/volume_gals
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06/08/2016

BrewhouseEfficiencyforAllGrainBeerBrewing

Eachgrainhasadrygrainpotential,whichyoucanfindfromourgrainlistingorfromthemalterswebsite.
Thegrain_ptsiscalculatedfromthegrainpotentialbysubtracting1.000andmultiplyingby1000.For
example,agrainwithapotentialof1.035becomessimply35points.5poundsofthisgrainina5gallon
batchwouldadd35*5/5=35potentialpointstothebeer.Ifwesumallofthepotentialpointsfromthe
variousgrainadditionswecangettheoverallpotential.Ifwehadnolossesinthesystem,the35points
abovewouldgiveanidealstartinggravityforourbeerof1.035.
Imentionedthatthepotentialpointsrepresentsthegravityunderidealconditions.Inpracticeonegetsmuch
lessthanthis,usuallyaround7080%forbrewhouseefficiencyoverall.Thereforetheactualoriginalgravity
isdeterminedbythepotentialpointstimesthegravity:
(batch_pts)=(potential_pts)*(brewhouseefficiency)
Soifweconsiderarecipewith40potentialpoints,anda75%brewhouseefficiencyweget30batchpoints
oranoriginalgravityof1.030.Thisishoworiginalgravityisestimated.
Reversingthecalculationwecancalculatetheefficiencyfromanidealrecipepotentialestimate
(potential_pts)andactualmeasurement(measured_pts).
(efficiency)=(measured_pts)/(potential_pts)
Soforexampleifwehadarecipewithpotential_ptsof80andmeasuredthewortintothefermenter1.050
wegetanefficiencyof50/80=62.5%.Notethatthisassumeswehitourtargetvolume.Ifwedont,weneed
toconsiderthetargetandactualvolumeasfollows:
(efficiency)=(measured_pts*actual_vol)/(potential_pts*target_vol)
Theformulasabovegiveustheoverallbrewhouseefficiency,butcanalsobeusedtocalculatethemash
efficiencyintotheboiler.Forefficiencyintotheboilerwesimplyusetheboilervolumeandmeasuredboil
specificgravityintotheboilerasopposedtothefermenter.InBeerSmithyoucanclickonthebrewhouse
efficiencybuttoninanyopenrecipetoperformmoredetailedmashoroverallefficiencycalculations.
Nowyouknowhowtocalculatethetwokeyallgrainefficiencies:brewhouseandmashefficiency.For
additionalreading,considerourarticleonimprovingallgrainefficiency.
ThanksforjoiningusagainthisweekontheBeerSmithHomeBrewingBlog.Donthesitatetosubscribefor
weeklydelivery,leaveacomment,ordropavoteforanyofourarticlesonBrewPoll.comifyouenjoyed
todaysarticle.

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