ITT: Give me feedback on my setup

So I'm maxing out about 72% eff. on a good day and I would like tips on how to improve it. I know the number one reason is the amount of beer I drink on brew day so I'm looking for reason 2, 3, 4 etc... Also, I'm still starting out and with little space so I have no plans (yet) to do crazy welding or super out the box processes.

For heating I have a 60qt pot over a bayou classic that works great to get my liquor up to temp. I have a 48qt rectangular igloo cooler with a ball valve and T attached to a washing machine braided hose with rubber removed as a manifold.

As an example from a blonde partial mash I just did, I mashed about 9 lbs of grains last time and used brewsmith to calculate my water amounts. I added 11.25 qts @ 165 degrees and this ended up a little over my target of 150 degrees at the beginning. I left this for 60 mins and came back and it was right around 150 degrees so my temp maintained well. Then I added on 2.9 gallons of 168 degree water and recycled via a quart measuring cup about 6 times until it was fairly clear. Then I drained into a bucket (only have one pot) with the valve open maybe 1/2 way. Took about 5-10 mins to get down to grain level and then I added 4.6 gallons of 168 degree water. Poured the bucket wort into my pot and cranked up the heat and added bittering hops. Drained the second batch sparge directly into pot, again about 1/2 way open and it took 10-15 mins to drain into the pot.

Refractometer told me I was at 12 brix which in beersmith gives me about 72% for my volumes. I wanted about 5% and this puts me closer to 4.5%. How can I increase this?

Who crushes your grain? The crush has a big impact on efficiency. You also might want to try Kaiser's Efficiency Calculator. It will tell you what your conversion efficiency and lauter efficiency are and then you'll know where to start tweeking.

I usually get my supplier to crush it (RebelBrewer). I have a corona mill, but it's no better than them so I stopped bothering. I don't really have the room for bulk grains so haven't upgraded to something better. I'll check out the eff. calculator and see what I can tell.

72% isn't bad. Why not just adjust your grainbill next time to get the desired og? Imo getting a consistent efficiency # is more important, than how high it is.

Are you attempting a mashout with your first small infusion? If so, your temps are way to low.

Mild OCD, anal, cheap, bored, etc... I'll check the crush when I get home.

wildwest450 said:

Are you attempting a mashout with your first small infusion? If so, your temps are way to low.

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No I'm not doing a mashout. So you mean my sparge temps are low?

HiGravShawn said:

No I'm not doing a mashout. So you mean my sparge temps are low?

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Are you checking for conversion? How long is your mash? A mashout is a good idea once the conversion is done too.

I did a 60 minute mash. I did not check for conversion this time with iodine although sometimes I do with mixed results. I used to do a mashout when I was temp mashing on the stove. How would I do that in a cooler? Maybe up the first batch sparge temp to 170?

HiGravShawn said:

No I'm not doing a mashout. So you mean my sparge temps are low?

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Super low. And why do 2 uneven sparges? The goal is to get temps up to 168-170f. When I did split sparges, the were split evenly, and the first infusion was up around 185f to 190f.

wildwest450 said:

Super low. And why do 2 uneven sparges? The goal is to get temps up to 168-170f. When I did split sparges, the were split evenly, and the first infusion was up around 185f to 190f.

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It's split to account for my smallish cooler and I used the amounts and temps per the beersmith steps. I figured it knew better than me, but maybe I've setup something wrong in the software. Although I just noticed "Sparge using equal size batches" is checked so not sure what's going on there.

AHa! So googling the setting I found that I'm supposed to add the first batch BEFORE draining. I guess that may act sort of like a mashout although I don't think adding 3 gallons of 168 degree water will bring 2.5 gallons of 150 degree water anywhere near mashout temps. If I select "drain mashtun before starting sparge" it equalizes them.

HiGravShawn said:

It's split to account for my smallish cooler and I used the amounts and temps per the beersmith steps. I figured it knew better than me, but maybe I've setup something wrong in the software.

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Yes, i use beer smith, you can set it to do equal sparges. There's a box you check, and I have to set the % of space in the mash tun to 50% to get it to do equal amounts.

Beersmith's one huge weakness is sparge temps, there WAY to low.

Ok, I'll check my crush and try raising the sparge temp.

HiGravShawn said:

Ok, I'll check my crush and try raising the sparge temp.

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Or you could just change you name to LoGravShawn.

Seriously though, don't be afraid to get that first infusion to around 185-190f, especially if your mashing low, around 150f

How much do you stir during your mash/sparge?

Beersmith sparge temp is set for fly, not batch, sparging. I sparge with 180°F liquor for my batches. Mashout is questionably useful when batch sparging because there really isn't too much of a need to denature the enzymes in the mash as you'll be heating the wort a lot quicker than you do with fly sparging.

Here's my process.

Mash @ temp with 1.5qt per pound Stir a couple times just to make sure things are well distributed.

Vorlauf and drain

Add first batch sparge, stir, vorlauf and drain
Add second batch, stir, vorlauf and drain

Boil and go.

HiGravShawn said:

How much do you stir during your mash/sparge?

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A thorough stir when doughing in, then a quick one before first vaurlauf, just to check temp. During sparges just a quick stir then immediate drain, some people wait a few minutes, I don't.

In John Palmer's book it says never to go over 170 due to getting astringent flavors from the husks. Do you not have a problem with this?

I think Palmer is referring to mash temperature. Infusions at higher temperatures should equalize the mash temperatures to around 168 F. And, as the other poster noted, mash-out process is probably unecessary with batch sparging, IIRC.

It's perfectly fine to add some of your sparge water to the mash prior to the first vorlauf and drain. The purpose of that infusion is to make the first runnings closer to the volume of the second runnings. Based on the info you provided, it looks like you collected a total of 9.5 gallons. Was this for a 10 gallon partial mash batch?

Yes, of course Palmer is talking about the resultant equalized temp of 170F, not the infusion temp.

Given your first post, the 2.9 gallon infusion could have been 190F and the mash would have settled at 169F.

Question... did you stir the 2.9 gallons into the mash really well? Did you further stir the 4.6 gallons sparge into the grain really well?

Bobby_M said:

It's perfectly fine to add some of your sparge water to the mash prior to the first vorlauf and drain. The purpose of that infusion is to make the first runnings closer to the volume of the second runnings. Based on the info you provided, it looks like you collected a total of 9.5 gallons. Was this for a 10 gallon partial mash batch?

Yes, of course Palmer is talking about the resultant equalized temp of 170F, not the infusion temp.

Given your first post, the 2.9 gallon infusion could have been 190F and the mash would have settled at 169F.

Question... did you stir the 2.9 gallons into the mash really well? Did you further stir the 4.6 gallons sparge into the grain really well?

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No that's one thing that might have hurt me since I didn't stir very much at all during mash or sparging. I only had flimsy metal yard stick I have marked with measurements and it couldn't really move the grain around. I think I am going to invest in a good paddle.

Stirring after ALL infusions is absolutely necessary, especially in batch sparging. I wouldn't say it may have hurt, I'm positive it did.

Awesome thanks for the feedback guys!