Finally... a much higher efficiency!

I've done about 4 all grain brews so far, and have gotten anywhere from about 60%-66% efficiency. (This was with my crappy homemade copper sparge arm)

Brewed up my kolsch recipe today, and switched to batch sparging.

Needless to say, much faster. And i boosted my efficiency to 77%.

Maybe it was a combination of adding sight glasses and CDN thermometers to everything for more precise measurements. But who knows?.... I'm convinced and converted to batch sparging!

I'm sure I could eek out some more if I shelled out the money for a grain mill. Been having Austin Homebrew mill my bills for me.

P.S. I even screwed up royally and knocked off my drain tube from the false bottom and had to dump everything in the pot, reattach and then clean the kitchen floor.

Just so excited I had to tell someone.....

You must be the ying to my yang.

I switched to fly sparging and picked up 10 points.

BierMuncher said:

You must be the ying to my yang.

I switched to fly sparging and picked up 10 points.

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I'm completely sure it was my crap of a sparge arm, inexperience... and most importantly... impatience that was holding me back....

BierMuncher said:

You must be the ying to my yang.

I switched to fly sparging and picked up 10 points.

Click to expand...

Fly sparging is calling me too, BierMuncher. I like the idea of adding 10 points to my efficiency but I don't like the 1+ hours that is going to be added to the brew day.

I used to flay sparge and generally got 80%. I switched to batch sparging and now get 85-90+. I bought a barley crusher at the same time as a made the switch so my numbers are not really a fair comparison. I'm never going back. Thanks Denny.

Conroe said:

I used to flay sparge and generally got 80%. I switched to batch sparging and now get 85-90+. I bought a barley crusher at the same time as a made the switch so my numbers are not really a fair comparison. I'm never going back. Thanks Denny.

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I'm right there with you. I'm on the verge of taking the plunge into AG sometime next month. From all the reading I've done, from multiple sources and forums, plus acting as brewing assistant in someone else's AG brewing, I'm confident that I can hit ≥70% batch sparging.....sooner or later, and that's good enough for me. No way I'm taking that much additional time to fly sparge. I love beer, but I'm already apprehensive about how much additional time AG will add to my brew day.

rico567 said:

I'm right there with you. I'm on the verge of taking the plunge into AG sometime next month. From all the reading I've done, from multiple sources and forums, plus acting as brewing assistant in someone else's AG brewing, I'm confident that I can hit ≥70% batch sparging.....sooner or later, and that's good enough for me. No way I'm taking that much additional time to fly sparge. I love beer, but I'm already apprehensive about how much additional time AG will add to my brew day.

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Just wait til you say... "It's brew day!" and your SWMBO sighs....

Increases in efficiency from batch sparging vs fly are usually due to having channeling issues when fly sparging. That and too quick a fly sparge.

I've sorta switched to batch to save time. Didn't notice much change with 5% brews, but I think I lost some points when I did a dubbel.

Syetm has been changed around so I'll have to compare again.

I have better efficiency with smaller grain bills. Kaiser has a lot of good info at braukaiser.com.

I am the opposite I was getting 58-60% with batch and I hated it. Now that I fly I get 87-92% I am not sure but each and every time I use Pilsner malt I hit mid 90's.

I have been batch sparging since I started AG (in January) and have only ever hit 65-70% efficiency.

I changed my mash tun's draining system from a mesh manifold to a SS braid, and hit 77% today.

Very happy with that.

I'll be doing my third partial mash in a few days and will be batch sparging for the 1st time. I've been doing a quick fly sparge over the grains in a strainer and I've only been getting about 60% efficiency. Hopefully this will help. Glad to read about your success!