Why is my efficiency so low?

My latest brew (my 3rd brew ever) only yielded 53% (brewers friend) efficiency which I feel is low considering my brewing system. When I say low I'm referring to the OG. OG for the lastest brew was .050, at 65% I'd be hitting .061.

I have 3 keg system. Mashtun has a pico false bottom (homebrewing.org) I lowered it so there is now 5 liters below the FB (instead of 9.5). I have a march pump for circulating. Pic of FB here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/photo/lowered-false-bottom-62864.html

Here is my process for a 23L batch. Can anyone see anything glaringly wrong with what I'm doing?

1. Boil 10L in mashtun to sterilize and heat it up a bit (maybe boiling some of the sparge water is a bad idea?)
2. Add 12L more of cold water to mashtun
3. Heat the 22L in mashtun to 72celcius (Circulate with pump till temp is stable)
4. Add the grains (6.8kg for the last brew) and stir for 5-10 mins till I can't see any more clumps. I also have the pump running on low during this step.
5. Stop stirring / switch pump off, put lid on and wait for 60mins. (temp is now 66-67)
6. After 60 mins switch on the pump on low for 3-5 mins to in theory clarify the wort.
7. Begin fly sparge (sparge water heated to 67). Sparge water is introduced to top of mash onto a small round plate (to avoid blasting a hole in the grain bed). The wort is pumped into the boiler at about the same flow as sparge water (medium to slow speed - not sure how fast or slow I should be going?) Pic of sparge arm here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/photo/sparge-arm-62865.html
8. Stop lautering when the boiller has 28.5 litres in it - I know I should test the wort gravity to decide when to stop lautering but thats a pain in the arse to do.

BTW attenuation is good, 82% for the last brew. Fermentation occurs in a temp controlled fridge with heat pad.

Any thoughts will be appreciated. Thanks!

Anyone..?

Without checking your pre-boil wort gravity, you cant tell where the issue is. Boiling longer can raise your gravity (as I'm sure you know). Over sparging and collecting too much wort will dilute your wort and can cause a low gravity as well. If you are sure you are collecting the right amount of wort and have your boil-off factored correctly, then you need to look into your grist bill. It does sound like you are getting a bad gravity from the start though. I can get the same SG from my 12# grist every time I brew it. I mash in a converted cooler without a constant fire until it, so there are most likely a lot of differences between your method and mine.

First, why are you sanitizing your mash tun? Don't boil anything prior to your final wort collection,

Instead of dissecting your process, let me walk you through mine. I usually hit ~85%. I only have a two-tier system. My grain is crushed at .039 if I am using carapils and .038 if not.

1) Add 2 gallons of treated water at 10* F higher than desired mash temperature in the mash tun and seal the lid.

2) Continue heating the remaining volume of water to the strike temperature. I determine the strike temperature based on the temperature of the grain, the amount of grain, and the desired mash temperature. There are plenty of calculators online to help you determine strike water volume and temperature.

3) Add water first, then dough in and stir with mash paddle, but not excessively.

4) Seal the lid and wait for 60 minutes. I do check the temperature after 10 minutes.

5) Calculate sparge water temperature and volume so that the grain temperature will be raised to 171* F. Again...online calculators.

I batch sparge, so fly sparging will be slightly different. The important thing is that you raise the grain temperature to 171* so that enzymes are denatured.

Now, if you our thermometer is not accurate, you're screwed. I hit 80% with my first AG batch and would have hit higher had I filled my mash tun lid with spray foam. After I did that, I'm able to hold the temp for an hour. Check you thermometer, quit heating your water too high (boiling), and RDWHAHB.


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You have nice gear. Much nicer than mine. Cough up $30 for a refractometer so you can check gravity on the fly. No excuse to not have preboil gravity.

Definitely echoing some of what was said... Get a refractometer.
If you have a HERMS setup, then make sure you're taking measurements all over the place.

When you say your sparge is medium to slow... it should be slow to "is there anything even coming out?". You want the sparging process to take about 40-45min. Fly sparging is less work than batch sparging, but it's really the same amount of time.
When fly sparging, your arm should be well above the wort level, and the wort should be 1-2" over your grain bed. Based on your pic, your sparge arm is too low, which means your wort is too low, so maybe you're getting channeling through the grain bed or something.

uatuba said:

First, why are you sanitizing your mash tun? Don't boil anything prior to your final wort collection,

Instead of dissecting your process, let me walk you through mine. I usually hit ~85%. I only have a two-tier system. My grain is crushed at .039 if I am using carapils and .038 if not.

1) Add 2 gallons of treated water at 10* F higher than desired mash temperature in the mash tun and seal the lid.

2) Continue heating the remaining volume of water to the strike temperature. I determine the strike temperature based on the temperature of the grain, the amount of grain, and the desired mash temperature. There are plenty of calculators online to help you determine strike water volume and temperature.

3) Add water first, then dough in and stir with mash paddle, but not excessively.

4) Seal the lid and wait for 60 minutes. I do check the temperature after 10 minutes.

5) Calculate sparge water temperature and volume so that the grain temperature will be raised to 171* F. Again...online calculators.

I batch sparge, so fly sparging will be slightly different. The important thing is that you raise the grain temperature to 171* so that enzymes are denatured.

Now, if you our thermometer is not accurate, you're screwed. I hit 80% with my first AG batch and would have hit higher had I filled my mash tun lid with spray foam. After I did that, I'm able to hold the temp for an hour. Check you thermometer, quit heating your water too high (boiling), and RDWHAHB.


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I said why I boil the first 10L of mash water - to sterilize (ie. starting with clean equipment) and as a bonus it pre-heats the mashtun. The when I add 12L of cold water I still need to heat the now 22L up to the desired strike temp (I don't see why that's a problem unless boiling the water does something undesirable to it?)

My sparge water temp could be higher but that won't be effecting efficiency - or will it?

I don't know the mill size but it gets milled at the most popular home brew supplier in Auckland - they definitely know what they're doing (unlike myself) so unlikely to be a problem there, but I will ask them next time I get grains.

Why is sealing the lid important? over the hour my mash will drop up to 1.5deg (eg. from 67 to 65.5). I thought that wasn't a bad thing?

My strike temp is spot on so no need to change anything there.

bairdo said:

I said why I boil the first 10L of mash water - to sterilize (ie. starting with clean equipment) and as a bonus it pre-heats the mashtun. The when I add 12L of cold water I still need to heat the now 22L up to the desired strike temp (I don't see why that's a problem unless boiling the water does something undesirable to it?)



My sparge water temp could be higher but that won't be effecting efficiency - or will it?



I don't know the mill size but it gets milled at the most popular home brew supplier in Auckland - they definitely know what they're doing (unlike myself) so unlikely to be a problem there, but I will ask them next time I get grains.



Why is sealing the lid important? over the hour my mash will drop up to 1.5deg (eg. from 67 to 65.5). I thought that wasn't a bad thing?



My strike temp is spot on so need to change anything there.

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You aren't sterilizing anything unless you have a huge ass autoclave. The point is that nothing preboil needs to be sanitized. My issue with the boiling is that you may be using way too much heat in your mash, which will denature enzymes early, and which will result in poor efficiency.


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Also.. you're wasting energy and water

But if your sparge temps are too low, you'll definitely lose efficiency. Sparge water needs to be hotter (to get grains to 168-169f) in order to liquify the sugars and extract every last bit of sugar for your wort. If you're not doing that, then your efficiency is going to take a hit.

SudsyPaul said:

Definitely echoing some of what was said... Get a refractometer.
If you have a HERMS setup, then make sure you're taking measurements all over the place.

When you say your sparge is medium to slow... it should be slow to "is there anything even coming out?". You want the sparging process to take about 40-45min. Fly sparging is less work than batch sparging, but it's really the same amount of time.
When fly sparging, your arm should be well above the wort level, and the wort should be 1-2" over your grain bed. Based on your pic, your sparge arm is too low, which means your wort is too low, so maybe you're getting channeling through the grain bed or something.

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I don't have a herms setup.

Right.. ok so I'm almost certainly sparging way too quickly. Didn't time it but pretty sure it only took 10-15mins. The sparge arm sits just below the water line and the reason I decided not to have it above the water line is apparently aerating hot wort is bad (according to section 3 'how to brew' "One advantage to using a manifold, versus pouring the mash into a strainer, is that you avoid aerating the wort while it is hot. As was discussed in Chapter 6 Yeast, and Chapter 8 Fermentation, oxidation of hot wort at any time will lead to flavor stability problems in the beer later"). And I've seen a bunch of systems where the sparge arm/arms sit on the grain bed.

As far as measuring here there and everywhere, I've already spent too much on the system and should be able to get some decent beer out of it. Given my lack of experience its far more likely to be a procedural problem than a lack of measuring. I will eventually get a refractometer, I understand its purpose but you don't need one of those to make good beer (I know people making beer in chilli-bins (coolers) who are getting way better efficiency than me)

Thanks muchly!

SudsyPaul said:

Also.. you're wasting energy and water

But if your sparge temps are too low, you'll definitely lose efficiency. Sparge water needs to be hotter (to get grains to 168-169f) in order to liquify the sugars and extract every last bit of sugar for your wort. If you're not doing that, then your efficiency is going to take a hit.

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How am I wasting water? are you meaning the water that gets evaporated during the 2 mins its boilling? the energy wasted would be negligible - I'm still bring up the same 22L of water to 72deg.

So sparge water should be hotter than the wort? my thinking is it should be the same temp (just in theory). Didn't know that - maybe thats contributing to the crappy efficiency too - is that just the case for fly sparging? we're not talking about 'mash-out' are we? because the guys I know that batch sparge are aiming for the same temp as the mash - then some of them do a mash-out.

CA_Mouse said:

Without checking your pre-boil wort gravity, you cant tell where the issue is. Boiling longer can raise your gravity (as I'm sure you know). Over sparging and collecting too much wort will dilute your wort and can cause a low gravity as well. If you are sure you are collecting the right amount of wort and have your boil-off factored correctly, then you need to look into your grist bill. It does sound like you are getting a bad gravity from the start though. I can get the same SG from my 12# grist every time I brew it. I mash in a converted cooler without a constant fire until it, so there are most likely a lot of differences between your method and mine.

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I hear you and I knew I'd get bombed for not measuring the pre boil gravity but... I don't need to measure it to know that based on the recipe I should be hitting a MUCH higher pre-boil gravity. I'm starting to think I should try batch sparging for a bit just to compare.

What do you mean when you say '12#' grist? I know what grist ratio is.. just not the #12 bit.

bairdo said:

What do you mean when you say '12#' grist? I know what grist ratio is.. just not the #12 bit.

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To answer on his behalf: Twelve Pounds.

I found that a couple batches my efficiency was poor. Turns out I was using too much grain. This meant larger quantities of water and sparging, by the time I was at boil capabilities there was still plenty of sugars left that I just didn't have room for. Tried lowering amount of grain - counter intuitive, but gained a larger sparge from it and more extraction from the grains that I did use. 80% of 4kg vs 60% of 5kg. Weird, I know.

uatuba said:

You aren't sterilizing anything unless you have a huge ass autoclave. The point is that nothing preboil needs to be sanitized. My issue with the boiling is that you may be using way too much heat in your mash, which will denature enzymes early, and which will result in poor efficiency.


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I'm happy to skip the boil/sterilizing step. I just don't understand how the mash would get too hot if my strike temp is spot on (72) - ie after dough in I'm right where I want to be 66 deg-cel. I also circulate the strike water before adding the grains to be extra sure.

Its sounding like my problem lies in the sparge - I'm doing it too quickly and not hot enough.

bairdo said:

I'm happy to skip the boil/sterilizing step. I just don't understand how the mash would get too hot if my strike temp is spot on (72) - ie after dough in I'm right where I want to be 66 deg-cel. I also circulate the strike water before adding the grains to be extra sure.



Its sounding like my problem lies in the sparge - I'm doing it too quickly and not hot enough.

Click to expand...

If you are actually at 72, great. If your thermometer is wrong, well...different story.


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uatuba said:

If you are actually at 72, great. If your thermometer is wrong, well...different story.

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this was my thought, too. check/calibrate your thermometer or double check with a second thermometer. your equipment is nice but getting the various procedures & techniques down is more important than nice equipment - like you pointed out about your chili tub friends brewing efficiency being good. you'll get it in time just keep at it and modify your techniques. a few good points have been brought up - the crush of your grain (and age of crushed grain if you're not crushing just before brewing), sparge time is too quick, sparge arm too low as you want to keep a few inches of water above your grain bed, and sparge water needs to be higher temp althoughi don't think that will matter too much. a hydrometer with temperature conversion equation will help get your preboil/postmash gravity without a refractometer.

i would start by trying a 90 minute boil with small modifications in your process. cheers!!

uatuba said:

If you are actually at 72, great. If your thermometer is wrong, well...different story.
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Wouldn't I be pretty unlucky if the thermometer is the problem? Are they known to be troublesome? (I bought new brewmometers)

jessup said:

this was my thought, too. check/calibrate your thermometer or double check with a second thermometer. your equipment is nice but getting the various procedures & techniques down is more important than nice equipment - like you pointed out about your chili tub friends brewing efficiency being good. you'll get it in time just keep at it and modify your techniques. a few good points have been brought up - the crush of your grain (and age of crushed grain if you're not crushing just before brewing), sparge time is too quick, sparge arm too low as you want to keep a few inches of water above your grain bed, and sparge water needs to be higher temp althoughi don't think that will matter too much. a hydrometer with temperature conversion equation will help get your preboil/postmash gravity without a refractometer.

i would start by trying a 90 minute boil with small modifications in your process. cheers!!

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Ok I'll test the thermometers against a digital meat probe - easy enough to do. Have to say I'll be surprised if they are inaccurate.

Sparge arm is submerged but is 1" above the grain bed. If I raise it higher the sparge water will splash onto the wort (aerating the wort is undesirable according to John Palmer).

For interests sake I'll take a measurement (pre-boil) with a hydrometer next time.

Zepth said:

To answer on his behalf: Twelve Pounds.

I found that a couple batches my efficiency was poor. Turns out I was using too much grain. This meant larger quantities of water and sparging, by the time I was at boil capabilities there was still plenty of sugars left that I just didn't have room for. Tried lowering amount of grain - counter intuitive, but gained a larger sparge from it and more extraction from the grains that I did use. 80% of 4kg vs 60% of 5kg. Weird, I know.

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That's exactly why i'm reluctant to add extra grain to combat inefficiency.

bairdo said:

That's exactly why i'm reluctant to add extra grain to combat inefficiency.

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As has been pointed out, you are using a lot of grain. More grain = more work to get better extract efficiency. I also did some math and found your mashing water-to-grist ratio is about 1.55. Not bad, but you might be getting a higher pH due to it (as an example, I usually mash at a ratio of 1.35, and get 80%+ efficiency consistently).

I also noticed that you have to have some major boiling to go from 28.5L to 23L in an hour (assuming you do an hour boil). Are you sure you're winding up with 23L at the end?

But it might not be just that. It could be your crush. It could be the grains you're using (check the Lintner numbers on your base grains). Is your water hard or soft? There's a lot of factors.

I have a buddy who has a similar set up as you and he is also having major efficiency problems (this started happening after he constructed his brewstand). So, take heart that you're not alone?

All told, make sure you are measuring as much as you can through every step of the process. One miscalculation can make you wind up with an undesirable product. Good luck!

Thanks heaps for all the input. Here's what I'm going to do.

1. Check the thermometers are reading true
2. Find out the grain mill
3. Increase the temp of sparge water to 80deg c
4. Slow down the lauter - a lot (aim for 1L per minute or less)
5. Measure preboil gravity to see if I'm winning

Then maybe..
6. Do a mashout - i'm a little worried about over cooking it though - probably just trial and error - knowing about how long to have the burner on.
7. Raise the sparge plate - am I right in saying it should be below the water line?

lostcheesehead said:

As has been pointed out, you are using a lot of grain. More grain = more work to get better extract efficiency. I also did some math and found your mashing water-to-grist ratio is about 1.55. Not bad, but you might be getting a higher pH due to it (as an example, I usually mash at a ratio of 1.35, and get 80%+ efficiency consistently).

I also noticed that you have to have some major boiling to go from 28.5L to 23L in an hour (assuming you do an hour boil). Are you sure you're winding up with 23L at the end?

But it might not be just that. It could be your crush. It could be the grains you're using (check the Lintner numbers on your base grains). Is your water hard or soft? There's a lot of factors.

I have a buddy who has a similar set up as you and he is also having major efficiency problems (this started happening after he constructed his brewstand). So, take heart that you're not alone?

All told, make sure you are measuring as much as you can through every step of the process. One miscalculation can make you wind up with an undesirable product. Good luck!

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I do only boil for an hour. I have dead space in the boiler - haven't measured it but I guess 1-1.5L. Question on that - does it matter how vigorous the boil is - I tend to keep it pretty contained.

NZ water is pretty good. My efficiency issue won't be that - but I intend to investigate water PH at some point. I know plenty who brew using the same water supply without efficiency issues.

A lot of people buy grain from the same place in Auckland (brewers coop) so again not likely to be a problem, or at least the main problem. They mill it on the spot for you. Really a great place to deal with, and a lot of experience working in that store.

lostcheesehead said:

I also did some math and found your mashing water-to-grist ratio is about 1.55. Not bad, but you might be getting a higher pH due to it (as an example, I usually mash at a ratio of 1.35, and get 80%+ efficiency consistently).

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There is almost 5L below the FB so if you minused that off the grist ratio would work out to be 2.5L per kg (or 1.2qt / pound). So should be ok?

Ideally you want to have your sparge about 172F to 179F it stops conversion in the grain bed and helps rinse the sugars from the grain. As mentioned before, I use cooler mash tuns, I sparge my small beers (anything under 1.050 Starting Gravity) using a 19l round cooler and batch sparge my bigger beers (38l or anything that will be over 1.050 SG) using my 52 quart square cooler. My efficiency has only been below the 78% to 85% that is get when I've had my grain milled for me. I bought a mill and went from 68% to 75% on my first brew (same recipe kit from my LHBS).

Increase your sparge temp and length of time. I think I sparge for about 45 mins for my 19l batches. You can also try having your LHBS double mill your grain, just make sure you have rice hulls if it is a very fine crush.

Yes, also what CA_mouse said. When I was having efficiency issues years ago, I increased my sparge time. I now sparge for at least an hour. Take it SLOW.


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CA_Mouse said:

Ideally you want to have your sparge about 172F to 179F it stops conversion in the grain bed and helps rinse the sugars from the grain. As mentioned before, I use cooler mash tuns, I sparge my small beers (anything under 1.050 Starting Gravity) using a 19l round cooler and batch sparge my bigger beers (38l or anything that will be over 1.050 SG) using my 52 quart square cooler. My efficiency has only been below the 78% to 85% that is get when I've had my grain milled for me. I bought a mill and went from 68% to 75% on my first brew (same recipe kit from my LHBS).

Increase your sparge temp and length of time. I think I sparge for about 45 mins for my 19l batches. You can also try having your LHBS double mill your grain, just make sure you have rice hulls if it is a very fine crush.

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Thanks for the help - I will definitely be improving my fly sparge process. One thing at a time though so will try that first - i suspect it's the biggest culprit.

Very interesting about the grain mill though.. (can you recommend a mill?) (I'd like to mill my own - the only reason I'm not already is I've spent a fair amount without much to drink for it)

lostcheesehead said:

Yes, also what CA_mouse said. When I was having efficiency issues years ago, I increased my sparge time. I now sparge for at least an hour. Take it SLOW.
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I see a light..

bairdo said:

Thanks heaps for all the input. Here's what I'm going to do.

1. Check the thermometers are reading true
2. Find out the grain mill
3. Increase the temp of sparge water to 80deg c
4. Slow down the lauter - a lot (aim for 1L per minute or less)
5. Measure preboil gravity to see if I'm winning

Then maybe..
6. Do a mashout - i'm a little worried about over cooking it though - probably just trial and error - knowing about how long to have the burner on.
7. Raise the sparge plate - am I right in saying it should be below the water line?

Click to expand...

No- you don't want the sparge water entering below the water line.

The reason is this- the sparge process works by the principle of diffusion. That means water (with a specific gravity of 0) will slowly go down through your mash (extremely slowly!) and "pull" out the sugars as the sugar will travel to the area of lowest saturation. (This is my paraphrasing of the diffusion principle).

You want the lowest concentration (pure water) at the top, as it slowly then will work downward. By putting the water into it below the surface, you will disturb the water and the grainbed, perhaps causing some channelling and having pure water mixing with some of the sparge runnings.

For fly sparging, you definitely want to do a mash out. That means adding some near boiling water to your mashtun after the mash and before the sparge, to bring the entire grainbed up to 168 degrees. Then sparge with 168-170 degree water.

If you don't want to fly sparge and mash out, I'd highly recommend a batch sparge. For batch sparging, when you're done mashing you drain off the mash tun. Then add your sparge water to the grain, stir like it owes you money, and then vorlauf and drain. It is faster, super easy, and doesn't require a mash out.

Yooper said:

No- you don't want the sparge water entering below the water line.

The reason is this- the sparge process works by the principle of diffusion. That means water (with a specific gravity of 0) will slowly go down through your mash (extremely slowly!) and "pull" out the sugars as the sugar will travel to the area of lowest saturation. (This is my paraphrasing of the diffusion principle).

You want the lowest concentration (pure water) at the top, as it slowly then will work downward. By putting the water into it below the surface, you will disturb the water and the grainbed, perhaps causing some channelling and having pure water mixing with some of the sparge runnings.

Click to expand...

I've read the theory of fly sparging so understand what you're saying (I just didn't read enough of the 'how-to'). My sparge arm plate plate is right on the water line - ie right at the top. I end up with clear water above the grain bed. The point of having it on the water line is to avoid splashing/aerating the wort - as I've read that is undesirable?. If you look at my sparge arm you'll see there is a small plate which serves to spread the sparge water as it is introduced to the wort (to in theory avoid channeling).

I do intend to try batch sparging. Its just I've only clocked up 3 brew days and I'm now committed to mastering fly sparging - at least till I can't improve things!

I have began a mashout with batch sparging for two reasons. The first is in the pursuit of higher efficiency. The second is that being a stovetop brewer getting the wort to start boiling is a pain to say the least. Doing a mashout allows some water to get good and hot on the stove while the grain is mashing, increasing the wort temp that comes out of the tun. Hotter wort from tun = less time until boiling.

The first time I did this I ended up with a small problem. I was mashing "thin" 2.5 L/KG. Sorry for the metric. But "thin" is the important part. When I added the mashout water I had so much in the tun I barely got a sparge at all. In my situation a slightly thicker mash (2.0 L/KG) + mashout works best, then I still get a good sparge opportunity.

Yooper said:

For fly sparging, you definitely want to do a mash out. That means adding some near boiling water to your mashtun after the mash and before the sparge, to bring the entire grainbed up to 168 degrees. Then sparge with 168-170 degree water.

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Thanks. I was thinking I probably should be.. approx how much boiling water would I need to bring up 22L of mash (at approx 151) to 168?

Zepth said:

I have began a mashout with batch sparging for two reasons. The first is in the pursuit of higher efficiency. The second is that being a stovetop brewer getting the wort to start boiling is a pain to say the least. Doing a mashout allows some water to get good and hot on the stove while the grain is mashing, increasing the wort temp that comes out of the tun. Hotter wort from tun = less time until boiling.

The first time I did this I ended up with a small problem. I was mashing "thin" 2.5 L/KG. Sorry for the metric. But "thin" is the important part. When I added the mashout water I had so much in the tun I barely got a sparge at all. In my situation a slightly thicker mash (2.0 L/KG) + mashout works best, then I still get a good sparge opportunity.

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Metric suits me (everything is metric in NZ)

bairdo said:

Thanks. I was thinking I probably should be.. approx how much boiling water would I need to bring up 22L of mash (at approx 151) to 168?

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http://www.brewersfriend.com/mash/

They've got other handy calculators including but not limited to: IBUs and efficiency.

Good luck. I think my favorite piece of equipment is my refractometer and my second favorite is my calibrated site glass, third is my digital thermometer. Right after that is software to record measurements and interpret what they mean on the fly (I like Beer Alchemy).

Knowing where you are is a big part of figuring out where you are going. With a preboil gravity and volume I can determine almost exactly what my OG and volume will be into the fermenter. If I need more sugar I sparge some more before starting the boil, if that means I get more volume than I expected to get the sugar I need, then I tack some time onto the boil.

Zepth said:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/mash/

They've got other handy calculators including but not limited to: IBUs and efficiency.

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Perfect - should have known. Thanks

So...pretty much as I stated originally. Except that I think it's important to raise the grain temperature to 170 instead of 168. I do 171 on the side of caution, without worrying about tannins.


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Yooper said:

For fly sparging, you definitely want to do a mash out. That means adding some near boiling water to your mashtun after the mash and before the sparge, to bring the entire grainbed up to 168 degrees. Then sparge with 168-170 degree water.

Click to expand...

So using the brewersfriend calculator it says I'd need 9-10L of boiling (to bring up 20L of 66deg mash with 6.8kg grain to 76deg (169F). And just to confirm I'm supposed to do that before I start lautering?

also pH of your mash water. use the pH 5.2 to get the perfect mash water pH. maybe it's something as simple as that!!

bairdo said:

So using the brewersfriend calculator it says I'd need 9-10L of boiling (to bring up 20L of 66deg mash with 6.8kg grain to 76deg (169F). And just to confirm I'm supposed to do that before I start lautering?

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Yes. You want to denature the enzymes, as it takes like an hour to sparge and you want to preserve your malt profile from the mash.

Yooper said:

Yes. You want to denature the enzymes, as it takes like an hour to sparge and you want to preserve your malt profile from the mash.

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Understood. Will report back after next brew. Thanks a lot!