BBL_Brewer

Recipes 

Once you hit your temp, there's no reason to stir unless you're getting temperature stratification. The more you stir the more heat you are going to lose.

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Slots Down Brewery
Stick with the plan....not the sparge.

Never Ending Liquid Yeast - How to Farm Yeast and Freeze it.

Komocabo

Recipes 

Isohoppy... haven't delved into the pH stuff yet... Seems a bit overwhelming to me at this point but mostly due to my lack of studying the topic. I get my water from the safeway refill station thing. Uses reverse osmosis, ultra violet lights, and 2 stage carbon filtration... the beer always comes delicious so I trust that part.

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And on the eighth day he said "Make beer!"

Komocabo

Recipes 

BBL_Brewer... thanks for chiming in and confirming.

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And on the eighth day he said "Make beer!"

BetterSense

Recipes 

Stirring can't hurt anything if you can maintain temps. Commercial breweries stir continuously.

Komocabo

Recipes 

Does it help increase efficiency for a 5 gal batch though?

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And on the eighth day he said "Make beer!"

lockwom

Recipes 

If you were using RO water with the grainbill you mentioned earlier, a check with BrunWater indicates you're likely hitting a decent mash pH of 5.5 because of the crystal malt addition. Nothing big to worry about compared to people way out of the ballpark.

There is some indication that increasing calcium improves mash efficiency somewhat (and could even lower your mash pH some more to 5.4). You could try a small addition of calcium chloride or gypsum; the calcium can also help with hot break formation and yeast health.

In all, I don't feel like pH is your problem.

4x4jeep74

Recipes 

You might want to buy a feeler gauge that's used to gap spark plugs and set you mill to .030. Before you buy a new mill.

Komocabo

Recipes 

The feeler guage idea is pretty awesome! I will give that a shot. Overall I will have to get a new or used mill because I am borrowing the one I'm using currently... Are there any decent ones for around 50-100 bucks? I'd like to avoid spending 200 on a mill... at that price I might as well just crush at the LHBS as it wont offset the savings from buying bulk grains...
Also, thanks for the info on the mash pH. That was helpful and reassuring. I have some gypsum hanging around so I will add some next brew day and see if it affects anything.
Thanks again to everyone! This forum is the best!

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And on the eighth day he said "Make beer!"

acidrain

Recipes 

Yes, I check the temp and stir every 15 minutes.
Also, I recently moved away from spring water and started using RO water with calcium chloride and gypsum additions (which seamed to help by a few points).

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Keg #2: Cascadian Stout
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Fermenter #1 RHESB 6.1
Fermenter #2 Citra Pale Ale

helibrewer

Recipes 

Read Kai's efficiency article (braukaiser.com). By taking a hydrometer or refractometer reading of the mash in the MLT you will know before you even start to sparge what your extraction efficiency is. With a .035in crush using a cooler/RIMs I'm consistently in the mid-90's at this point. Any loss of efficiency afterward is due to lautering/deadspace/system loss (hoses, pumps, etc.).

As an example, a 1.53qt/pound ratio has a maximum yield of about 1.080 (19.4P). You should be able to get 90-95% or more of that (1.072-1.080)

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