Can someone talk me through conversion efficiency?

Discussion in 'Brew Sessions' started by Brewer #211946, Sep 4, 2021.

  1. Stefan Forch

    Stefan Forch New Member

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    So, I must be doing something wrong on my input for conversion efficiency (Mash Complete), but I can't figure out what it is for the life of me.

    I'm doing BIAB, added 4,6kg of malt to 20L of water, which gave me a 1.066 gravity when taking a sample straight from all the collected runnings. However, when I input 20L @ 1.066, I'm getting a 104,8% conversion efficiency, which doesn't seem right. What number am I inputting the wrong way?
     
  2. Minbari

    Minbari Well-Known Member

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    I never paid alot of attention to those. the exact measurements of the malts are unknowns, so it will be this way or that a bit.

    BUT, you input 20L of water for the mash and got 1.066 out of it. no way you got 20L out. how much actual water did you put in and how much out. that is going to effect that calculation the most.
     
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  3. Nosybear

    Nosybear Well-Known Member

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    You only enter the strike water to get efficiency.
     
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  4. Mark Farrall

    Mark Farrall Well-Known Member

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    Without checking it's not necessarily impossible and that's the way I measure my mash complete efficiency for full volume BIAB mashing. The next one, pre-boil gravity, is the amount of wort in the kettle before turning on the heat for the boil.

    I have got over 100% before, but it's very infrequent. It could be a slight measurement problem along with a really efficient mash. Not something to panic over unless it keeps happening. And even then it wouldn't be panic. More just make sure your process is giving you accurate measurements. Or maybe the recipe has an ingredient that's tagged as not being mashed when it actually was.
     
  5. Pricelessbrewing

    Pricelessbrewing BF Software Manager
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    Or that the ingredients potential (PPG) in BF doesn't quite match your supplier or lot. Grain can vary +- point or two from the average PPG from lot to lot even within the same year.

    Without knowing more info about your system, the only thing I would say is that you said "from all the collected runnings" for mash complete you should only be using the water added to the mash, strike + infusions, before any first runnings/sparge/lauter etc. This isolates conversion as the only possible variable and removes lauter and absorption variables.
     
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  6. Double DeeZaster

    Double DeeZaster New Member

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    • What were the grains used? You need to figure out the max PPG to determine max og potential.
    • How much liquid volume was collected post sparge and pre boil?
     
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