Please critique my process

soup67 · 10-07-2011, 02:04 AM

10 gallon rectangular cooler with braid almost the length of the cooler.

13.5lb grain bill. LHBS crush set @ .041". OG into fermenter at 70% should have been 1.062. Bottled spring water, no adjustments.

Mashed with 5 gallons of 163 degree water. Stirred like crazy. Temp stabilized at 153 after about 5 minutes. Rested for another 50 minutes (1 hour total), stirring once at the 1/2 way point. Vorlaufed and drained 2 2/3 gallons of first runnings.

Sparged with 4 gallons of 190 degree water, stirred like crazy. Grain bed got up to 168ish. Let grain bed settle for a few minutes, vorlaufed and drained 4 gallons of second runnings.

After a 60 minute boil I had 5.5 gallons @ 1.052. 58% eff?

What am I doing wrong?

Paymygasbill77 · 10-07-2011, 08:17 AM

It sounds like a solid process to me.
Was your origional calculations for 5.5 gallons or 5?
Did you adjust for temperature? If you measured your gravity hot and not adjusted for temp it would read low.

**JuanMoore** · 10-07-2011, 09:12 AM

Sounds pretty good based on your description. When's the last time you calibrated your hydrometer and thermometer? I hope the gap on the grain mill was set to 0.041", and not 0.41", otherwise we found your problem.

Are you sure the gap is really what it says it is? The dial on the mill at my LHBS is ~0.010" off, so I have to set it where it reads 0.028" to get a 0.038" gap. How does the crush look?

pcollins · 10-07-2011, 11:01 AM

Process does look solid. That said, I don't know how this compares to all the other times you've brewed.

I would look at the quality/age of the grain. Lauter speed. Water chemistry (if you've used this water for the first time with this result).

As an aside, I'd like to compliment you on your spelling of "vorlauf". Thanks for that.

**Waunabeer** · 10-07-2011, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by soup67

10 gallon rectangular cooler with braid almost the length of the cooler.

13.5lb grain bill. LHBS crush set @ .41". OG into fermenter at 70% should have been 1.062. Bottled spring water, no adjustments.

Mashed with 5 gallons of 163 degree water. Stirred like crazy. Temp stabilized at 153 after about 5 minutes. Rested for another 50 minutes (1 hour total), stirring once at the 1/2 way point. Vorlaufed and drained 2 2/3 gallons of first runnings.

Sparged with 4 gallons of 190 degree water, stirred like crazy. Grain bed got up to 168ish. Let grain bed settle for a few minutes, vorlaufed and drained 4 gallons of second runnings.

After a 60 minute boil I had 5.5 gallons @ 1.052. 58% eff?

What am I doing wrong?

I am in the exact same boat as you. Myself and friend each brewed a batch last Sunday (each using our own mash tun of different styles) and had the exact same problem: around the 50% eff. range.

Two things I have read elsewhere that could be my problem: too short of a sparge and manifold in the mash tun design (see channeling). I've tried many other methods (batch sparge, decoction, etc.) with similar results.

Edit: I forgot to mention that my friend used to work at a brewery and is stumped as well. He thought it was my mash tun, so he used his 10gal. igloo cooler with the same results. Could it be the water? That is about the only thing I haven't paid attention to.

soup67 · 10-07-2011, 12:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paymygasbill77

It sounds like a solid process to me.
Was your origional calculations for 5.5 gallons or 5?
Did you adjust for temperature? If you measured your gravity hot and not adjusted for temp it would read low.

Yes, 5.5 gallons. Gravity reading was taken at room temperature, so I added .001.

astropunk · 10-07-2011, 01:02 PM

Thats par for the course on my brew days as well. However, all my beers still end up tasting great, so I dont sweat the efficiency loss. Its too easy to get hung up on the details. Just enjoy your home brew.

KuntzBrewing · 10-07-2011, 01:05 PM

Ya that sounds like a good mash but maybe the pH was off? I've heard mixed ideas about the Star San 5.2 pH stabilizer but may give it a shot, who knows maybe it helps and if not u only waste a few bucks

soup67 · 10-07-2011, 01:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pcollins

Process does look solid. That said, I don't know how this compares to all the other times you've brewed.

I would look at the quality/age of the grain. Lauter speed. Water chemistry (if you've used this water for the first time with this result).

As an aside, I'd like to compliment you on your spelling of "vorlauf". Thanks for that.

I can get in the mid 70s in efficiency if sparge until 1.010 and boil for an extra hour+, so this number is fairly typical. I shouldn't have to boil that long to hit a reasonable efficiency number, however. This was a bit of an experiment-- I simply mashed/sparged for a specific volume and measured.

The grain/crush works for my other brewing buddies, although I don't know their precise processes/measurement techniques.

Like Waunabeer, I suspect it is a hardware issue (unless water chemistry would make a .01 difference?) but have no clue what it would be. My mash tun looks just like denny's, with a slightly shorter braid.

pcollins · 10-07-2011, 01:10 PM

Re: 5.2

Even better is if you know somebody who has some (homebrew club?) see if you can beg/borrow/steal the required amount (1 tsp?) for one batch and see if that helps. Then decide. I realize it's not that much money but I find that many brewers are very helpful and will be quite willing to lend a hand or 5.2 for the sake of troubleshooting.