consistently bad effeciency ?'s

I am about 5 all grain batches in and each time my efficiencies have varied widely so I am trying to pinpoint precisely why.

First I was sparging too fast, I batch sparge and was just letting it sparge as fast as it wanted too after my vorlauf, I was told by a brewer that even batch sparging I should aim to go slower to extract more sugar.

Second I realized I was getting a really bad crush from my LHBS so I borrowed the mill from one of the local breweries out here for my last batch which was set to be an imperial irish red

#24 pale malt
12oz of each crystal 40,120 and roast barley

doing some calculations It looks like for a 5 gallon finished beer I should hit around 1.133, I just took my pre boil gravity and adjusting for temp Im looking at 1.070. Granted I have around 7 to 7.5 gallons of wort right now so it will raise a little but I'm still missing by a lot. so now on to the questions.

If my thermometers are just outright wrong and when I see 154 as mash temp its really 164 could that be causing the issue?

When I sparge what temeprature should I be aiming for with the sparge water? I've always tried to use the sparge to raise the temp of the grainbed to halt enzyme production by using near boiling water, could that be the issue?

I'm having a hard time finding answers digging through my books so I thought I should reach out to the community as I'm really tired of having to boil 5 gallon batches down to 3's to hit my og's

I had had a thermo that was off 35'. Dont know how but I was still able to get 62% brewhouse eff.

If you have 70 gravity points and 7.5 gallons of preboil that gives you 525 total gravity points. 525 divided by 5 gives you 105 gravity points which equates to an estimated post boil gravity of 1.105.

With higher gravity beers you should plan on lower efficiency.

I would recommend adjusting your hop schedule to a similar bu/gu ratio and you would still come away with a nice 5 gallons of beer.

I sparge with 180 degree water with no issues. Some go as high as 200 without issues.

After boil I came away with 6 gallons at 1.091 so efficiency was better then I thought, still a little lower then I was hoping for however. I just bought a new boil kettle so had a hard time knowing when to stop to get down to 5 gallons, still left at least a gallon of break material in the kettle even after pulling my 6 gallons off.

I've had beers run as low as 50% efficiency with my current setup I just want to know I'm getting as good as I can with batch sparging and not having a recirculating setup like a brewmagic system.

There are a few things I typically recommend to maximize/get consistent efficiency:

1. If possible, get a fine crush on your grains. Some of us have our own mills which makes this easy. If the crush is not somewhat fine you'll have starches stuck inside of uncrushed grain. Essentially lost efficiency.

2. Drain your mash tun dry (relatively). This is in reference to both your mash and sparge (especially your sparge). Any liquid left in your mash tun is lost efficiency.

3. Have a plan for your volumes (mash water, sparge water, preboil, post boil, etc...) and measure/record each step of the way. This will allow you to plan for future brews better and give you options during brewday to make on the fly decisions that can help you produce the beer you set out to produce.

Many other hints etc..., but those are very important to getting good/consistent efficiency.

In my signature below you'll find my brew chart. Could be a helpful resource for you. Covers batch sparge all grain brewing from grain to glass. Essentially does all the math for you (plus a whole lot more) and let's you concentrate on brewing and measuring (item number 3 above is easy when using it). Spent a lot of time researching the information around here and many other resources. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

cp

I would look into another higher quality thermometer first. I guess I got lucky with my floating thermometer from Midwest, I compared it against 3 others and they were all in about 1-2* range of each other. Also, I just shelled out the money for my own grain mill when I first jumped into AG, and I'm getting about 80% efficiency with my equipment. I'm using a Barley Crusher, and I haven't touched it since I bought it.

Also, what temperatures are you adjusting from for your hydrometer readings? I asked on here not too long ago what should be done when taking readings directly from the mash, and I was told to cool it down to at least 90*F before taking a reading since hydrometers aren't very accurate above that temp. I just use my wine thief to take a sample out of the pre-boiled wort, dump it into a cup and put that in the freezer to cool it down to about 80*F before I take my reading. Same could be done with a turkey baster and graduated cylinder.

If you're batch sparging properly, the speed at which you drain the tun shouldn't have any effect on efficiency. Are you stirring after adding the sparge water? IMO for batch spargers the two largest influences on efficiency are grain crush and THOROUGH stirring both at dough in and with each sparge. Efficiency suffers as gravity increases for any system, so plan on a lower efficiency when brewing monster beers. As CPooley pointed out, minimizing your deadspace and getting every last drop out of the tun also helps a lot. How accurate are your volume measurements? Even a small inaccuracy can throw the numbers off quite a bit.

IMO sparge temp isn't really critical for batch spargers, but I'm sure someone will be along shortly to disagree. I sparge with mash temp water without any problems. I don't think that performing a mash-out, or sparging with water hot enough to act as a mash-out really does much for batch spargers. The wort profile isn't going to change appreciably in the short time it takes for me to sparge and get the wort up to enzyme denaturing temps. Plenty of brewers mash overnight with very little change in the wort profile.

And +1 on cooling hydro samples before taking a reading. The further you get from the calibration temp (usually 60F) the less accurate your reading will be, even after temp correction.

I generally just use a temp correction chart to figure gravity after taking a sample from the first runnings. I am always sure to stir my grain up as I dough in every 20 or so minutes during the initial mash and once or twice after adding sparge water.

I lose about a gallon or wort due to my false bottom should I tilt the tun sideways to let the diptube pick up more of the wort?

I tend to take notes on my phone while brewing about water volume, temps, recipe tweaks, etc. spending time at a brewery I learned mistakes sometimes turn out great so notes allow me to repeat the process

I stir well once when I add the grains to the water and stir well once when adding my sparge water. Stirring more than that is not needed. I'm consistently hitting 80 - 85% these days.

Your issue may be the gallon of liquid you are leaving behind. That gallon has some of the sugar you want in your kettle. I don't have a false bottom so do not leave nearly that amount behind. Now, this isn't necessarily a problem keep in mind. You just need to dial in your system to figure out what is the consistent efficiency you are going to be hitting with it. If you need to plan for 65 or 70% efficiency rather than 75 or 80% it's really not a big deal. You just end up buying a little more grain which won't cost you much. Ultimately, dialing in your consistency is what is most important.