At a loss for words; poor efficiency.

I've had some batched that have had decent efficiency, but more often than not I'm hovering in the 60's.

Today I was hoping to brew a dubbel. Here's the recipe and my notes:

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 6.84 gal
Estimated OG: 1.057 SG
Estimated Color: 21.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 19.6 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 60.00 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
8.00 lb Pilsen Malt 2-Row (Briess) (1.0 SRM) Grain 64.00 %
1.00 lb Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 8.00 %
0.50 lb Biscuit (Dingemans) (22.5 SRM) Grain 4.00 %
0.50 lb Caramunich III (Weyermann) (71.0 SRM) Grain 4.00 %
0.50 lb Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 4.00 %
0.50 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 4.00 %
0.50 lb Special B (Dingemans) (147.5 SRM) Grain 4.00 %
1.00 oz Vanguard [5.50 %] (60 min) Hops 19.6 IBU
1.00 lb Candi Sugar, Amber (75.0 SRM) Sugar 8.00 %
1 Pkgs Belgian Style Ale Yeast Blend (White Labs Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Ommegang Step Mash
Total Grain Weight: 11.50 lb
----------------------------
Ommegang Step Mash
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
15 min Protein Rest Add 10.35 qt of water at 121.3 F 113.0 F
60 min Saccrification Add 9.20 qt of water at 185.9 F 144.0 F
25 min Step Add 5.75 qt of water at 210.7 F 158.0 F
5 min Step Add 10.35 qt of water at 209.1 F 172.0 F


Notes:
------
Hit my temps except for initial strike which ended up at 126. Compensated from there on and things went smoothly. I fully expected good efficiency, but was greeted with 60% once again.

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I was aiming for 1.070 but got 1.058. The multi-rest mash did not have a sparge, due to having collected more than enough wort. Boil was vigorous, blah, blah, blah.

My thoughts are that maybe ph was too high for complete conversion, though shouldn't the rests have helped this. It was a calculated 5.4.

I use a ten gallon rubbermaid container with a 9" false bottom for my tun and temperature held tight. They were spot on, except initial strike, and held within half a degree.

I'm at the point where I'm making great beers and the ones i hit appropriate efficiency on are amazing to me, but this eff thing is killing me.

I'm thinking about switching to a continuous sparge technique for normal brews, without starting a batch v cont war, could this help me?

Thanks for your help and comments.

Frustrated,

Brews C.

Also, I get my grain from Midwest Supplies, at their normal crush. It seems good with a range from flour to intact husks.

The water here is a bit hard (I don't have my numbers handy) which could contribute to conversion problems, but I've had efficiency issues on dark and light beers.

What was the volume you measured for the pre boil wort?
What was the gravity reading for the pre boil wort?

Bob

Try using the spring water from the store. Or you can get ROwater from those little huts. But it might be the crush on your grain.

So I don't take a very OCD approach to efficiency, but I always hit my numbers at 72-74%. Thing is, I have a home made spreadsheet that calculates predicted gravity by saying (total grist weight*36PPG)/fermenter volume * efficiency=predicted OG. True, not all grain is 36PPG, but on the curve, close. Like I said, I have good consistency with this method.

I crunch your numbers (OP) and say that you have 70% brewhouse efficiency. Correct me if I am wrong.

11.5 lbs*36PPG=414PG potential gravity points (forgive my jargon, it may be made up)

414 PG/5G=82.8 =>potential OG= 1.083

Actual OG=1.058 => 1.058/1.083=~70%

No?

You're not going to get maximum efficiency if there's no sparge, that's just the way it is.


_

Yeah, if you are mashing 11.5 lbs and have no sparge water left to use, you should try another method of step mashing, other than infusions. Decoction perhaps?

I was consistently getting 70ish efficiency when using LHBS crush...they don't wanna crank it down and have people ***** about a stuck sparge so they split the difference. As soon as I started crushing my own and got my mill dialed in, I started getting 80-85%. Hate to say it, but you probably need to spring for a mill. If $$$ is an issue (know it is for me) then check out the My Ugly Junk Corona thread.

Buna_Bere said:

What was the volume you measured for the pre boil wort?
What was the gravity reading for the pre boil wort?

Bob

Click to expand...

I would say volume was roughly 6.5g, maybe a touch more. Gravity I did not measure, but i had a bit of wort uncollected from the mash, and it read 1.046.

BrewsCampbell said:

I would say volume was roughly 6.5g, maybe a touch more. Gravity I did not measure, but i had a bit of wort uncollected from the mash, and it read 1.046.

Click to expand...

Good grief, you just answered your own question.


_

It looks like you are hitting your temperatures pretty well for your multi-step infusion but do you know why you are doing the multi-steps?

Since you are using malt that the professional maltster did, you can skip the protein rest and go straight to the Saccrification rest. (John Palmer, "How to Brew" 3rd edition) That alone will save you some water for sparging. Your step from 144 to 158 is unnecessary too. Choose a reasonable mashing temperature somewhere in the middle and go for that. More water saved. Add that for the sparge too and add the water for mash out to the sparge water and do a decent sparge. I'll bet your efficiency goes up.

If you didn't take a SG reading of your final wort volume, how can you calculate your efficiency?

I'm with wildwest. He's on the money here.