Batch Performance / Efficiency in Brew Session

[NDB]

Relatively new to Brewer's Friend and AG brewing so pardon my ignorance on this one, please!

I just completed my fifth AG batch and have been trying to increasing my brew house efficiency. After exceeding 60% a few times in a row, I decided to try 63%, based on my last session (below)

Efficiency:
Conversion: 83.7%
Pre-Boil: 68% 25 ppg
Ending Kettle: 64% 23.6 ppg
Brew House: 63% 23.1 ppg

So after completing this batch @63% BH efficiency, I ended up with:

Efficiency:
Conversion: 94.1%
Pre-Boil: 72% 25.8 ppg
Ending Kettle: 64% 22.9 ppg
Brew House: 60% 21.4 ppg

While brewing, I was excited at the conversion and pre-boil percentages, two positive signs... then the ending kettle was the same as last session and the brewhouse decreased....disappointing.

I am not sure I fully understand what happened. In the FAQ is states the ending kettle % is theoretically the same as pre-boil but mine is consistently less and by 8% this session, compared to 4% during the previous one. Could it be as simple as inaccurate measurements or recordings?

Sorry for the long winded question.

I brew with a gravity fed system (20G wide kettle, 7G Igloo cooler for the mash tun and have a 6G tall kettle for a HLT).

Any help is much appreciated!

Cheers.

 

[J A]

I've tried to make heads or tails of the "Mash Complete" and "Pre-boil gravity" numbers I get. They never match up with what's happening in the real world no matter what I do with my profile. I just tend to ignore them.
My efficiency has been hanging right at 78% using kettle as a target. The OG (post boil gravity)number has been accurate and it's been predictable at that point. I can make a recipe and have the beer come out like I think it's going to (or at least very close...sometimes I get a bump in efficiency so that I get a few points higher OG). That'll have to do.

 

[jeffpn]

I've tried to make heads or tails of the "Mash Complete" and "Pre-boil gravity" numbers I get. They never match up with what's happening in the real world no matter what I do with my profile. I just tend to ignore them.
My efficiency has been hanging right at 78% using kettle as a target. The OG (post boil gravity)number has been accurate and it's been predictable at that point. I can make a recipe and have the beer come out like I think it's going to (or at least very close...sometimes I get a bump in efficiency so that I get a few points higher OG). That'll have to do.

What he said.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

one of the things that kills your chances of repeating the same beer is mash out procedures, first thing to do in raising your efficiency is don't brew based on time, many people make this mistake, forget the 60 minutes, you go by your readings. Ive mashed as long as 120 minutes because I needed too and regularly boil 90 minutes sometimes longer, I always hit my marks and its not because of time its because I do whats necessary to get there. another thing is doing a long vorlauf or recirculation and a long sparge with the correct ph and temperature. temperature is key to pull more sugar out of the grain and the long slow sparge will release more sugar from the outside of the grain and I cant say this enough, time has nothing to do with it

 

[GFHomebrew]

Same Ndb i get 90% extraction efficiency but as you found this won't necessarily reflect brew house efficiency.
I go by brew house when calculating a recipe using this websites recipe calculator I consistently hit around 70% brew house and that's what we're trying to achieve is consistent mashes. I can recall my excitement when I logged in my mash numbers fist time round and got 92% extraction I thought sweet she's gunna be a pretty efficient brew but then into fermentor I got 70%. Don't dispare just brew more beer I say! Only way to learn.