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Denny · 11-29-2008, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boo boo

Welcome Denny. I was wondering why you weren't on this forum. I'm sure you'll be a welcome addition here as you have been on all the others you frequent.

Cheers.

Thanks for the welcome! Hope I can help out and learn some stuff!

Kaiser · 11-30-2008, 01:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Denny

Thanks for the welcome! Hope I can help out and learn some stuff!

Look at you Denny. A "Junior Member" at HBT. Something is telling me that this is going to change soon.

Welcome.

Kai

KopyKat · 11-30-2008, 03:35 AM

Yeah, welcome Denny. I have valued your expertize on other forums and am really glad to see you here.

Denny · 11-30-2008, 04:11 PM

Good to see some familiar names here! Kai, you're right....it's kinda weird to see only 7 posts!

Ike · 11-30-2008, 10:21 PM

Hi guys,
first post on this site. As I type, my first all-grain is boiling away on my gas stove. I was a little worried, however, that my SG after two runnings through my newly created MLT (batch sparge) was 1.043. Too inefficient? Here's my grain bill for "The Pale" AKA "El Pale Alerino if you're not into the whole brevity thing":
9 pds 2-row
1 crystal 15
1/2 carapils
1/4 munich

Mashed in w/ 3gal.@ 156F. This didn't drop for the 70 minutes of mash time. Then I added 1 gal @180 to fill up my 5 gal cooler. First runnings took just over 30 minutes. 2nd runnings w/ 3 gal. water @ 180. Lasted about 20 minutes.
Is all of this within normal parameters?
Thanks in advance,
Ike

-it's a Lebowski kind of Sunday

Denny · 12-01-2008, 06:26 PM

That's a might slow runoff for batch sparging! It takes me 15 min. from the time I start my mash runoff until the end of my sparge runoff. Buit I doubt that had anything to do with your efficiency. Grain crush is always the first place I look to increase efficiency.

Kaiser · 12-01-2008, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Denny

Grain crush is always the first place I look to increase efficiency.

And decrease of run-off rate. I have had 45 – 60 min batch sparging times. Especially when using a lot of wheat malt. But I prefer that over the addition of rice hulls.

Kai

Ike · 12-02-2008, 01:49 AM

So, if I get this right, it's better to have a quicker run-off than what I did?
Also, my run-off was between 6.5-7 gallons, but a LOT seemed to boil off, as I only ended up with about 4 gal in the carboy! Tasted great though. Would it be advantageous to do a third running and just boil it down in two kettles until it all fits into the main one (I have an 8 and a 4 gal)?

My grind was whatever MoreBeer had set when I cruised by last month. Not sure what it was. (as an aside, I LOVE going in there...like a candy store. The wife won't go with me again...

)

I'll read a little more up on my Charlie before brewing the next one this weekend (an all-grain Porter kit from MoreBeer).

**Bobby_M** · 12-02-2008, 02:13 AM

Boil off is a very personal thing depending on your boil vigor. I evap out about 1.5 gallons per hour of boil time. Don't worry about your runoff speed with batch sparging. If it will run fast, let it. If not, your crush is either too fine or you have a lot of wheat in the bill. In anycase, the only problem with a really long drawn out runoff is heat loss. Did you have a hose on the output of the MLT or is it just cascading out of the ball valve?

Ike · 12-02-2008, 04:27 AM

No, I had a hose from the MLT to the bottom of the brew kettle/collection tank. I did, however, only open the ball valve about half way. Is it relatively standard practice to just "let er rip" or is there a gray area of finesse that I have yet to discover? As for the boil rate, I suppose I let it go more or less rigorously, though there were no inadvertent boil-overs. I've read that the boil rate can affect protein coagulation, but need to do some more research to make use of this.
Heat loss didn't really seem to be an issue.