I want more sugars!

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Orfy

For the love of beer!
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I've just mashed 6.5kg (14.3lbs) of grain in 16l (17qts) of water and batch sparged with 23l (24qts)of water. I fill the kettle to 30l (32qts) to boil down to 25l

I thought I'd test my spent grain to see what gravity any further runnings should be. So I put another 10L of water in for five minutes. The run off was at 1014. So there is obviously some sugar left in the grain that I could use to increase my efficiency.

I don't really want to collect more wort and increase boil time.
Any suggestions?
 
Live with lower efficiency, like I have!

Did you do a mash-out? I found that when I did my second sparge at a higher temp, it seemed I was able to get out more sugars for the given volume of water. That was the primary variable I changed between a 64% and a 70% efficiency session.
 
I generally split my sparge water into two batches. I drain the first run & start heating it. Then immediately dump the first sparge in and stir. When the first run is close to boiling (about 10 minutes), I drain in the second run. Repeat. I also use pH 5.2 and near boiling water for sparging.
 
I've got six suggestions.

1. Check the temperature of the sparge. If it's below 75C, then heat the sparge water more.

2. Mill your grain finer

3. Accept your limitations.

4. Change your equipment for something that will result in higher efficiency. (Of course, changing your equipment could lower your efficiency).

5. Switch to fly sparging (which will probably require equipment changes).

6. Sparge with boiling water. You won't like the results, but it will increase your efficiency.

1 and 2 are probably worth the effort.

-a.
 
I usually try to make my batch sparge volume equal the volume I collected from the initial runoff. In some cases I do two batch sparges (but not often). I also mash quite a bit thinner than you do (1.5-2qts/lb) which allows me to runoff more sugar in the first runoff. Another thing I do, when I mash thicker, is to up the volume before runoff with some boiling water which gets my volume up as well as raises the temperature (as the_bird mentions).

Also, after adding boiling water to hit mash out temps, or after dumping in a batch of sparge water, I give it a good stir for a couple of minutes and then let it sit for 5-10 minutes. The stirring helps dissolve sugar into solution and the sitting allows the mash to stratify which helps with runoff.
 
Cheyco convinced me to make sure my first and second runnings were just about the same volume. I added some water to the MLT before taking my first runnings to get the volume right. The water I added for the sparge was 190 degrees. Not quite hot enough where I'd worry about tannins, but I got a good mashout and it seemed that I was able to dissolve more sugars. I'm sure I left a lot of sugars behind that I could have gotten by doing another sparge, but I didn't want to collect too much wort and have to do a huge boil.
 
This may go against current wisdom, but after the mashout I don't stir at all. I pour the first runnings (about one gallons worth, re-heated to 175 deg.) back over the top of the grain bed, but other than that, I try not to disturb the surface of the bed. My thinking is that since the sugary, high gravity liquid naturally sinks to the bottom (and thereby drains into the boiler) I want to not disturb that process. I've been getting pretty good "efficiency" results with this process.

cheers, p
 
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