What a terrific thread! I wish you best of luck with that next batch, Bob. In the meantime, enjoy the one you have!
TL
TL
50% was bout the efficiency of my first few partial mashes.Yuri_Rage said:Indeed you did. Really crappy efficiency. Probably less than 50%.
killian said:Are you flysparging or batch sparging?
-
Im thinking about your lower than expected volume post boil. It could be that you didnt calculate for absorption. Your grain will soak up some of your mash water and you will have some dead space in your mash tun to account for. I usually plan to lose .1 gallons of water for every pound of grain in the mash. So for a 10lb grain bill you will probably loose about 1 gallon to absorption. If you mash with 1.5qt/lb with a 10lb grain bill the total mash will be 15qts (3.75gallons) I would plan on collecting 2.5-2.75 gallons of 1st runnings
Bobby_M said:Hmmm, you brewed my recipe...there's yer problem!! Actually no, that amber is by far the best beer I've ever made period.
I'll summarize what I think your problems were:
1. Mash water infusion was too big and too cold. A half batch would have been 10lbs of grain total and you'd want your strike water to be somewhere between 12-15 quarts max based on a rule of thumb of about 1.25 qts/lb (I'd go 3 gallons). You can use calculators and software but the average strike temp is around 169F give or take depending on your grain temp and desired rest temp.
2. You didn't sparge with enough water. I say this because you ended up having to top off at the end. It's better to sparge a little more than less. Read up on the many batch sparge threads about maximizing efficiency with split sparging and eeking the temperature up a bit. In any case, if you end up with more volume in the kettle than you wanted, you can always boil for an extra 15 minutes prior to starting your hop schedule.
Good luck next time.
CEMaine said:50% was bout the efficiency of my first few partial mashes.
To Brew is To Learn.
bobwantbeer said:I just have no understanding of them beyond that. I gave up on math sophemore year. If only I had known I'd be homebrewing!
+1WBC said:New all grain brewers should NOT do decoction mashing. It is hard enough to do single infusion and do it correctly.
I think the real issue was diagnosed on the previous page but maybe not spelled out specifically.WBC said:From what I understand you did not get good efficiency from the grain because it was not milled correctly. Either buy grain crushed or buy a mill and crush it yourself. Poorly crushed grain = Poor efficiency.
WBC said:New all grain brewers should NOT do decoction mashing.
WBC said:New all grain brewers should NOT do decoction mashing. It is hard enough to do single infusion and do it correctly. From what I understand you did not get good efficiency from the grain because it was not milled correctly. Either buy grain crushed or buy a mill and crush it yourself. Poorly crushed grain = Poor efficiency.
First thing is to get to reading about "How To Brew" and pay attention to mashing and sparging.
www.howtobrew.com/
Software: www.beersmith.com/
Das Mueller said:We did mill it ourselves....the local brew supply shop has a mill that they permit people to use....i guess it's possiblt that it was not a very good mill job...but i don't know why or how it could be.
Enter your email address to join: