I have done 4 AG beers so far, but seem to always get hung up on hitting the correct mash temp, which them seems to impact everything down to efficiency. Today I brewed a dark english ale, recipe below:
9.5# US 2 Row
1.5# Victor
.5# C-40
.25# Roasted Barley
.25# Chocolate.
The grain temp was 78 and I wanted to do a 1.5 qt to grain ratio in hopes of increasing efficiency a bit more. I raised my strike water to 165 so I could dump it into the mash tun (Coleman 70Q XTreme) and pre-heat it before adding grain. Beer smith calculated the strike temp of 158.7. When the water in the tun hit 160 I added the grain, in hopes of settling at 150. However right from the start I was between 148 and 150. I added a little more hot water (4quarts at 180) and it didn't seem to do much. I then let the mash sit for 70 minutes.
On my first running I collected about 4 gallons at 1.05, which is above the 1.046 that beer smith predicted, assuming 70% efficiency. I then batch sparged 1 time with 3 gallons water at 185 degrees, thinking I could get it to settle at around 170. However once I added the water it only came up to around 165. I let that sit for 10 minutes, then took second running. I got about 3 gallons from that, and at the end the gravity was around 1.01. When I added everything to the boil kettle, my gravity was 1.035, showing an efficiency of 1.036, or 59% efficiency.
I boiled that down to around 5 gallons that came in at 1.055, slightly below the estimated 1.06, for a final brewhouse efficiency of 64%.
I am trying to figure out what I am doing wrong here. I cant seem to get my mash temp correct, and then when I sparge, I am adding what I think is hot enough water at 185 degrees, but I cant raise the temp more than 165 when it is mixed with grain. I know there are a number of things that go into efficiency, but I feel like my process could be better.
Anyone have any tips?
9.5# US 2 Row
1.5# Victor
.5# C-40
.25# Roasted Barley
.25# Chocolate.
The grain temp was 78 and I wanted to do a 1.5 qt to grain ratio in hopes of increasing efficiency a bit more. I raised my strike water to 165 so I could dump it into the mash tun (Coleman 70Q XTreme) and pre-heat it before adding grain. Beer smith calculated the strike temp of 158.7. When the water in the tun hit 160 I added the grain, in hopes of settling at 150. However right from the start I was between 148 and 150. I added a little more hot water (4quarts at 180) and it didn't seem to do much. I then let the mash sit for 70 minutes.
On my first running I collected about 4 gallons at 1.05, which is above the 1.046 that beer smith predicted, assuming 70% efficiency. I then batch sparged 1 time with 3 gallons water at 185 degrees, thinking I could get it to settle at around 170. However once I added the water it only came up to around 165. I let that sit for 10 minutes, then took second running. I got about 3 gallons from that, and at the end the gravity was around 1.01. When I added everything to the boil kettle, my gravity was 1.035, showing an efficiency of 1.036, or 59% efficiency.
I boiled that down to around 5 gallons that came in at 1.055, slightly below the estimated 1.06, for a final brewhouse efficiency of 64%.
I am trying to figure out what I am doing wrong here. I cant seem to get my mash temp correct, and then when I sparge, I am adding what I think is hot enough water at 185 degrees, but I cant raise the temp more than 165 when it is mixed with grain. I know there are a number of things that go into efficiency, but I feel like my process could be better.
Anyone have any tips?
