dilbone
Well-Known Member
Last weekend I ended up with around 63% efficiency and just under 4.5gallons of wort.
This time we got around 73% maybe as high as 75%(hard to tell exactly what my volume is since the marks on the brew pail aren't right). Probably about 5.3gallons this time with an OG of 1.051
Here's the details, going for a darker ale with a roasted carmely flavor:
5lbs american 2 row pale
3.5lbs pilsner
.75lbs crystal 120L
.5 lbs brown sugar
(around 25 IBU's...didn't want to overdo it after my last one where I made a hop tea...whew...)
.5oz Chinook (30min)
.5oz Centennial(15min)
Double milled this time(only single last time)
I did a mash in 4 gallons at about 153F for about 85-90 minutes(15-20 more than last time)
Didn't mashout this time, last time we did
Took it straight into sparge in 9 quarts at about 150ish for 15-20min(after sqeezing all we could out of the 1st runnings)
Squeezed life out of the grain bag from sparge and added to 1st runnings, was probably slightly over 5 gallons already...
Took another 2 or 3 quarts of 170F water and slowly poured it through the grain and squeezed it out again.
Had to boil for at least 45 minutes before adding hops do get rid of some extra water, but I think it all paid off with a much better efficiency.
Between double milling and the extra mashing time, I think those gave us our improvement...not sure if the last couple of quarts to rinse the grain helped much but it's not like it was any extra work, just more boil time.
I'll be curious how this one turns out.
This time we got around 73% maybe as high as 75%(hard to tell exactly what my volume is since the marks on the brew pail aren't right). Probably about 5.3gallons this time with an OG of 1.051
Here's the details, going for a darker ale with a roasted carmely flavor:
5lbs american 2 row pale
3.5lbs pilsner
.75lbs crystal 120L
.5 lbs brown sugar
(around 25 IBU's...didn't want to overdo it after my last one where I made a hop tea...whew...)
.5oz Chinook (30min)
.5oz Centennial(15min)
Double milled this time(only single last time)
I did a mash in 4 gallons at about 153F for about 85-90 minutes(15-20 more than last time)
Didn't mashout this time, last time we did
Took it straight into sparge in 9 quarts at about 150ish for 15-20min(after sqeezing all we could out of the 1st runnings)
Squeezed life out of the grain bag from sparge and added to 1st runnings, was probably slightly over 5 gallons already...
Took another 2 or 3 quarts of 170F water and slowly poured it through the grain and squeezed it out again.
Had to boil for at least 45 minutes before adding hops do get rid of some extra water, but I think it all paid off with a much better efficiency.
Between double milling and the extra mashing time, I think those gave us our improvement...not sure if the last couple of quarts to rinse the grain helped much but it's not like it was any extra work, just more boil time.
I'll be curious how this one turns out.