New Mashtun manifold way out of wack, need help please?

So, I'm a 10 year AG brewer who recently made a new manifold for his mashtun with 1/2" cpvc and installed it an the igloo "cube". I was previously using the easy masher with about 75% efficiency. Since the beginning of this new manifold i've brew 3-4 batches and my efficiency is about 55% - 65 %. I am completely confused and bewildered how this could be happening. Today i made a double IPA that was suppose to be approx. 1.097 OG and it was 1.055 OG @ 75deg when i racked to fermenter. i used 15 lbs of 2 row pale, 2 lbs 10L crystal, 1 lb carapils. That's alot of grain and my gravity was way off? Does anyone have a clue what is happening here?? I've never had a problem like this and I didn't think that the cpvc manifold would do this after all the posts I've read about how people have increased their efficiency with this manifold. Any ideas would help...Thanks.

I take it that all your variables have stayed the same i.e....same crush, same amounts of water, same sparging tech. I have only been brewing for about 4 years and have only used a homemade easymasher and I am actually getting ready to make a new manifold like the one you are speaking of (maybe a little diff design) so I really don't have any good insight? sorry...

How are you sparging?

Have you tried just filling it with water and attaching a hose to the spigot and letting if flow to see if you get enough vacuum to get rid of the dead space?

All variables have remained constant with the exception of the cpvc manifold. nothing fancy but it works well with just water in the mash tun. Test run only left 16 oz of liquid in the bottom. I had really high expectations for it but i think i'm going back to the easy masher. I usually fly sparge but today w/ the double IPA i did a modified batch sparge where i poured all the sparge water into the mash tun (after a 60 min conv. @ 148deg.) and then recirculated until clear and then drained it into the kettle. i should have taken a gravity reading then but i forgot. Anyway the manifold is just like most you see on the DIY page and i cut a slit every 1/2' with the dremel. It looks good and worked great but my efficiency sucks! I am so puzzled that it actually pisses me off a bit. Anyway if you guys can think of any thing else that I'm missing it would be greatly appreciated.

It's pretty tough to nail something down like that when you changed your sparge process plus the equipment. You also had a pretty big beer in there with a low mash temp and short mash rest. Try fly sparging next time so you only have one variable. It's definitely tough to get a new system dialed in, so I wouldn't write that manifold off just yet.

jmo88 said:

It's pretty tough to nail something down like that when you changed your sparge process plus the equipment. You also had a pretty big beer in there with a low mash temp and short mash rest. Try fly sparging next time so you only have one variable. It's definitely tough to get a new system dialed in, so I wouldn't write that manifold off just yet.

Click to expand...

^^+1 I thought temp was a little low...but who am I to say...process being changed puts other variables in the equation.

So today i went back to my old mash tun, a 5 gal Extreme cooler w/ an Easy Masher http://schmidling.com/empp.htm[/URL]

I very precisely measured my grain, water and made sure my HLT hit the correct temperature per the Beer Smith recipe (found out there is a box that I forgot to check for automatic temperature adjustment). Everything went perfectly and after mashing out I did my usual fly sparging method. Collected 7.3 gals of wort and hit my target gravity out of the mash tun and at the end of my boil.

Hello 75% efficiency, I'm BACK!