What is Your Efficiency - batch Spargers

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mgortel

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For those of you that batch Sparge....what is your mash efficiency?? Trying to get a feel for an average efficiency to use in Beersmith until I get some of my own data......

Not new to all grain....and same equipment....but been since last year...and I lost all my data in a computer crash..... :smack:
 
85%

A lot depends on the quality of your crush. Most people start at 70-75% until they dial their system in
 
I use a toilet supply braid inside a cooler mash tun. I hit about 82-84% every time. That is with the crush that Northern Brewer sends in the mail.
 
duboman said:
85%

A lot depends on the quality of your crush. Most people start at 70-75% until they dial their system in

This for me also.
 
I'm in the 80-85% range but I started much lower. Getting to know my system and especially getting my own mill bumped up my numbers tremendously.
 
milesvdustin said:
I use a toilet supply braid inside a cooler mash tun. I hit about 82-84% every time. That is with the crush that Northern Brewer sends in the mail.

3 brews identical to above and I get 78% (as high as I want it!). Hit your temps on well-crushed grain and your efficiency should be good!
 
I use a bazooka screen and crush my own grains with a Barley Crusher mill. I get a consistent 81%.


Rev.
 
I'm doing a biab method. I use the 5.2 ph treatment, double crush my grains, 90 minute mash, 10 minute mash out with a 7.5 gallon mash. I can't get above 65-70%.
Anybody brew in a bag or all grain and have any suggestions on efficiency increase?
 
I'm at 72%.
I'm going to switch screens to a punched stainless false bottom next.

I'm doing a biab method. I use the 5.2 ph treatment, double crush my grains, 90 minute mash, 10 minute mash out with a 7.5 gallon mash. I can't get above 65-70%.
Anybody brew in a bag or all grain and have any suggestions on efficiency increase?

It's bad form to hijack somebodies thread, and you should start your own, but...
I question your 90 minute mash.
You don't need to mash for 90, and I never have adjusted my PH (Seattle good neutral water).
Usually it comes down to grain crush... it should be slightly coarser than cornmeal.
I was getting 80% pretty consistently.
Oh, and squeeze the bag... I was only loosing about 1 qt in 12 lbs of grain.
 
It depends on the gravity of the beer. smaller beers I get 80-85%. on big grain bills efficiency drops to high 60's to high 70's. Thats why hydro checks are important, so after brewing a recipe for the first time I can adjust the grain bill to get my intended finish gravity consistently. efficiency can be affected by how fermentable the malt being used. base malts are more fermentable than specialty malts.
 
Second batch using my mill, had 50% white wheat so I had some sparge stoppage, but still hit 78%. Looking forward to doing something more manageable.
 
I get 90% in a 70 qt. Coleman Xtreme with a copper manifold and 0.035" gap setting on my Barley Crusher. I'm pretty consistent with beers ranging from OG 1.040 to 1.090.
 
I hit about 75% on my first all grain using a 10 gallon coleman cooler and 1/2" cpvc manifold. It was a bit bigger beer, Abrasive Ale clone, OG 1.080
 
I usually range between 85-89% 0.035 cursh stirring during the mash every 10 to 15 min. Stirring and recirculating before runing off again aftere each batch addition.
 
if I was setting up a new system I would go with what is typicaly used as the defalt settings on most recipe calculators of 75% and then adjust after aquired data.
 
Mgortel, sorry I meant to start my own thread after reading yours. Didn't mean to post under yours. Again sorry.

To answer your original question I put 70% in beersmith and adjust up or down.

I also bought the refractometer that helps me gauge mash efficiency as I go.

Hope that helps a little. Happy brewing days.
 
I get consistently between 80-90% (80 for big beers, 90 for smaller). I use a 12gal rectangular cooler with a bazooka screen and default setting on my BarleyCrusher.
 
Efficiency really needs to be defined. I get 80%+ mash efficiency, but my efficiency into the fermenter is usually 75%. The efficiency into the fermenter depends a lot on your fluid losses in your system from your boil kettle to your carboy. It is good to know both numbers.
 
OK...here is where i get to learn something........how is mash efficiency different from total efficiency?

If I mash and get a SG.......how does it decrease by the time I end up after boil?

Thanks!
 
OK...here is where i get to learn something........how is mash efficiency different from total efficiency?

If I mash and get a SG.......how does it decrease by the time I end up after boil?

Thanks!


Well, yes, definitely. But there are a couple of different terms here to define first.

mash efficiency- how well you convert your starches to sugars. Should be very high.

Lautering efficiency- how well you get those converted sugars into the boil kettle in the liquid you've used. If you're leaving lots of sugars behind in the grain, this is where it would show- in the preboil SG.

Brewhouse efficiency- the actual % you get into the fermenter. This is with trub losses, kettle losses, etc.

If you are leaving, say, 1 gallon of wort behind in the kettle, your efficiency % will look low because you're not accounting for the gallon in the kettle. Some people do that, to filter out the hot break, hops debris, cold break, etc. But if you're going to do that, then it should be accounted for so that you hit your desired OG in the fermenter, although it's NOT part of the mash efficiency calculation.

I hope that makes sense.
 
modenacart said:
Efficiency really needs to be defined. I get 80%+ mash efficiency, but my efficiency into the fermenter is usually 75%. The efficiency into the fermenter depends a lot on your fluid losses in your system from your boil kettle to your carboy. It is good to know both numbers.

Agreed. But, the OP did ask specifically for the mash efficiency.
 
Efficiency really needs to be defined. I get 80%+ mash efficiency, but my efficiency into the fermenter is usually 75%. The efficiency into the fermenter depends a lot on your fluid losses in your system from your boil kettle to your carboy. It is good to know both numbers.

I think you hit the nail on the head. My mash efficiency is higher than my brewhouse effeciency. Whenever people talk about efficiency I always wonder if they are talking about the mash or brewhouse.
 
75% brewhouse.

Less for bigger beers as only a 10Gal kettle (Final running usually very high for big beers. 1020ish)

No interest in doing anything else but batch..
 
modenacart said:
True, but a lot of times when people ask that, they don't really know what they are asking for or know what they really want. That is the reason I bring it up.

I hear ya. He did also mention batch sparging in the title so I just assumed that he was looking at mash efficiency. Unfortunately, I'm wired to automatically refer to mash efficiency, especially in recipe formulation. Hopefully, this thread will teach me to be more discerning in the future.
 
I'm around 71-72%, primarily because of an inconsistent pasta-roller mill. I expect these numbers to rise upon purchase of a better mill. Kyle
 
I hear ya. He did also mention batch sparging in the title so I just assumed that he was looking at mash efficiency. Unfortunately, I'm wired to automatically refer to mash efficiency, especially in recipe formulation. Hopefully, this thread will teach me to be more discerning in the future.

The efficiancy number I am concerned about is brew house. this is the number I need for formulating recipes in my recipe calculator. most of us usually will be in the 75-80% brew house efficiency range.
 
Actually was talking about efficiency as measured in kettle pre-boil:

So, to make sure I am not slaughtering terminology......

100% Mash Efficiency would means you convert ALL of the POTENTIAL sugars out of the grains.....i.e. Potential Max SG (which is impossible).....

Next you sparge....and rinse as much of these converted sugars out of the mash tun and into brew kettle......

So....this is what I was talking about....the efficiency in the kettle after mash and sparge......

I believe this is the efficiency that is calculated in Beersmith right?

Based on the POTENTIAL SG of the grain bill.....and the actual SG you end up with.....

So if the POTENTIAL of the grain bill is say 1.080 (for 100% efficiency)....and you end up with 1.060....that would be a Total Efficiency of 75%

Do I have this right?
 
Currently averaging ~75% mash and ~62% brewhouse efficiencies... although I'm sure the crush is the largest limiting factor since I don't have a mill and I order all my ingredients online.
 
Start at 70%. Dilution is easier than adding extract at the end, personally.

I get 80% every time now. Volume is important, or else your numbers are skewed, ie. overshooting sparge volumes, boiling off too much, etc.
 
Consistently getting 60-62% from both my LHBS and NB. I keep changing one thing, giving it another go, checking, and pressing on. Really a bummer, time to review everything again.
 
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