With Beer Smith which efficiency is most important?

teutonic terror · Post by **teutonic terror** » Sat May 09, 2015 11:33 am

I've been using Brew Smith for a while now and I finally have to ask this question.

Which efficiency should I consider the most important,
the measured pre boil or the final overall?
Also, what exactly are these two efficiency measurements, well, measuring?

Post by **Beer-lord** » Sat May 09, 2015 11:48 am

I assume you mean Beersmith and I wish I could fully understand or explain it but I think maybe this might help you somewhat.
FYI, estimate mash efficiency is set to 78.5% and I almost always make that and many times, more.

teutonic terror · Post by **teutonic terror** » Sat May 09, 2015 12:15 pm

Yeah BeerSmith!

In a hurry! Thanks Beer Lord! Saved it my favorites

Post by **Beer-lord** » Sat May 09, 2015 1:22 pm

I can't remember what podcast I heard about a year ago but I think it was actually Beersmith's that discussed this in a manner that was pretty easy to grasp. You could search their archives if you want to listen to it. Or go to youtube and look for it. Those are usually very long but you can skip thru the parts you don't want pretty easily.

jimjohson · Post by **jimjohson** » Sat May 09, 2015 7:22 pm

In the FWIW department; I just use the pre boil as an indicator of the amount of sugar I got from the grains...The OG is going to determine the actual %. While I have noticed some really good pre boil efficiencies, they seem to have little to do with the final numbers. I frequently get 78% and up pre boils but my post boil numbers tend to be more around 72-73% sometimes 75% (and occasionally waaay better but they're flukes)

Crazy Climber · Post by **Crazy Climber** » Sat May 09, 2015 7:23 pm

Most brewers are talking about mash efficiency when they use the general term "efficiency," and in BeerSmith, that would be the measured pre-boil efficiency (actually I think it's called "measured mash efficiency"). The overall efficiency ("total efficiency") takes losses into account and is a different measure.

Here's a thread I bookmarked a while ago that helped me understand BeerSmith setup in a relatively straightforward manner:
http://www.beersmith.com/forum/index.ph ... 140.0.html

teutonic terror · Post by **teutonic terror** » Sun May 10, 2015 7:28 am

Thanks for the links guys, and Climber that is a very informative thread.
Jim I'm in the same boat with the efficiency.

I'm usually around 80% preboil and average about 71% final. Of course some are lower and some are higher!

With Beer Smith which efficiency is most important?

With Beer Smith which efficiency is most important?

Re: With Beer Smith which efficiency is most important?

Re: With Beer Smith which efficiency is most important?

Re: With Beer Smith which efficiency is most important?

Re: With Beer Smith which efficiency is most important?

Re: With Beer Smith which efficiency is most important?

Re: With Beer Smith which efficiency is most important?