BIAB Efficiency calculation

[photek1000]

As I move further into AG brewing with my BIAB set up I'd like to work out the efficiency I'm getting, but I'm not clear on how I do it.

Do I work it out on just the mash volume, or because I sparge into another vessel after the mash is it worked out on the combined pre boil volume.


Looking for some guidance as the write ups on the web can be a bit overkill with information sometimes.

 

[strange-steve]

It's easy enough to do, however you need to know the max PPG of each of the malts you use. You can get them here or you can use rough values such as 36 for base malt, 34 for crystal, 25 for roasted malt, 46 for sugar.

Once you know those it's very simple. For each malt, multiply its PPG by its weight in Kg, divide by the volume in your FV in litres, then multiply by 8.4 (to convert to P/Kg/L). Do this for each malt and add all the numbers together. This gives the maximum points at 100% efficiency, ie. the numbers after the decimal point in SG.

To convert that to brewhouse efficiency, take your measured extract points (eg. If your SG is 1.048 the extract points are 48) divide that by the maximum points you worked out above, and multiply by 100.

Another easier way is to use an online calculator like this.

 

[photek1000]

Thanks for that, seems simple enough.

I'll run the numbers on AG#1 I did and see what I get, then again when I do #2 on Tuesday.

 

[photek1000]

Just ran the figures for AG#1 that used only Maris Otter 5.3KG, ended with 20 litres in the FV at 1.044 which makes the efficiency just about 55%.

I'll assume this is pretty low even for BIAB, some work to do on improving this figure.


Still feel good though that I've learnt something new today.