Homebrew Efficiency Calculator: Mash & Brewhouse Efficiency

🍺 Homebrew Efficiency Calculator

Calculate mash efficiency, brewhouse efficiency & points per pound per gallon

Quick Presets
📏 Unit System
🧪 Brew Session Inputs
lbs
US gallons
US gallons
e.g. 1.040
e.g. 1.052
e.g. 1.012
Points per pound per gallon (max theoretical)
US gallons
📊 Your Brew Session Results
Mash Efficiency
--
%
--
Brewhouse Efficiency
--
%
--
Est. ABV
--
%
--
Points per Lb/Gal
--
PPG actual
--
📋 Detailed Breakdown
Pre-Boil Gravity Points--
Post-Boil Gravity Points (OG)--
Max Theoretical Points--
Actual Points Extracted (Pre-Boil)--
Actual Points in Fermenter--
Lauter Loss (Grain Absorption)--
Attenuation--
Adjusted Grain PPG (Actual)--
💧 Mash Efficiency: Points extracted into pre-boil wort vs. max theoretical points from your grain bill.
🏠 Brewhouse Efficiency: Points in your fermenter vs. max theoretical — accounts for all losses including trub & transfers.
📐 PPG Explained: Each malt has a max PPG. 36 PPG = at 100% efficiency, 1 lb in 1 gal gives 36 gravity points (1.036 SG).
🧪 Gravity Points: Subtract 1 and multiply by 1000. So 1.052 = 52 points. Used in all efficiency math.
📊 Grain PPG Reference (Max Theoretical)
Grain / Malt PPG (US) PKG (Metric) Max Eff. % Type
2-Row Pale Malt36300100%Base
6-Row Pale Malt35292100%Base
Maris Otter37308100%Base
Munich Malt35292100%Base
Vienna Malt36300100%Base
Wheat Malt35292100%Base
Crystal 60L34283100%Crystal
Crystal 120L33275100%Crystal
Chocolate Malt34283100%Roasted
Black Patent25208100%Roasted
Roasted Barley33275100%Roasted
Flaked Oats33275100%Adjunct
Flaked Barley32267100%Adjunct
Corn Sugar (DME)46383100%Sugar
Dry Malt Extract44367100%Extract
🏭 System Efficiency Benchmarks
Brewing System Mash Eff. Brewhouse Eff. Notes
BIAB (Bag-in-a-Bag)78–88%72–80%Squeeze bag for best results
3-Vessel (Cooler MT)75–85%68–78%Batch or fly sparge
All-in-One (Robobrew etc.)78–85%74–82%Electric recirculating
Herms / RIMS System80–88%75–83%Recirculating mash
Extract BrewingN/A95–100%No mash losses
Commercial System90–97%88–95%Optimized equipment
📐 Gravity Conversion Reference
SG (Specific Gravity) Gravity Points °Brix (approx) °Plato (approx)
1.020205.05.0
1.030307.57.6
1.0404010.010.0
1.0505012.412.4
1.0606014.714.7
1.0707017.017.1
1.0808019.319.3
1.0909021.621.5
1.10010023.823.8
1.12012028.127.9

The term “homebrew” has various meanings according to the circumstances. It commonly relates to the process of making beer in the home, to programs for computers or to own created material for tabletop games and rules of video games. Every use forms its own group of fans with own tradition.

In the software world, Homebrew works as a free and open-source manager for packages. It helps to install programs on macOS and Linux. In short words, it adds what the system of Apple or Linux does not carry.

Homebrew: Beer, Computer Programs and Games

The name itself shows the idea of building programs for Mac according to the needs of the user. Imagine it as a store for apps that developers and expert users could use.

Homebrew stands on the base of Git and Ruby. After the first installation, it arranges itself in a standard directory as a Git repository. It takes less than 100 MB on Mac, if nothing else is installed.

The project is nonprofit and works thanks to volunteers without salary, that requires money for programs, servers and hosting for continuous merging and coming changes. It is reliable for use on Mac. One can install it by means of one single line in the command line, found on GitHub, and it works for both macOS and Linux.

Some commonly used packages, that one installs by means of homebrew, are awscli for services of Amazon website, bash-completion for faster automatic completion, calc for calculations, ccrypt for security of files and dos2unix for changing of file formats. The command tap allows users to add own repositories from GitHub or other places by means of various protocols for transport.

We turn to the beer side. Homebrew of beer, wine, cider and mead is the mainstream theme. Most commonly one prepares recipes for 19 liters or 5 American gallons, because many home brewers like to put the beer in Cornelius kegs, that exactly takes that amount.

For a start in that hobby, less then 100 dollars is enough. Many newcomers start by means of malt extract, which gives truly good results. Complete starter kits are sold in various stores for brewing.

Making beer at home can save a lot of money, although prices of hops and malt continuously grow.

Making beer at home was not legal according to federal law until 1978. Before the time of ban, it was allowed, and even George Washington made beer in his home. The vision of homebrew is that every neighbourhood has its brewer and every community its club for that.

Tools like calculators for fermentation pitch help thebrewers prepare the fermentation properly.

Homebrew shows also in video games. Players of Dungeons & Dragons created own backgrounds, magic objects, monsters and spells. Own content for old video game systems is another kind of homebrew in play, where folks play fresh games on older consoles.

Homebrew Efficiency Calculator: Mash & Brewhouse Efficiency

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