Hi Everyone,
New to all-grain brewing and to the forum, so hello.
This past weekend I brewed the Northern Brewer All-grain Irish Draught Ale. The only change I made to the recipe is that instead of adding the honey in for a 60min boil I added it in the last 10min to retain some of the honey rather than boiling it all off. Next time I will add it during fermentation. However, my question is as follows:
The OG for this brew should have been around 1.045 based on the instructions (mind you this is the OG including the honey). However, when I finished collecting the wort I found my pre-boil gravity was at 1.042. After adding the honey in the boil and testing my OG before adding the yeast I found the OG to be 1.052.
My question is that if my OG is above what it should be, based on the instructions, did I do something wrong? or is that maybe my equipment/process has a higher efficiency?
Thanks for your feedback, looking forward to speaking to everyone in the future.
I believe the NB recipes are based on 75% efficiency.
One of three things happened:
- You achieved 90% efficiency and got 5 1/2 gallons into the fermenter (per the recipe plan),
- You got 80% efficiency and got 5 gallons into the fermenter, or
- Your FG reading is wrong.
In any case, you made beer. Congratulations. :cheers:
Thanks for the feedback. I collected approx 8 gallons wort and after boil time and trub loss I put 5 gallons into primary. So it looks like 80% eff. Thanks 
3 gallons is a pretty big loss. Do you have volume marks on your fermenter?
I marked the 5 gallon limit on my glass carboy and my brew pot has quart markings. I thought for sure that I was going to have too much wort, but once I finished with the boil time, trub loss, and wort shrinkage it came right out to 5 gallons which is right in line with the expected yield on the website.
What I need to do is get a gallon jug and fill my pot up with 8 gallons to make sure the measurements on the side are correct. When I put the numbers in to BeerSmith I could have sworn it told me my pre-boil yield was going to be just under 7 gallons which seems about right, but based on the pot measurements it showed me 8 gallons.
I’ll do that this weekend.
Actually, I think (who knows, I may be wrong :!: ) the kits aim for 5.5 gal into the fermenter so that you yield 5 gallons when you rack off to your bottling bucket or keg.
I thought the NB kits aim for 70% efficiency. I’ll email them to check and get back to this thread. I always get better efficiency without really trying, so I can leave some in the kettle and end up with a full 5 gallons in the keg, along with a bit for a fermenter tasting.
Just checked with Steve on live chat, and he says 75%.
Not the first time I’ve been wrong.
