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Over Efficient???

Post #1 made 14 years ago
by the_mc
Hi Gang,

I was hoping you could help with this one. I brewed an APA this weekend and everything went great. Hit my mash temp of 154 for the full 60min. Boil went well(90 min). Plopped it all in the fermenter and hit my in fermenter volume of 22ltrs............great! Until....I took the OG reading. This beer was supposed to be 1.066 but the reading was 1.088!!!! I calibrated my Hydrometer and it is right on the money. Is there such thing as being way to over effiecient?

I have a new grain mill and it made a pretty fine grind. Could it have been too fine? Too much grain in the grain bill?

Thoughts?

I have attached my calculator so you can see the recipe etc...
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Post #2 made 14 years ago
by hashie
Wow mc, that's better than 100% efficiency. Either you have this brewing business down pat or there might be some discrepancies in your measurements.

Another 5 brews with your grain milled through this mill and then look back at the average of those figures. It might just be an anomaly, so don't stress.
"It's beer Jim, but not as we know it."

Post #4 made 14 years ago
by PistolPatch
I remember reading a post by ThirstyBoy explaining that it is possible to do better than 100%. I think the 100% refers to sugars being able to be extracted using a standard type of laboratory method.

I've had over 100% before but I think you'll find it is due to some sort of measurement error somewhere along the way. Any one way out should always be 'binnned.' As hashie said, it's the averages that tell the real story. It's not uncommon though to get 'mash efficiencies' in the high 80's with BIAB.

It's never a bad idea either to get at least two efficiency readings during a brew. A pre and post boil one (before transfer to fermenter) acts as a good double-check. When you take a hot sample, let it cool in a coffee mug covered in plastic wrap in your freezer.

Cheers mc :peace:
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Post #6 made 14 years ago
by the_mc
I took a long look at my recipe and did some calculations and figured I am about a 1.5 lbs heavy on the grains.....

Oh well I brewed a DIPA instead of an IPA.......is there a downside to that :)

I am going to retry the recipe in a couple weeks and see what happens. Thanks for the pointers!

Post #8 made 14 years ago
by Ralph
The degree of extraction for 100% efficiency is usually determined by a standard laboratory technique known as the Congress mash (Hartong is another) and while it is indeed possible for brewers to achieve more than 100%, that's unlikely in the OP's case, much more likely to be some measurement error, and that's the sort of thing we've all done! The fundamental measurements need to be verified (mass, volume, SG, may as well do temperature while at it!), my guess is there was actually more malt mashed than had been anticipated.
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