Calculating Mash Efficiency

[derfburg21]

No, but what I did do was take the rading from my first runnings out of the MT. I should have waited until I was all in the pot to boil.

Anyway, this method still does not make sence. There needs to be a documented way to do it, or at least just a simple box on the analysis tab. like "Pre-boil" next to the OG and TG boxes. Hovering over this, clicking that, just input and be done.

I keep getting more and more fustrated by this porgram. Not usre how long I will stick with it. Just not too easy for first time users.

[Bobby_M]

I don't know many brewers that are taking note of their mash efficiency (based on a sample initial runoff of the mash). That's probably why there's no place to enter it. Are you aware of any other software that does this? Most everyone cares about mash/lauter which is preboil efficiency and brewhouse or "into the fermenter" efficiency. The latter is either entered into the analysis tab or you can adjust your efficiency numbers until the anticipated OG matches your measured OG.

[slothrob]

Thanks, Bobby_M, I never realized that entering the OG into the analysis tab changed the efficiency.

[billvelek]

I'm sorry I didn't weigh in on this earlier, but I've been extremely busy. I agree with Bobby M ... who explained the way that I've been determining my efficiency for some time now. There isn't really anything wrong with slothrobs' suggestion -- I did it that way initially until I figured out the better way -- but I also recognized that slothrob's method can be thrown off a little bit if you don't do it exactly right, i.e., you need to measure both your VOLUME and your gravity at 212F. If you measure volume at the end of your sparge, when it is probably easiest to do, then your wort will be at maybe 170F and consequently your volume will be lower than what it would be at 212F. Furthermore, assuming that you take an accurate volume and gravity measurement at 212F, unless it matches your recipe volume exactly, you will need to first change your recipe's "Kettle Volume at 212F" to exactly match your actual results, and THEN you can begin tweaking your efficiency setting until the measured and estimated original gravities match.

SUGGESTION TO JEFF AND LATHE: I would find it useful if you could add to the 'Calculators' section a feature that would permit a user to determine how much volumes change with changes in temperature. That would, for instance, enable a user to 'accurately' use slothrob's method ... which is what I will sometimes use when I am doing partigyles just to make sure that I am in the ballpark. With individual recipes made from a larger partigyle mash, you pretty much need to ignore efficiency and instead just enter the exact preboil gravity and volume (which is where my suggested tool would help me be more accurate). But the efficiency setting is really only there for making predictions as you design a recipe; after the mash, you have what you have, and the only other variable is attenuation. By the way, I'm pretty sure I made the above suggestion perhaps a year ago, but I guess it got lost in the avalanche of suggestions that you're received. Still, you obviously have a formula that is plugged into your program to have your mash schedule reflect changes in volume and temp, so maybe you could add a simple tab to the 'Calculators' panel with something like this:

Current Temp. =
Current Vol. =
Current Gravity =
New Temp. =
New Vol. =
New Gravity =

Cheers.

Bill Velek

[Bobby_M]

After all the defending I've been doing of the way BTP does efficiency, I will say that a preboil OG field on the analysis window would make life a little easier. It looks to me like BTP doesn't give much credence to mash/lauter efficiency but moreso to brewhouse. I'm OK with it because I just modify the efficiency until the mouseover on the preboil volume hits my actual measured gravity. I then note that in the notes section as my M/L Eff. I do that because once you enter your actual in the analysis tab, the M/L efficiency number is gone for good.

In contrast, beersmith goes way overboard on how the numbers are represented.

[jeff]

SUGGESTION TO JEFF AND LATHE: I would find it useful if you could add to the 'Calculators' section a feature that would permit a user to determine how much volumes change with changes in temperature. That would, for instance, enable a user to 'accurately' use slothrob's method ... which is what I will sometimes use when I am doing partigyles just to make sure that I am in the ballpark. With individual recipes made from a larger partigyle mash, you pretty much need to ignore efficiency and instead just enter the exact preboil gravity and volume (which is where my suggested tool would help me be more accurate). But the efficiency setting is really only there for making predictions as you design a recipe; after the mash, you have what you have, and the only other variable is attenuation. By the way, I'm pretty sure I made the above suggestion perhaps a year ago, but I guess it got lost in the avalanche of suggestions that you're received. Still, you obviously have a formula that is plugged into your program to have your mash schedule reflect changes in volume and temp, so maybe you could add a simple tab to the 'Calculators' panel with something like this:

Current Temp. =
Current Vol. =
Current Gravity =
New Temp. =
New Vol. =
New Gravity =

Cheers.

Bill Velek

Might be a nice addition, thanks for the suggestion.

[Chupa LaHomebrew]

I just downloaded Beertools Pro, on my Macbook. Working with my first recipe and I can't get the "hover" to come up. Am I doing something wrong?

[wottaguy]

Geeeee.........could this be the beginning stages of the long awaited PartiGyle Wizard???? I wonder......hummmmmm!!!

(i sure hope so)



(_)3

[jawbox]

are you referring to hovering over the kettle volume and the final volume so you can see the anticipated gravity?
Just give it a second it will pop up. It will also include this info on the print out.

no problems on my macbook

[Chupa LaHomebrew]

Got it. For some reason it wasn't working. I shut down the program and re-opened it and it worked fine.