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Eff in Beersmith

pvignola

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Hello all.  I'm a bit confused about the eff numbers in Beersmith.  Here are the numbers from my brew session today.  
Brewhouse Eff
Actual OG 1.063 Actuall Eff 67.3  Estimated OG 1.063 Brewhouse Eff 67.0
Eff inot Boiler
Volume into Boiler 7.10 OG into Boiler 1.056 Palnned Boil volume 7.25 Est OG into Boiler 1.048 Eff into Boiler 77.3
Eff into fermentor
Batch Volume 5.50 Planned Volume 5.50 Eff from Actual Volume 67.3.
Can anyone explain what these numbers mean.  I thought I understood but I guess not.  How can the Actual volume be 5.50 the planned be 5.50 and the Eff from Actual Volume be 67.3.  Shouldn't the Eff in Boiler and Eff into fermentor numbers match?

I usually set the brewhouse eff to 75% thinking that is my mash eff.  If not how do I enter my mash eff to get the Original Gravity Estimate setting to match my mash eff of 75% or so?
 
I'll take a stab at it...

The brewhouse efficiency is the overall efficiency of the system - including all losses.  This is the number used in BeerSmith to estimate your OG.

Mash efficiency is the efficiency of your mash process only and does not include losses later in the boiler or other places.  BeerSmith does not use mash efficiency as an input.

I note that in order to properly use the efficiency details screen you need to measure your actual OG and volume accurately, along with the actual volume into the boiler and also the actual OG into the boiler (adjusted for temperature if you do a high temp reading).  All of these are needed to get accurate numbers from the efficiency details screen.

The efficiency into the boiler is generally slightly lower than your overall brewhouse efficiency because you typically gather more wort with a lower OG than your finished product.  By boiling you concentrate the wort to reduce volume and increase OG.  However losses in the system such as lost trub can offset and sometimes reverse these gains.

In your case, it appears you had very good efficiency into the boiler (i.e. in the mash process) but may have lost a lot of wort somewhere in the process because your overall brewhouse efficiency was 67%.  

Brad
 
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