I was messing with water chemistry and added 1 tsp of lactic acid to my sparge water. I was expecting a little bit of a bump in efficiency cause that's what happened before. I go to measure my efficiency as the wort is coming to a boil and it's not exactly what I expected. First I was shocked that the hydrometer was reading almost 1.050 in 125 dF+ wort. Then I plug it into promash and it said 110% efficiency. WTF?! I was expecting in the 85%-95% range.I'm trying to nail down what actually happened. I'm pretty sure I was careful in my grain measurements. Even if I add 1/2 lbs (which would be a huge error in measurement) I'm still above 100%.My volume measurements are close enough, probably +/- a pint or two.The only thing I can think of is the #'s promash is using for extract potential, but I got the numbers off of north country malt's website when I bought the sacks.Maybe the LHBS started lacing specialty grains with sugar?Any ideas?Side note: What do you call an ESB with 10% alcohol?
Weird efficiency calc
Started by
ANUSTART
, Aug 29 2009 12:09 PM
6 replies to this topic
#1
ANUSTART
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Posted 29 August 2009 - 12:09 PM
#2
ANUSTART
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Posted 29 August 2009 - 12:22 PM
I think I've figured it out. I forgot an important step... stirring the wort before measuring. I took another sample and I'm waiting for it to cool to see if that fixed it.
#3
MtnBrewer
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Posted 29 August 2009 - 12:27 PM
Did you pull your gravity sample from the bottom of the pot? If so, then that's probably it. Wort tends to stratify more than you'd think it would.I think I've figured it out. I forgot an important step... stirring the wort before measuring. I took another sample and I'm waiting for it to cool to see if that fixed it.
#4
ANUSTART
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Posted 29 August 2009 - 12:59 PM
81% efficiency. Stirring made the difference. Yes, I pull from the valve at the bottom.*puts on dunce cap and sits in the corner... furiously*
#5
weave
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Posted 29 August 2009 - 01:39 PM
*thinking of a recipe for a 10% ESB*
#6
djinkc
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Posted 29 August 2009 - 01:53 PM
Pfft... I get 110% routinely
#7
3rd party JKor
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Posted 29 August 2009 - 04:00 PM
I pull my sample from the bottom valve as well. I always give the pot a good stir, pull a sample volume and dump it back to the kettle to clear out any higher gravity wort that may have been caught in the pick up tube and valve, then I take my gravity sample.
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