How does BS3 calculate Mash Efficiency

psehorne

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BS3 seems to be calculating Mash Efficiency based on some ratio of Measured Boil Volume and Water Available From Mash (and other things probably). It is not taking into consideration Sparge Vol. BS2 on the other hand seemed to calculate Mash Efficiency based on some ration of Measured Pre-Boil Volume and Est. Pre-Boil Vol.

Attached Vols tab numbers results in Measured Mash Eff of 107.8 on the Design tab (pic also included).
Also attached in the Vols tab from a brew that I did with BS2 before upgrading to BS3. These numbers resulted in a Measured Mash Eff of 91.7%.

I don't understand what is going on with BS3. Can someone please explain?

Thank you,
Paul

[EDIT] that (3rd) pic below of the brew done in BS2 was a completely different grain bill. I'm adding a pic of the Design tab.
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I apologize for this post becoming so confusing. I was trying to provide necessary amount of detail. So, I'll make if very simple.

Why is BS3 calculating 107% brewhouse efficiency when the calculator at Brewer's Friend comes up with ~80% with the same input?

Thanks,
Paul
 
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I assume you have created a custom equipment profile and that it is accurate?
 
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I had been putting the wrong number into Brewer's Friend calculator. But even putting the correct number into Brewer's Friend calculator the brewhouse efficiency is ~70%. Now where near the impossible 107% that BS3 shows.

It is my understanding that the only number that go into brewhouse efficiency calculations are grain bill, OG, and wort into the fermenter. Those numbers are shown in the pics above (although in Brewer's Friend calculator I was putting volume into the boiler, but that is not the problem in BS3 calculations).

BTW, the brewhouse efficiency calculated by BS3 did not changed when I selected the BrauMeister profile included in BS3 instead of my customer profile. I've been using my customer profile for years....and I went back through previous brews and did not see this wild discrepancy until this week with BS3.

In any event, hopefully the recipe profile I included in the post above will shed some light on this.

Paul
 
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I had been putting the wrong number into Brewer's Friend calculator. But even putting the correct number into Brewer's Friend calculator the brewhouse efficiency is ~70%. Now where near the impossible 107% that BS3 shows.

It is my understanding that the only number that go into brewhouse efficiency calculations are grain bill, OG, and wort into the fermenter. Those numbers are shown in the pics above (although in Brewer's Friend calculator I was putting volume into the boiler, but that is not the problem in BS3 calculations).

BTW, the brewhouse efficiency calculated by BS3 did not changed when I selected the BrauMeister profile included in BS3 instead of my customer profile. I've been using my customer profile for years....and I went back through previous brews and did not see this wild discrepancy until this week with BS3.

In any event, hopefully the recipe profile I included in the post above will shed some light on this.

Paul
The equipment profiles that come with BS3 and earlier versions are there as a starting point for you to build your own profile. For the most part those profiles were supplied by users. They are (we assume) tweaked for that users particular system but even if you own the exact same model your brewing style, process, tubing, etc. are different causing results that can be off. Even Brad Smith recommends only using those supplied profiles as a starting point. Without an accurate and customized equipment profile all of your results can have inaccuracies.

The most likely reason for BH over 100% is an error in measuring the gravity... the grain was weighed inaccurately... wort volume was measured inaccurately... or a combination of any or all of these. There are other factors like miscalculating boil off but they all go back to the equipment profile.


And a link to a very good tutorial for customizing an equipment profile. I recommend every user of Beersmith follow this or similar tutorials. Until you have that profile dialed in you are opening yourself up to constant frustrations. I would hazard to guess that every former Beersmith user who now uses something else stopped using BS because they didn't want to bother setting up their equipment profile.

 
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One of us is missing the point.
The number shown in my BS3 screenshots were put into Brewer's Friend calculator and produced expected results. BS3 'should' be using the inputs shown on the Vols screenshot and produce the same result as Brewer's Friend calculator.

I know profiles provided are just a starting point.
 
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When you first enter a recipe and BeerSmith calculates estimated values it also puts those estimated values into the fields for the measured values with a yellow background on the text to let you know that they are estimated values that you need to overwrite with measured values. If you change the recipe and do not push the "Clear Session Data" button you may have estimated values that refer to an older set of inputs. I see on the session tab that you have an estimated post mash gravity of 1.036 and a Measured Post Mash Gravity of 1.050 with a yellow background. That 1.050 value is what gives the 108% mash efficiency, but the yellow background tells me that you didn't enter an actual measured value. In fact, your Measured Pre-Boil Gravity is 1.036. With no extra sugar or extract additions, the post-mash and pre-boil gravities should be the same. If I enter 1.030 for the measured post mash gravity the measured mash efficiency changes to 64.7%. You should have entered a measured number in the measured post mash gravity field or cleared the session data to use the estimated value for the current inputs.

--GF
 
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GigaFemto, you are right on. That solved the problem. Thank you so much for the correct and such a simple reason for the observed, but unexpected behavior....​

Paul
 
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