rack04

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How does mash thickness effect efficiency into boiler? I'm trying to improve my brewhouse efficiency and have learned that the crush at my LHBS yields approximately 60-65% brewhouse efficiency with 1.25 qt/lb mash thickness.

david_42

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The guys in Fermentation Sciences at OSU say they get their best efficiency at 5:1 to 7:1 by weight. I use 2-2.5 quarts per pound, mostly because of space limitations.

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Scooby_Brew

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That sounds interesting, of course that would mean that you can get the best efficiency with BIAB or any other no-sparge brewing. Of course that's not the case, so maybe a lab environment differs from the "real world" brewing environment?
BTW, my system works best when using 3:2 ratio, so 1.5 qt. of water for every 1 lb. of grains (or about 3:1 ratio by weight).

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vinyl_key

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Lately I've been having good luck with doing double infusion mashes, starting at about 1qt/lb, adding water later to bump the temperature. The second infusion for me usually gets me to about 1.8qt/lb
Last 2 batches this way were 78% efficiency

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kanzimonson

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The thicker the mash, the more water you get to "save" for sparging.

On the other hand, it seems to me that a mash that is too thick doesn't get the sugars flowing out of the grain as easily.

In any case, I usually use somewhere between 1.25-1.5 qts/# and my efficiency seems unaffected. Crush and sparge rate are way more important to getting better efficiency.

Mysticmead

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I mash in 2.5-3qt/lb (BIAB) and get 77-80% efficiency consistently. I think a BIG factor is that I can go with a much finer crush with BIAB and not worry about a stuck sparge

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AZ_IPA

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As usual, Kaiser has some great information...

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/Understanding_Efficiency#Mash_thickness

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ChillWill

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I've just done a fairly big grain bill at a ratio of 2.5:1 (maybe even slightly lower). Efficiency was very poor, well off OG target, lesson learned.

On another note, as I'm about 20 gravity points off my target (ouch!), can I make up the remainder with dextrose additions like you would a really big beer? It's starting at 1.078 and is an RIS - mashed at 152F for 90min

Golddiggie

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ChillWill, use some light, or extra light, DME to make up the gravity points. Far better for the brew than using dextrose...

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ChillWill

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Ok, will do. How much would I need for say 10 points in 2.5 gallons? I don't usually use the stuff other than in starters.