Mashing Efficiency

I recently brewed my first all-grain batch. I used:
Yield: 6.0g
Grain: 10lbs American 2-Row Pale Malt
4lbs Crystal Malt (60L)
0.25lbs Chocolate Malt
Hops: 1.5oz Cascade 60m
1.5oz Cascade 35m
1.5oz Kent Goldings
Yeast: White Labs English Ale Yeast
Chemicals: 5.2 pH satbilizer
I have a few questions. After selecting these grains, I used tastybrew.com to estimate my initial gravity, etc. in order to determine how much grain I should use. I assumed a mash efficiency of 60% in order to be safe, and actually got an efficiency of 63% with an OG of 1.050.
Q1) Is this reasonable? What types of efficiencies are common?
I mashed at 148F (starting at 3.5g~1qt per lb) by accident for about 60min because I underestimated the thermal mass of my mash tun and had to add alot of water to raise it (took long because I kept underestimatiing the volume I needed to raise the temperature).
Q2) Will this cause my beer to be too dry?
Finally I got the temperature up to 152F and left it there for about 90min (ending at ~5-5.5g). Then, I sped up my sparge, and finished collecting my wort in ~45min.
Q3) What problems may this have caused?
Q4) What are good ways to improve my mash efficiency?
Also, I only added the 5.2 pH stabilizer to the mash.
Q5) Should I also add it to the sparge water, and if so, how much?
Thanks.

A1) Yes, but it could be better. It just kind of depends on your system, the crush on your grains, etc. My efficiency is 68%. As far as efficiency goes, I am more concerned with consistency.

A2) Your FG will probably be pretty low, depending on your yeast. I'm unure about that English Ale Yeast, b/c I don't believe I've ever used it. I'd guess 1.005 or so.

I'll leave the rest to someone else.

Q1) Is this reasonable? What types of efficiencies are common?

60% is somewhat on the low side, but still reasonable. Most brewers get between 70% and 80%

Q2) Will this cause my beer to be too dry?

yep, I'd expect it to be pretty dry. You can add some Malto Dextrin if the FG is to low. But the 4lb of Crystal may save your FG from dropping to low.

Q3) What problems may this have caused?

If 60min at 148F didn't convert all the starch into maltose, the 90min at 152F did. No other problems here.

Q4) What are good ways to improve my mash efficiency?

I'm not sure? Did you check for complete starch conversion. But the 150min of mashing should have taken care of all the starches.
You may also add a mash-out step to your mash by raising the mash temp to 168 after the conversion is complete. The higher temp reduces the viscosity and solubility of the sugars. It also holds the enzumatic activity of the beta amylase, thus preserving your maltose/dextrin ratio.

Q5) Should I also add it to the sparge water, and if so, how much?

Only use this when your mash ph doesn't get into the 5.2 - 5.4 range. You can also use acid malt in case you don't want to put chemicals in your beer.

Kai

In my personal experience the single most important factor affecting mash efficiency is the crush. I have found that the grain I've had crushed by both my LHBS and at least one mail-order source would result in efficiencies of ~65%. With a lowly Corona mill set to grind more finely than the HBS's I can achieve 78-83% with no other alterations to my procedures.

IMO the pH stabilizer is overhyped unless you have very odd water. I've found through pH monitoring that my tap water will invariably go to an acceptable pH during the mash. It's worth checking, though, as some waters will certainly require some type of adjustment.

60 percent is decent, i think 70-75 is probably average...the thing i noticed in your post was the somewhat casual remark you made.."i hurried up the sparge" this, i believe is a huge no-no. 45 minutes does not seem adequate, at least an hour would probably be better, one other thing is that although you started out with a good h2o/grains ratio, it sounds like you ended up watering the mash down quite a bit...grains like a 'tighter' mash for conversion, a real soupy one is not ideal.

im sure that next time if you a) take your time with the sparge, dont skip the vorlauf(recirculation of a quart or so untill the run off is clear)
and
b) make sure you have a nice 'tight' mash i.e. 1-1.33 qt. per lb of grain...
your efficiency will be more like 75 percent...

Thanks alot.

Q4) What are good ways to improve my mash efficiency?
Mash efficiency is probably not the problem. With modern malts, providing you keep the temperature reasonable and give it enough time, you will convert all the starch into sugars. The efficiency problem is in the sparging which is where the sugars are rinsed from the grain. The more sugars you extract into the wort, the higher the efficiency.
Efficiency isn't the whole story however. You want to extract the sugars without extracting excess tannins from the grain husks. (I'm sure you could sparge with boiling water, and it would increase efficiency; but it would also extract tannins, and the result would not be very pleasant. There are a number of small things you can do to ensure an efficient operation.
1. Use sparge water of the correct temperature. Most people recommend 168 degrees. This is hot enough to dissolve the sugars, but not so hot that is dissolves the tannins. Bear in mind that you have a delivery mechanism that will lose heat. In my case, I have a cooler full of 180 degree water that flows slowly through a plastic tube to a sparge arm. By the time it comes out of the sparge arm, it has dropped 10 - 12 degrees
2. Make sure the sparge water filters evenly through the grain bed. If you dump it all in one place, it will obey gravity and fall to the bottom leaving most of the grain unrinsed. I use a cylindrical cooler and a rotating sparge arm. Works like a champ.
3. Use a false bottom to prevent the sparge water heading directly for the outlet. With a false bottom, the sparge water can percolate evenly through the grain bed, thus rinsing all of the grain. I use a Phil's phalse bottom that I got with the sparge arm, and am very satisfied.
4. Eliminate as much dead space as possible. The densest liquid (i.e. the highest gravity, or that containing the most sugar) will collect in the dead space, and reduce efficiency. The Phil's phalse bottom is very good in this respect.
5. Sparging is like sex. The longer it lasts, the better it is. I usually make it last for about 90 minutes (that's sparging).

Also, I only added the 5.2 pH stabilizer to the mash.
Q5) Should I also add it to the sparge water, and if so, how much?

The PH of the sparge water is supposed to affect tannin extraction. (The higher the PH, the more tannins are extracted.)
I add about 1 tsp of gypsum to the last 3g of sparge water to ensure that I don't extract excessive tannins during the sparge. As my water is very low in both calcium and sulphates, and I almost always brew pale ales, I am sure that this doesn't hurt.
Is it necessary? I really don;t know, but I have never noticed excess tannin extraction in any of my brews.

Hope this helps

-a.

My question to you: Please tell me 4 lbs. of C 40L is an error/typo.

WAY too much, man.

Please tell us how it turns out. 4 pounds of 60 degree crystal malt is a LOT! most recipes only call for 1/2 to 1 pound max. It will be interesting to see what the lower mash temp does to the crystal.

King Kai said:

Q5) Should I also add it to the sparge water, and if so, how much?

Only use this when your mash ph doesn't get into the 5.2 - 5.4 range. You can also use acid malt in case you don't want to put chemicals in your beer.

Kai

Click to expand...

I think this would be a good place start. Check your water. Adjust to the low 5 ph range. This is where I saw a 10% jump in efficiency. I first tried the 5.2 ph product. I was impressed. And then I would look at the crushed grian.

I modelled the recipe from one's like this:

http://brewery.org/cm3/recs/01_20.html

on brewery.org. I drank a bit after primary fermentation and It tastes great so far, but perhaps a bit dry. I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

It ended up with an initial gravity of 1.017. It turned out great. The hops perfectly balance the sweetness of the crystal malt (I don't really like sweet beers). It is a great beer, and will make it again. Next time I use this recipe, I will use a bit more aroma hops though, because the sweet aroma from the crystal malt somewhat overpowers the hop aroma.

I obviously meant a final gravity of 1.017. Sorry.