Mash drain speed

After my mash is done how long should I take to drain it? Obviously factors like how much water was added to my 10 gallon cooler and grain to water ratio would play a roll in how much water was absorbed by the grain vs what's left to drain.

I usually use a 1.5qt/lb of grain ratio. Basically I'm draining it super slow, even when my grain bed is set well and no grain pieces are coming out.

I use a 10 gallon cooler for my mlt and I batch sparge. I haven't timed it, but after I do my vorlauf I gradually fully open the valve to full. The process really takes maybe 5-6 mins

Hope this helps

I used to do 1qt/min in my 10G gas fired system with cooler mash tun.

Now I run it about 4 qt/min. No point in doing it any faster because I start to heat the BK as soon as i have enough wort, and i pretty much reach a boil right as i finish the lauter. If i was gravity draining i might be more likely to just open the valve up, but with the pump i don't want to risk sucking too hard. And like i said, going faster doesn't really save me anything since it still has to hit a boil anyways. Efficiency typically 92-93%.

Once the grain bed is set I open up the valve to full and let it ride...no point in not doing so if the grain bed is set right?

I batch sparge and get ~4 gal each from the mash and sparge. Each ~4 gal takes about 5 min to drain after the vorlauf. Pretty similar to mcfire12.

Sammy86 said:

Once the grain bed is set I open up the valve to full and let it ride...no point in not doing so if the grain bed is set right?

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Your question is actually why I'm asking. If it doesn't makes a difference if I go fast or slow then I'm just going to open that sucker up and let it go. It has been taking me an extra 45-60 mins of my day to drain in infusion wort and sparge wort. If I could be more efficient with going slower then I would continue doing so, but it seems like the efficiency isn't in the rate of draining my wort but rather the actual mash itself.

Does this sound right?

Are you batch or fly sparging? I fly sparge and I try to make sure it takes at least 45 minutes to fill my BK.

JosephN said:

Your question is actually why I'm asking. If it doesn't makes a difference if I go fast or slow then I'm just going to open that sucker up and let it go. It has been taking me an extra 45-60 mins of my day to drain in infusion wort and sparge wort. If I could be more efficient with going slower then I would continue doing so, but it seems like the efficiency isn't in the rate of draining my wort but rather the actual mash itself.



Does this sound right?

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I batch sparge so once I vorlauf and the grain bed is set and I let it rip no problem...consistently getting 75-80% efficiency

If you are fly sparging then yes you need to restrict your flow out while doing the sparge.

I'm pretty sure that it only matters if you are fly sparging. I used to batch sparge and I'd open the vale full on to drain the tun between sparges. I would get 80-85% mash efficiency with this method.

I batch sparge. I'm assuming it doesn't matter in the initial drain either? My question is not just about the sparge, but draining from my Mash Tun in general.

Oh and how do you guys base your efficiency percentage? If my recipe calls for an expected pre boil gravity of 1.040 at a brewhouse efficiency of 65% but I hit 1.047 what's does that mean exactly? I know I can go into my software and adjust the BHE% and bring the pre boil gravity up, but what does that mean exactly? And this doesn't mean that my overall efficiency has increased, just my mash efficiency, right?

JosephN said:

Oh and how do you guys base your efficiency percentage?

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A given brewery system will typically maintain a fairly similar efficiency number across all batches.

5G batches typically range from 65%-80%. Those getting closer to 80% will typically have much better temperature control in their mash, possibly even recirculate, and also fly sparge.

10G batches typically range from 80-90%. Again, those with better control typically get higher.

Systems larger than that can typically give 90-95%.

These are guidelines. Each system is unique but if you know where you start you'll pretty quickly find out what your system will do.

JosephN said:

Oh and how do you guys base your efficiency percentage?

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What software do you use? If you're on Beersmith, read through this. That should get your brewhouse efficiency nailed down.

afro_lou said:

What software do you use? If you're on Beersmith, read through this. That should get your brewhouse efficiency nailed down.

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I have been using Brewers friend.

I'm pretty sure they're all about the same. If you want a little more in-depth calculation on brewhouse efficiency check out this.

I started reading it, I'm gonna finish it when I get a little more chance later on.

Ps, and thanks

JosephN said:

If my recipe calls for an expected pre boil gravity of 1.040 at a brewhouse efficiency of 65% but I hit 1.047 what's does that mean exactly?

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An efficiency of 65% means you extract only 65% of the potential sugar from the malt. A 1.040 gravity at a true 65% efficiency would mean the grist/malt has the potential of yield a 1.062 gravity at 100% efficiency (40/.65 = 61.5 or 1.0615). This is neither practical or desirable.

So, if the recipe is supposed to yield a 1.040 at 65%, and you brew it and get a 1.047, this would mean your actual efficiency is 76% (47/61.5 = 76.4 or 76%) and you could adjust your recipe formulation software accordingly (from 65% to 76%), to account for your actual, higher efficiency.

Good luck!!

schematix said:

A given brewery system will typically maintain a fairly similar efficiency number across all batches.

5G batches typically range from 65%-80%. Those getting closer to 80% will typically have much better temperature control in their mash, possibly even recirculate, and also fly sparge.

10G batches typically range from 80-90%. Again, those with better control typically get higher.

Systems larger than that can typically give 90-95%.

These are guidelines. Each system is unique but if you know where you start you'll pretty quickly find out what your system will do.

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?? Why do you think fly sparging gives higher efficency? Why do you think batch size matters?

Temperature control during the mash is inportant, especially to control your fermentability, but it's not critical for conversion. If you're in the range, conversion will happen. Then it's just a matter of rinsing the rest of the sugars from the grain - the sparge. Fly sparging does the exact same thing as batch- or "dunk"sparging, it's just a bit more complicated.

Crush and sparge size are much more inportant, IMO. I get the same efficiency - 85% - when I do a three gallon batch as when i do a ten gallon batch. A lot of people get that kind of efficiency using simple methods. Recirculation is neat, but you get the same effect from a whisk or paddle.