Whats your efficiency?

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PKLehmer

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I've been getting what I assume are low efficiencys, but thought, hey maybe with my setup, that's not so bad. So I want to get an idea of what other people are hitting. I know alot is dependent on the brewer but I'm just curious what people are getting with different types of equipment, and technique. Just give a brief description of your setup, with your efficiency. Heres mine:

5 gallon MLT with looped steel braid, one keg for HLT and BK, CFC, one pump for moving liquids around. Batch Sparge with two rinses.
Efficiency = 55%
 
10 gallon cooler, SS braid hose. 10g SS brewpot..batch sparge 2 equal amounts. It will vary between 70-76%..

Do you crush your grain?
 
10 gallon IGLOO, two SS mesh bazooka tubes, fly sparging.

Depending on gravity, 65-75%. Milds (1.036) I usually get ~78% eff, 1.095 BDSAs I get ~65% eff.
 
10 gallon rubbermaid, domed false bottom, fly sparging
Hi: 82%
Low: 58%
Average: 72-76%
I've had better luck crushing my own grains vs buying them crushed.
 
I have two Cooler type MLT's a 28qt and 38qt, but I use the same 1/2" Copper Manifold for both. I Double Batch Sparge and average about 85%. It fluccuates with the size of the Grain bill.
 
tally350z said:
10 gallon cooler, SS braid hose. 10g SS brewpot..batch sparge 2 equal amounts. It will vary between 70-76%..

Do you crush your grain?


I crushed it at our LHBS, I have a friend with his own mill and I'm going to see if I can borrow his for my next brew. To try and eliminate this variable.
 
6.5g square cooler with sink-supply line hose-braid. Batch sparge up to pre-boil volume. 72-87% depending on mash thickness.
 
I crushed it at our LHBS, I have a friend with his own mill and I'm going to see if I can borrow his for my next brew. To try and eliminate this variable.

Carefully evaluate the crushed grain. If there are ANY uncracked grains, your efficiency will suffer. Flour isn't a bad thing, just make sure you have enough husks to create a lauter bed and you're fine.
 
I have a 10 gallon gatorade (rubbermaid) cooler for my mash tun. Domed false bottom, home made auto sparge and some finer screening on top of the false bottom. I fly sparge and have another 10 gallon gatorade cooler for my HLT. I crush almost on the finest setting on my JSP malt mill (gear drive / motorized). Mash for an hour sparge for an hour and I usually get 85 percent efficiency on average with a low of 80 and high of 90 percent.
 
I'm a relative newbie but the variations in efficiency person-to-person always puzzles me. I have the ubiquitous 10g rubbermaid cooler w/ stainless steel tube. 6 gallon batches. My efficiency is pretty consistently at 80% with the LHBS grind. If I grind myself using my Corona mill I'll usually get a few points higher.

Edited to add: batch sparging w/ 2 sparges (empty, then split remaining needed volume into 2 separate sparges)
 
Around 70%, little less on big beers.

Igloo cooler w/ 1/2" copper manifold. Single water addition batch sparge. Grind my own grain with a Maltmill.
 
Rectangular cooler, I add all my sparge water on top of the grain bed when I start runoff. DIffuse it over a wooden spoon so it doesn't disturb the mash. Takes me 5-10 minutes to get the sparge water in. Runoff for an hour. 80% efficiency.

Here is my bargain basement manifold:
MashTunInt.jpg
 
Rectangular cooler, I add all my sparge water on top of the grain bed when I start runoff. DIffuse it over a wooden spoon so it doesn't disturb the mash. Takes me 5-10 minutes to get the sparge water in. Runoff for an hour. 80% efficiency.

Here is my bargain basement manifold:
MashTunInt.jpg

Haven't seen slits/holes facing upwards before...you'll leave more in the tun that way but it really doesn't matter. I'd also think you might get more "junk" in your runoff with gravity working against the openings...how has it worked for you?
 
MLT = 48 qt Coleman rectangular cooler with ~10" straight SS hose braid.
Mill = MM 3 2.0, gap set to 0.039".

Single batch sparge (half volume mash+mash-out, half volume sparge): 85-90%
No-sparge (full-volume mash+mash-out): 75%
 
I'm a relative newbie but the variations in efficiency person-to-person always puzzles me. I have the ubiquitous 10g rubbermaid cooler w/ stainless steel tube. 6 gallon batches. My efficiency is pretty consistently at 80% with the LHBS grind. If I grind myself using my Corona mill I'll usually get a few points higher.

Edited to add: batch sparging w/ 2 sparges (empty, then split remaining needed volume into 2 separate sparges)

You might want to experiment with NOT doing the 2 separate sparges but rather one large one if you can. Denny has proven that it doesn't make any difference except you're taking more time. I know I went to this method and my efficiency is still great. Essentially I just add sparge water to my mash until the tun is topped-off and then stir, vorlauf, drain, then add as much sparge water as I can, stir, vorlauf, drain until I hit preboil volume.
 
I drained really slowly last time and got the higher end of my efficiency, but I had also played around with my crush. I've seen others mention slower draining helped them but still others full-drain.
 
I do a recirculation mash with a direct fire keg mash tun. Domed false bottom. I lauter at about a quart per minute. Fly sparge. Get about 75-80% efficiency. Usually on the higher side of that.
 
84 quart Coleman square cooler with stainless braid, no mash out double batch sparge method, with a 33# grain bill I am getting 72% effeciency in the fermenters.
 
48QT Coleman cooler
CPVC manifold with slits on the bottom
Batch sparge, split sparge H2O in 2 batches
First AG, 59.9%
Second AG, 69.6%, it was a much better crush for sure

I can't imagine hitting 80% but I can dream :rockin:
Toy4Rick
 
I crush my own grains with a BC. I used the factory setting for the first 5 or 6 batches and then regapped it down to 32/1000. I use a Rubbermaid round cooler with a copper manifold. My first batches were at about 65-68%. After tightening up the gap I hit 82 to 85% regularly.
 
Haven't seen slits/holes facing upwards before...you'll leave more in the tun that way but it really doesn't matter. I'd also think you might get more "junk" in your runoff with gravity working against the openings...how has it worked for you?

I lose 1 quart to "deadspace" when running off. Allegedly having the slots facing up helps prevent channelling, not sure I buy that, but whatever. Having the slots facing upwards mimics the effect of the false bottom in a commercial mash tun... which will always have some deadspace by design. I tend to do about a 5 minute vorlauf to get a nice, clear wort. Once the runoff settles it's fine and comes out crystal clear.

SO; clear runoff, 80% efficiency, leave 1 qt behind. Works dandy for me.
 
I'm still fine-tuning my technique.

BIAB: 60-80% depending on size of batch, crush, etc. Using my corona I'm hitting closer to 75% all the time, and I think I've finally dialed in my crush. Usually mash at 1.25ish and do a single batch sparge. 130ish protein rest if using pils as base.

PVC Manifold in 5 gallon bucket-tun: Just got 84% on a BDSA at 1.098. Did a hybrid sparge mentioned by WildWest in this post. Not sure how I'll do medium gravity brews in the future, but high gravity beers will get this treatment.
 
I average about 70 to 75 with full volume BIAB. Best of 80 and worst of 63. I tried a small sparge and still stayed the same so the next variable to tweak will be the crush. Just bought a barley crusher and will try a smaller crush. I have been buying crushed grains from AHS and rebel brewer.
 
Thanks guys! Youve convinced me I have a lot of room to improve. Next batch I'm going to try a different mill, and see if I can improve. I think I may try another fly sparge as well to see if I can improve there.
 
Results are in, we milled using a friend's mill, and besides that changed nothing about our process. Efficiency jumped 15 points to 72%. I'd call that a great improvement. Now I just have to see if my LHBS will give me a refund for all of the extra grain I've had to buy because of their horrible grinder :)
 
A lot of factors at work here depending on the beer style and how lazy I am that day but I run between 70-85%. One of the biggest factors of increasing my eff. was changing my boil kettle. I was using a 9.5 gal kettle that was more tall than wide. I got a10.5 kettle that is more wide than tall. More surface area means more boiloff which means I can sparge more which means better eff..
 
10 gallon cooler, false bottom, fly sparging. Recent examples of efficiency:

2nd attempt @ ESB: 55% efficiency (abysmal)
1st attempt @ ESB: 76% efficiency (better)

On the second attempt, however, I wasn't attempting to nail a high efficiency; in truth, most brewing sessions have been done to work out other kinks in the system, and I've loaded up the grain bill to compensate.

However, looking back, 55% efficiency for that brew, I kinda feel bad now. lol. I should really not waste that much sugar.
 
Results are in, we milled using a friend's mill, and besides that changed nothing about our process. Efficiency jumped 15 points to 72%. I'd call that a great improvement. Now I just have to see if my LHBS will give me a refund for all of the extra grain I've had to buy because of their horrible grinder :)

Well I'd definitely let the guy know. I spent part of my afternoon researching how to motorize my maltmill, and the manufacturer said that you can buy hardened rollers for high-capacity grain crushing--the roller knurls wear down if you don't.

I would wonder if the purveyor doesn't realize this, and just has a worn out crusher?
 
I use a barley crusher and a Braumeister my mash efficiency its 80% to 88% and brewhouse efficiency between 75% and 82%
 
I do a HERMS recirculating mash with a direct fire keg as mash tun. Domed false bottom. Fly sparge. Gotten 72.6% efficiency, after getting a ton of help, 55% with out help on my processes.
 
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