Methods to increase Efficiency

Ok. I need help. I have horrid Efficiency. Yes I'm doing single infusion, but I'm only scoring around 58%. What should I do to improve this? I would like to see myself saving money by reaching great levels of efficiency, even if it requires an initial investment.


Pls Help, thx

Starting with most likely (IMO): Grain crush to course (do you do this yourself or does your LHBS do it?), not sparging long enough, not sparging enough liquid, bad fly sparging technique, sparge water not hot enough, Ph problems. Even if you fix the first two or three your efficency will probably shoot up.

Theres probably a few more that I haven't thought of. Tell us more about your sparge (batch/fly, time, temps, mash tun, etc).

I ussually strike and have my grain rest at 154 degrees. I do crush my own grain, and I do fly sparge. I spend 90 minutes sparging (I was told the slower you sparge the better). My sparge water is always 160 degrees. I don't think that pH is a problem, since I've tested this before and noted I'm hitting my mark.

I have a corona grain mill and used to worry about a stuck sparge if I ground the grain too fine... But after many batches, each one with a finer and finer grind, my OG's just got better. My grind now contains everything from dust to half-kernels, the husks are almost never whole, and I'm getting OG's of around 55 for eight pounds of grain. (I don't know what efficiency that is... but it seems to produce pretty good beer.)

goog uck,

p

digdan said:

Ok. I need help. I have horrid Efficiency. Yes I'm doing single infusion, but I'm only scoring around 58%. What should I do to improve this? I would like to see myself saving money by reaching great levels of efficiency, even if it requires an initial investment.


Pls Help, thx

Click to expand...

Explain your procedures and we can then suggest changes that might help.

Rich is right, you need to tell us about your equipment and your process in detail so we can see where you're going wrong. You are right about your efficiency though, 58% is pretty bad.

What are you using to lauter? Any chance you've got some bad channeling going on? How deep is the grainbed? Are you getting full conversion? Consider increasing the sparge water temp to 170F - you won't leach any tannins if the ph is right.. and you probably won't even if the ph is off. What water to grain ratio are you using and how long are you mashing?

Based on what you've said so far my best guess is either an incomplete conversion or lautering problems. A 90 minute fly sparge should give you pretty good efficiency.

Maybe your math is off. How are you getting 58%.