Don't know what I'm doing wrong....

I've got about 4 AG batches under my belt, but have yet to have one come close to my desired OG. My efficiency runs about 58%. The LHBS has a monster mill that is set to .042 for the crush. It gives a very nice crush. I have a 2 cooler setup and fly sparge. Any ideas on how to increase my efficiency? The latest brew was 4 lbs of white wheat, 6 lbs of 2 row pale ale and 1 lb of vienna. My pre-boil gravity was 1.032 and volume was about 6.5 gallons. Any assistance is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Start off with asking your LHBS to run your grains through twice. If that doesn't fix the problem then you'll probably have to provide your whole brewing process for people to analyze and look for solutions.

There are a number of things, and I'm sure some of the guys out there with more experience can throw in more: what temps are you mashing at? how long are you mashing? and what temp are you sparging at? are good questions to start off with.

try batch sparging once and see if it helps your efficency.

Assuming your crush is good....

First and foremost, I would try batch sparging. It is faster and more forgiving than fly sparging, which can be subject to channeling effects if you're not using the right type of false bottom.

-Make sure your thermometer is calibrated. Double check your mash temp with another calibrated thermometer. Ditto for calibrating/checking your hydrometer/refractometer.

-Check your mash pH. If you water happens to be highly alkaline and you're brewing lighter beers, you could be outside the range for proper enzymatic activity.

-Be sure you are measuring your volumes correctly. Brewhouse efficiency is difficult to measure accurately if you don't know your system losses precisely. You may be collecting more wort than your software is projecting.

-Do an iodine test to ensure complete conversion of starches.

My LHBS has a giant mill that is great and I set the gap to .028 and get efficiency in the 70's. It sounds to me that the gap is set a little loose based on my experience. Try crushing with a tighter gap. Try making one adjustment at a time and keep detailed notes. I noticed that when I mash towards the thin side at 1.5qts/lb that I got better efficiency than when I mashed thicker around 1.25qts/lb. Each system is different so YMMV.

How long is your runoff? If you run it too fast you are going to lose some efficiency

+1 on thermometer calibration

I'll add to the mile-long laundry list of questions: does your mash hold temperature well? If you're losing heat, how much? How long do you typically mash for? Have you tried doing an iodine test to make sure you're getting full conversion (you probably are, but it's a cheap and easy thing to check).

Also what water are you using?

First thing I would do is get a finer crush. I crush at .032. Crush hAs a big impact on efficiency.

Water is RO water from the Grocery store
I used Five Star 5.2 pH stabilizer in the mash.
This mash was 154 for 45 minutes. Last batch was 152 for 75 minutes.
Mash tun typically loses 1-2 degrees over the course of the rest.
I sparged with 170 degree water. 5 gallons over the course of 1/2 hour.
This batch was 11 lbs of grain and 14 qts. of water.

I will try batch sparging next time and/or run the grain through the mill twice. The crush looks great to me, but it's worth a try. I'm using a stainless braid as the "false bottom" so I'm not really worried about a stuck sparge.

I've not tried the iodine test. I've never been able to get much information on that other than "mix iodine with the wort". Can I just use iodine from the pharmacy?

I'm getting 75-80% efficiency with my MM2-2.0 set to .038-.039 gap (it's a very tight .039) with grists up to about 16#. For bigger grain bills (like my latest with 23#) I get about 73-75% efficiency. That's with an hour long mash and sparging with either an auto-sparge, or similar method (add sparge water as the wort drains). I direct fire the keg mash tun in order to get it up to mash-out temperatures.

I would see if you can get the LHBS to crush your grains finer, or run them through again (as mentioned) and see if that helps. Thing is, you'll need to brew batches that are pretty close to each other to see if that fixes the current issue. If it doesn't, then you'll need to look at another item in the laundry list.

BTW, are you using a false bottom, manifold, or braid in your mash tun? Are you getting the grain bed up to 168-172F before draining and sparging?

planecrazy29 said:

Water is RO water from the Grocery store
I used Five Star 5.2 pH stabilizer in the mash.
This mash was 154 for 45 minutes. Last batch was 152 for 75 minutes.
Mash tun typically loses 1-2 degrees over the course of the rest.
I sparged with 170 degree water. 5 gallons over the course of 1/2 hour.
This batch was 11 lbs of grain and 14 qts. of water.

I will try batch sparging next time and/or run the grain through the mill twice. The crush looks great to me, but it's worth a try. I'm using a stainless braid as the "false bottom" so I'm not really worried about a stuck sparge.

I've not tried the iodine test. I've never been able to get much information on that other than "mix iodine with the wort". Can I just use iodine from the pharmacy?

Click to expand...

Just RO water? Not mixed with tap water at all. I had big efficiency problems until I started using Bru'N Water. Mash enzymes need ions, especially calcium. That pH 5.2 stuff has a pretty weak buffering capacity, especially in RO water. I went from high 50's to mid 60's to 75, 75, 76% efficiency by adjusting my water.

planecrazy29 said:

Water is RO water from the Grocery store
I used Five Star 5.2 pH stabilizer in the mash.
This mash was 154 for 45 minutes. Last batch was 152 for 75 minutes.
Mash tun typically loses 1-2 degrees over the course of the rest.
I sparged with 170 degree water. 5 gallons over the course of 1/2 hour.
This batch was 11 lbs of grain and 14 qts. of water.

I will try batch sparging next time and/or run the grain through the mill twice. The crush looks great to me, but it's worth a try. I'm using a stainless braid as the "false bottom" so I'm not really worried about a stuck sparge.

I've not tried the iodine test. I've never been able to get much information on that other than "mix iodine with the wort". Can I just use iodine from the pharmacy?

Click to expand...

I think a SS braid + fly sparging is part of the problem. for fly sparging you want even drainage throughout the bottom of the mash-tun. You are not gonging to be collecting wort sideways into your braid. So you essentially have un-collected wort and un-rinsed grains wherever you do not have a good drain area.

If you are using a braided hose I would recommend batch sparging. That takes the chaneling concern out of the list of potential issues. I

I used a braided hose and generally hit 77-78% efficiency. But I batch sparge.