55% efficiency on first AG batch and I think i know why

Everything went really well, temp held steady @ 154 for 60min. Recirc and batch sparge also went great. But two things come to mind which likely caused it the low eff.

1.) I completely forgot to add the ph 5.2 buffer (had it sitting in my cabinet the entire time :cross: )

2.) when i was setting up my AG equipment, not knowing any better, i bought a 5 gal cooler. So because I chose to brew an Imperial IPA w/ 16# of grain, the water/grain ratio was down around 0.88 qt/lb.

question: will the low w/g ratio result in such a poor efficiency?

If so i may just bite the bullet and buy a 10gal.

The more grain the lower the efficiency will be. The only way to get it higher is more watter and a longer boil. 16 pounds in a five gallon cooler--your crazy. I've done 14 in my little five and got 68% but with ten pounds it would get 80%+. There is a point of diminishing return. I use a 48qt cooler for the bigger grain bills.

I would skip a 10 gallon cooler and head straight towards something AT LEAST 12 gallons. I just did a 22lbs grainbill barleywine today and I maxed my 12g cooler. Granted, its 1.109... but I can max it out easy on mash out on batches in the 1.080s. I hit 69% which isn't bad considering. I boiled 8 gallons down to 5 in 120minutes... had some wort loss due to hops tho.

Lol... I dont even know how you can mash 16lbs in a 5 gallon cooler. The grain milled would occupy roughly 5 gallons worth of space dry!!!!!

so can we agree that the likely cause of the low eff was the MLT size?

krausenmustache said:

so can we agree that the likely cause of the low eff was the MLT size?

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IMHO... That would be the first place to start.

That thick of a mash is impossible to stir, I bet you had a lot of doughballs and dry grain won't convert! My best efficiency is achieved at 1.5-2.0 qt/lb mash thickness... a nice thin mash which is easy to stir.

Saccharomyces said:

That thick of a mash is impossible to stir, I bet you had a lot of doughballs and dry grain won't convert! My best efficiency is achieved at 1.5-2.0 qt/lb mash thickness... a nice thin mash which is easy to stir.

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+1


I like it around 1.75/ lb