Very low efficiency

I'm having trouble getting anything over 65%....I've done about 10 all grain batches...I've done slightly different ratios, temps, lautering rates, double batch sparges....I'll walk you through a typical brew day on my set up.

Mash tun = Home Depot round igloo cooler (10 gallon?) with single kettle screen.

Mill grain at LHBS using drill in mill rig....gap unknown, have used other LHBS grains with auto mill gap unknown...

Okay say 12 lbs of fermentable grain, at 75% I should hit 1.067 or close to it.
Mash pH is fine, using RO water with Gypsum, maybe a little sodium bicarb, a couple teaspoons of mash pH buffer (to 5.2 it says 'supercharge your mash')....

Okay enter temp of mash tun and grains....say it says to hit 163 degree water...mash with say 4.5 gallons? So say we do 150 degrees for 60 minutes....then we vorlauf twice...looking clear, then drain the wort into the brew kettle (7.5 gallon), it takes maybe 15 minutes to drain at the flow rate I usually do, during which I heat sparge water in a 4 gallon pot. Batch Sparge with maybe 3 gallons at 168 for 30 minutes....vorlauf twice and drain at fairly slow rate into boil kettle. Take gravity, adjust for temp and boil off and see I'll be lucky to hit 1.053....I used to panic and race and add extract or even sugar halfway through ferment....now I adjust efficiency to 65%, weigh the grain a little heavy, calculate OG on the style high end, and still come out low.

Help?

Listed in order of which is the likely culprit..

1) Bad Crush - See if you can get the LHBS to run the grains for your next batch through the mill twice. Just to see if you can get an appreciable difference with a finer crush.

2) Dead space- Do you have any dead space in your mash tun?

3) Concentrated sweet wort left behind -My simplified mash for 12#...
3.75 gallons in for 60 min get 2.5 gallons out
2.25 gallons sparge @ 180°, stir, vorlauf, and drain (no wait)
2.25 gallons sparge @ 180°, stir, vorlauf, and drain (no wait)
Each successive sparge is weaker. Therefore, the last, which is going to leave about a gallon behind) is the weakest.

Grain crush is probably the culprit. I wouldn't call 65% efficiency very low though. Low efficiency you can plan around: it's when your efficiency is all over the place that it can get hectic. I get around 60% btw.

Do you stir the mash? With a spoon or a paddle?

At the very beginning of my AG brewing, I tried doughing in with a large metal spoon to stir, and could never get all the doughballs out. In addition, I basically stirred once (at dough-in) and never again during the mash. Those 2 batches had horrific efficiency.

Since, I've gotten a mash paddle, which helps stir, and I usually stir at dough-in, then again at 20 minutes and 40 minutes into the mash.

My first run at all grain.. I screwed up some other things but I think the LHBS crush was a huge factor. They barely crack it usually. Most of the customers they crush for are using the grains for steeping and that's fine for them. Second AG I got a corona and my eff shot up to 78% and has gotten up to 82% but never lower than 78%.

You crush your own at the LHBS but that doesn't mean it's correct...I will try crushing twice, I'm brewing this afternoon/evening so I'll be to the store pretty soon. Normally I stir with a mash paddle only 10 seconds or so at the start and thats it....I will try a longer stir, and then twice more during mash.

A tiny bit of dead space at the bottom below where the kettle screen comes out, but I've tried tilting the tun at the end of the vorlauf to get any last sweet wort dregs out.

I'll proabably do the standard mash and single batch sparge this time with twice crushed grains and stirring the mash more.

What is in the mash pH adjust? Maybe I shouldn't even be using it if I'm adding back gypsum and baking soda?

1) finer crush, this will help immensely
2) how are you sparging? fly sparging might increase it, and a slower fly sparge is better
3) mash longer (some disagree with this)
4) really get a good stir when you mash in, make sure you don't have any dough balls in there.
5)thicker mash, make sure you mash isn't too watery and that seems to help me

I use a directfire RIMS brutus 10-like system and typically get 75%.

Crushed grain twice...stirred in hard....stirred twice during mash of 1 hour at 150....drained slow.....batch sparged 3 gallons for 30 minutes, drained and while draining did a mini fly sparge slowly pouring 170 degree water back in over a floating tupperware lid for the last gallon of wort. Hit 1.063 which is 60%.

Going to start looking at a different manifold.

I was stuck where you are until my last brew. I use a 48 qt rectangular Coleman with a copper manifold. My original design had two problems. It drew off of one side and it didn't sit flat on the bottom. It raised up about a 1/2 on the spigot side. I believe this caused two contributers to my 60-ish efficiency. It left about a gallon of wort in the tun (dead-space) and it drew down the wort unevenly leaving additional sugars behind in the long-side of the tun.

My new manifold sits flat on the bottom of the cooler a draws from the middle. I used it for the first time last brew and got 82% out of a double batch sparge. I was usually fly sparging for my previous brews.

Crush crush crush. I bought a corona mill and got my crush of equal parts of flour, small and medium kernels, and husk.
I mash warm (157 to 160). Stir with a big restaurant whisk once at beginning and don't touch for 40a min, drain and one batch apathetic with no stir. 85% eff everytime
I do use a 3 foot braided line in my hd round 10gal cooler. The extra length let's me grind a bit finer without a stuck sparge. So far, no added astringency and consistent.
Long winded post saying I do a lot of things faster and no stirring, but a good crush saves

enricocoron said:

Mash pH is fine, using RO water with Gypsum, maybe a little sodium bicarb, a couple teaspoons of mash pH buffer (to 5.2 it says 'supercharge your mash')....

Click to expand...

When you say your mash pH is fine, what is it at room temperature? Why the sodium bicarb and the 5.2 stabilizer?

What's your grist? Most brewing software badly over-estimate the extract potential of adjuncts, wheat and even caramel malts. I see anywhere from mid 70s for a 100% maris otter grist to mid 60s for a wheat beer. 65% is perfectly fine. I wouldn't sweat it personally.

What's the difference between your beer and the next guys? Nothing. You may use a bit more grain, but you get the same beer. As long as it's consistent, you wont have surprises

60% seems on the low side...but I'm not worried or anything. I may order a false bottom or build a circular manifold from copper to see what effect that has if any.

Also, there probably is no need for the pH stabilizer and Sodium Bicarb....but it isn't going to negatively affect conversion.....excess buffer doesn't drop pH any lower than 5.2.

The lhbs mill may just not be very good, i get a better crush with my corona mill than the lhbs mill. You might consider investing in a cheap corona mill from discounttommy.com and rigging it with a power drill. It will need modification with the washer trick to get a good crush so you don't have some flour and some whole grains. I do this and have efficiency in the 70%'s.

My friend that uses the same LHBS mill gets efficiency in the 70s....I suspect channeling to be the issue...and a 15 dollar investment to build a more efficient manifold will hopefully pay off in dollars saved on grains.