Brewhouse Effiency - One more time

[AugustoSotero]

Good evening all.

I have read a lot of topics about the so called brewhouse efficiency and got a lot of the topic.

Nevertheless, there is something that is still bothering me.

I have figured that beersmith estimates mash efficiency as 112% of my brewhouse effiency.

So when I input my brewhouse efficiency as 72%, it gives me an estimated mash efficiency of 80,6%.

But since I have already computed all my losses in my equipment profile (such as dead space in my kettle, trub losses and so on) I wouldn't have any other loss
of efficiency besides the mash, which means my BH ef. and Mash ef. should be the same, right?

I mean, if I have already said to the software how much are my losses but my brewhouse efficiency and mash efficiency are not the same, I am having losses two times.

Can anyone enlight me on this ?

Thanks a lot!

 

[BOB357]

Your brewhouse efficiency takes your losses into consideration. Your mash efficiency is the percentage of the potential you got from the mash. Brewhouse efficiency should be higher than mash efficiency because of this.

 

[AugustoSotero]

Thanks for your reply.

I understood that though.

That's not the point. The point is that I have already taken into consideration my losses in my equipment profile as I said there...

 

[BOB357]

And that's the data that determines your brewhouse efficiency. It is what it is. The greater your losses are, the lower your brewhouse efficiency.

 

[Oginme]

The difference is where the sugars extracted from the mash are measured.

Mash efficiency (more correctly mash/lauter efficiency) is measured right out of the mash tun.  It includes all the volume collected and can be summed up as [(total gravity points of sugar x total volume collected) / (potential gravity points in grist x estimated amount of wort collected)]

Brew house efficiency accounts for losses to trub and chiller and any other losses post wort collection.  This can be summed up as [(total sugar points in the fermenter x volume into fermenter) / (potential gravity points in grist x estimated volume into the fermenter)]

If you have no losses in your process and everything from the boil kettle goes straight to the fermenter, then your brew house efficiency should be equal to your mash efficiency.

But, reality is unkind to us, and most of us end up losing something in the transfers and process, thus the mash efficiency should always be higher than the brew house efficiency.

 

[jawsfree]

Question, does your measured bottle volume have any effect on any of the effiencies numbers? I have changed from 10.67 barrels to 1 barrel with no change to the numbers....seams like that should be part of the calculation...Just asking

 

[GigaFemto]

I don't believe that the measured bottling volume affects any calculations. The calculations are used to predict the estimated bottling volume, and the measured volume is just there for the completeness of your records. If there is a significant difference between the two then you should change something upstream to make the estimated bottling volume agree more closely with your measured volume.

--GF