Hit or miss efficiency

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mendozer

mendozer

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Now at conclusion of my third AG batch, my efficiency was 75%, 90%, and 55% respectively.

What the heck? First was a hef, second a pale, third a wheat ale. I know that wheat can affect mashing somewhat, but I've got a big difference here.

I'm batch sparging in my rectangular cooler mash tun with manifold (very good filtration, no vorlauf needed).

I should note that the first batch was a semi-fly sparge. we didn't have all the gear to collect the wort so we drained half, then started adding sparge water while draining the rest.
 
Generally issues with quality of crush, over sparging or poor mash temperatures are the first things to look at when dealing with efficiency problems

If you don't get a good crush your efficiency will be low, conversely I'd you crush too fine you can get a stuck sparge

Verify your thermometer and hydrometer are calibrated properly. If your thermometer is off a few degrees you may be mashing too high and winding up with a less fermentables wort or improper hydrometer readings

If your mash volumes are off you may be diluting the wort or over concentrating the wort

Go back to your process and evaluate these items and you will get a handle on where you need to fine tune your process.
 
What was the % of wheat in the batch? If it was over 50% and you had a poor crush it could account for quite a bit of loss. If your mill isn't adjustable I would run the wheat through twice. It's a bit smaller than barley so I usually make the gap smaller in the mill for crushing wheat.
 
duboman said:
Generally issues with quality of crush, over sparging or poor mash temperatures are the first things to look at when dealing with efficiency problems

If you don't get a good crush your efficiency will be low, conversely I'd you crush too fine you can get a stuck sparge

Verify your thermometer and hydrometer are calibrated properly. If your thermometer is off a few degrees you may be mashing too high and winding up with a less fermentables wort or improper hydrometer readings

If your mash volumes are off you may be diluting the wort or over concentrating the wort

Go back to your process and evaluate these items and you will get a handle on where you need to fine tune your process.
Click to expand...

Crush: LHBS mill all three times. So idk about that. I thought about running twice, maybe next time
Wheat: not over 50% (6.7 out of 18 lbs) and the hef, which was 50% was 75%E
Thermometer: It's at 212 when we hit boil (Blichman) so i guess it's on
Hydrometer: never checked, but calibrated at 60F. Gravities were taken at like 100 degrees and 75, but used Beersmith calculator to adjust for temperature)
Beersmith calculates all volumes so I can't be over or under mashing with volumes. For example, for this 10 gallon batch with 18ish lbs grain, i mashed with 7.5 gallons and sparged with 6.33.
Mash: my cooler holds 155 for 90 minutes (maybe longer, never checked)
 
First thought is verify crush

Second, thermometers will generally always read boilin but may not be accurate at lessor temps

Beer smith is only accurate if you are 100% sure of your equipment profile and hit all your volumes exactly

Hydrometer readings at 100+ are pretty worthless even with corrections

I would start with the crush on the next batch and verify the rest as you go, I will assume you will easily get a better efficiency with a better crush right from the start
 
so should I run ALL the grain through their mill twice or just half of my bill?
 
Either run through twice or have them close the gap a notch. My LHBS just adjusts one notch down for me and it works great.
 
mendozer said:
is there a setting like millimeters or something? or just eyeball it.
Click to expand...

The setting my LHBS uses is essentially the width of a credit card which is a tad less than factory setting. If they do not have an adjustable mill then have them go twice
 
ok good to know. I'm also thinking of getting a refractometer so i can track gravity as i go. Although i don't like to buy extra ingredients so even if I'm shy, that won't change anything. I've only had one beer be so weak it was nasty and that's because I was trying something stupid that shouldn't have been done
 
Refractometers are nice to have but remember that once alcohol is present they require a conversion calculation to get a proper reading, you can search for it in the forums here, I personally don't use one
 
yeah i looked into that and found the table. I would like the convenience of the during boil measurements.

Also, they have the dual scales do you don't need to convert and they seem to be accurate.
 

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