Happy Easter. I am doing small batch BIAB. I did an “efficiency test recipe” with nothing but grain, ground with my Barley Crusher, mashed in my usual manner per Beersmith and boiled for an hour. No hops or adjuncts. I did this ONLY to find volumes and what gravity I ended up with, it was not fermented. The recipe said I’d end up with OG of 1.058 and I ended up with 1.049. So I assume whatever process I’m using is less efficient. Now, how do I make adjustments in Beersmith so I don’t have to adjust volumes of grain going forward?? Somehow I’m having a brain block. Thank you.
What efficiency was used in beersmith?
With my miniBIAB profile it defaulted to 72% so I left it at that.
If you entered your gravity and volume readings into BeerSmith, it will have calculated your Mash and BH Efficiency on the ‘session’ tab. You can start with adjusting your equipment profile to reflect the calculated BH efficiency. Next, with your pre-boil and post boil volumes and the boil time your used, you can calculate the boil off rate and correct that in your equipment profile. Other changes to the trub loss should be adjusted to reflect your actual results in the new equipment profile.
Assuming you have accounted for all your other losses correctly, you can make a copy of the recipe you just brewed and upload the corrected equipment profile into it. If you are close, it should adjust the expected outcome to be close to your actual results. The volumes BS2 is recommending for your mash and sparge (if you conducted one) should also reflect any changes you made to bring you closer to your desired results.
That’s what I was looking for, thank you!
Yeah, this is horribly confusing. I used to use BeerAlchemy, but the new version is complete garbage, so I switched to BeerSmith 2.0 - it feels like stepping back in time 15 years in terms of user interface. Somehow what other software called 78% efficiency is 62% in BeerSmith. I think it is because it thinks in terms of “system efficiency” instead of just easily letting me control volumes and just calculating “mash efficiency.” I am not a fan, though I am sure there is a learning curve.
I also brew small batches (5L) and have found the different calculators less accurate for smaller batches especially when combining BIAB and short mash and boil times. So I now use Brewer’s Friend paper templates. I know my volumes, boil loss and trub loss. Since I know how many gravity points I get per 100 grams for a few base malts, I come really close now. I can live with some variability. I generally come within 2 gravity points for O.G. F.G. is a bit more of an adventure for now. 
. I don’t have to worry about what the software is doing. Peace of mind and full transparency.