Consistently (really) low efficiency, here's my notes.

[mother_night]

So I've brewed about 6 all grain batches so far and my efficiency is consistently really, really low. I know everyone says don't be too concerned about that as long as it's consistent but A) It's not particularly consistent and usually bounces around somewhere between 48%-58% B) If I'm using so much more grain than I would with a higher efficiency I can't fit enough grain in my mash tun for bigger beers C) It's totally emasculating to have such poor efficiency

I'm frustrated and am considering just adding a pound of DME into each batch, but I feel like that is treating the symptom not curing the disease.

So I thought I would take detailed notes on my entire process hoping to get some feedback on it. Some of the notes were for myself and some were intended for feedback, so if some parts seem irrelevant please ignore. Also, please keep in mind that I am making 2.75 gallon batches, so all my amounts should be half that of normal 5 or 5.5 gallon batches.

My equipment is a 5 gallon orange cooler with a braided steel tube screen thing. I do full wort boils in a stainless pot, then cool with a wort chiller attached to my kitchen faucet.

Here we go. Like I said, any feedback would be great. Also, feel free to try the recipe yourself. I originally set my efficiency for 65% (wishful thinking) but only achieved about 50%, so it's probably going to be way overhopped.

Recipe: Dog Days Summer Ale 1.0
Brewer:
Asst Brewer:
Style: Blonde Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 4.14 gal
Post Boil Volume: 3.64 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 2.75 gal
Bottling Volume: 2.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.039 SG
Estimated Color: 5.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 29.3 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 50.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
0.50 Items Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) (Mash 60.0 mins Water Agent 1 -
5 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 2 84.2 %
6.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 3 6.3 %
5.0 oz Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 4 5.3 %
3.0 oz Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 5 3.2 %
1.0 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 6 1.1 %
0.25 oz Palisade [7.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 7 11.9 IBUs
0.25 oz Palisade [7.50 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 8 9.1 IBUs
0.25 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] - Boil 20.0 mi Hop 9 5.2 IBUs
0.50 Items Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 10 -
0.25 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] - Boil 10.0 mi Hop 11 3.1 IBUs
1.0 pkg London ESB Ale (Wyeast Labs #1968) [124. Yeast 12 -


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 5 lbs 15.0 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 2.30 gal of water at 159.2 F 150.0 F 75 min

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (0.61gal, 2.20gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
------

Total mash used 3 gallons bottled water, the rest was tap water. Initial mash was all bottled water with salts added. Sparge was mostly tap water with some bottled water, no salts added.

Reset mash temperature to 150 (although 'light' setting in BeerSmith is 148). It told me to dough in at 159.2 for 150, I doughed in at 165.2 (6º higher) and still was at 148.1 by the time all my grains were in. From now on know that I need to add 8º (maybe even 9º) to whatever BeerSmith tells me. This is with a pre-heated mash tun where I let the hot water sit in there for about 15 minutes slowly adding icecubes to hot water until it lowered to my desired mash in temperature. Mash for 60.

Stirred after 15 minutes. Temperature is down to 146.8. Not sure if the temperature is dropping that fast or if it's just cause I mixed it.

Stirred after 45 minutes. Temperature is down to 143.2. It's dropping.

After 60 minutes it is 142. I guess I should expect to lose about 6 degrees per hour. So from now on I guess take whatever I want to mash at, add 2º, then add 8º to that. Therefore, mash in at 10º higher than what I want to mash at and it should be on.

Vorlaufed and drained fairly slowly. When it hits it has the high pitched splattering sound not the low pitched pouring sound.

Drained completely, got about 1.5 gallons initial runnings. I guess that means 6 lbs of grains absorbs about .8 gallons of water? BeerSmith told me to sparge with .6 and 2.2 gallons. Why? Sparging with 1.4 and 1.4. Drain after initial runnings, add in 1.4 gallons 170º water, mix, vorlauf, drain, repeat. Ended up with about 4.15 gallons, perfect.

Boil for 60 minutes with proper hop additions.

Rehydrated Irish Moss with hot tap water, sit for one hour and added at 10 minutes. Really mossy!

Cooled with wort chiller to mid 70's. Collected about 2.6 gallons (wanted 2.75). 1.042 for efficiency of 50%.

Pitched yeast and put into fridge to ferment at 64º. Going strong.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Denny]

The low temp might have prevented you from getting full conversion. If you can fit all the sparge water in your tun at once, there's no reason to do 2 sparges.

 

[Pappers_]

Regarding the efficiency, I found (as have many here, I think) that grinding my own grain made a huge difference. For me, it was 15 to 20 points difference. FWIW, my system and procress are dialed in for 70% efficiency.

Regarding your mash temperatures, that's troubling to me, because mash temperature is really critical. Perhaps it has to do with your small batches? I use a round HD cooler and Beersmith and have no troubles with temp at all - in fact, its the aspect of Beersmith that's the most useful to me. Do you have both your batch size and equipment correctly entered? Are you preheating your tun (by pouring some very hot water into it, letting it sit and then dumping it out)?

 

[mother_night]

It might be temperature, this is the first time I have paid attention to temperature post dough-in and I have noticed that along with my low efficiency I have had consistently thinner beers than I intended.

It might be the grind. I remember once asking my LHBS to reset their mill to some suggested setting I saw here, they did and I noticed that was my highest efficiency to date.

All my equipment settings in BrewSmith are accurate. Although It's strange that I have to use such higher temperatures than it gives me. Had I used it's temperatures I probably would have mashed in at about 140º. I am preheating it. I add in water quite a bit hotter than I intended to mash into then let it cool in my mash tun before adding my grains.

 

[chumpsteak]

For preheating your mash tun, you should just add about a gallon or so boiling or close to boiling water and let that sit for 10 - 15 minutes. Then dump that water out and continue with the mash in. You're losing temp because the mash tun isn't full and you're not preheating it enough.

As for beersmith mash in temp being off I also have to add about 6 - 8 degrees on my system so I hit my mash temp right. Not a big deal, just try to be consistent with your preheating. Also, keep your grains in the house before brewing so they are at least room temp before you start.

 

[tekkydave]

Hi, I have the same mash tun as you, and I've had no problems maintaining temp for 60 mins. I am also doing 2.5 - 2.75 gallon batches.

One thing I picked up on here, is while you are heating your strike water, throw a couple of quarts of near boiling water in the mash tun, and put the lid on. As it sits, it heats up the MT. Before you add the strike water, empty the MT.

Yesterday I doughed in with water at 166, got it to 152 / 153, then added some room temp water and mixed until I got to 150 / 151 (my desired mash temp). I closed it up, put on a bunch of towels, and let it sit. I took the temp before I drained the inital runnings, and it was at 150.

Oh, I also wrapped some folded reflectix around the top, where the lid meets the body, but I'm not sure if that even did anything. It was a last minute attempt.

Also, on the contrary to you, I always get higher efficiency then I expect, so my beers are stronger than anticipated.

I've only done 8 batches, so take my advice with grain of salt.

 

[MrSpiffy]

Just to note, you will lose more thermal energy through a smaller container. So, those using a larger volume for mashing, or a larger container (again, pretty full with hot liquid) will see that container retain more heat.

If your temp drops too low, you can always add some hot water to help maintain your mash temp, or at least keep it from dropping so far. I just made my first AG BIAB brew, and that's how I kept my mash temp from dropping too far. I just used a bit of my sparge water, heated it to 190°F or so, and then poured it into the mash and stirred it up. Temp went up a few degrees each time.

 

[mother_night]

Thanks for everyones advice. I'll focus on pre-heating my mash tun properly and my mashing temperatures on the next batch and see if I see any changes.

 

[Stauffbier]

I'd say;
1) check and calibrate thermometers
2) pre-heat your MLT
3) get a grain mill and dial in a perfect crush for your system
4) mash longer if you have to, and do iodine test to check for converssion
5) heat up your sparge water to about 185F before infusing
6) stir your sparge like a mad man and then stir some more
7) let the sparge sit for 10 or 15 mins before draining

These are the changes I made recently (except I still haven't bought a mill, yet), and I went from 60% to 79% efficiency..

Good luck

 

[Yooper]

What's the gypsum in the mash for? Did you check the pH and need to adjust it with the gypsum? I don't think mash pH is totally responsible for poor efficiency, but it wouldn't help. How much did you use?

I am on a netbook, so it's hard to see it all at once but it looks like you're using 1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain in the mash? That would be a good amount.

As was mentioned, preheating the mash tun would be helpful.

Do you have any iodine or iodophor? I would recommend checking the mash for conversion before sparging, as at 148 or so, it might take longer than 60 minutes to convert.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

I have also learned in these forums that Because the coolers we use for mashing are made for cooling, the lids are often hollow shells without insulation. See if you can add some insulation by injecting expanding foam insulation into the cavity.

 

[dukes]

I didn't see anything about a pre-boil gravity measurement. Next time, take a gravity reading before you start your boil and compare it to what BeerSmith calculates and see if there are any discrepancies.


Here's why: I don't think it's a mash problem. You're boiling down 4.14 gallons to 3.64 gallons, which when I put that into BeerSmith with your recipe, guess what.... 1.042 OG. I don't think you're boiling off enough water, or starting off with too much water. How are you getting down to 2.75 gallons from 3.64 gallons after the boil? Where's that extra gallon going? Are you not having BeerSmith calculate the pre-boil volume you should shoot for?


Edit - Wait, now I'm even more confused because your recipe is saying an estimated OG of 1.039 and you're not happy with 1.042 ??? Can you provide some clarification for what OG you're really shooting for?

Super Edit - Now I'm seeing/thinking those calculated numbers are based on you changing the recipe to match your 50% efficiency. Try these numbers out:

Recipe: Test
Brewer:
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Amber Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 3.57 gal
Post Boil Volume: 3.02 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 2.75 gal
Bottling Volume: 2.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.056 SG
Estimated Color: 6.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 0.0 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 75.9 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
5 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 84.2 %
6.1 oz Carapils (Briess) (1.5 SRM) Grain 2 6.4 %
5.0 oz Munich 10L (Briess) (10.0 SRM) Grain 3 5.2 %
3.0 oz Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 4 3.2 %
1.0 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 5 1.0 %
1.0 pkg London ESB Ale (Wyeast Labs #1968) [124. Yeast 6 -


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 5 lbs 15.0 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Mash In Add 7.13 qt of water at 161.8 F 150.0 F 75 min

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (0.72gal, 1.79gal) of 168.0 F water

 

[rancidcrabtree]

I was losing a lot of heat in my mash tun (5-6 degrees in an hour) until I started preheating. I add all my strike water at 180° and then let it cool down to my strike temp, usually around 169°. Surprisingly it only takes about 10 minutes but by then the cooler has absorbed all the heat its going to. Now I don't lose more than 1-2° during a 90 minute mash and I don't have to worry about wasting water or warping the cooler from adding boiling water to it. Also, conditioning and then grinding my grain to the point where I was afraid I'd get a stuck sparge helped increase my efficiency a lot, I went from 60% to 75% from crush alone.

 

[Stauffbier]

How are you getting down to 2.75 gallons from 3.64 gallons after the boil? Where's that extra gallon going?

I was wondering this same thing!

 

[Aschecte]

I was wondering this same thing!

I use beersmith also and that gallon is probably losses to trub in the kettle and fermenter.

 

[Stauffbier]

I use beersmith also and that gallon is probably losses to trub in the kettle and fermenter.

I account for that loss in my batches too, but I only lose a gallon (half in the kettle-half in the fermentor) out of my 6 gallons of post boil wort. In the OP's case I thought nearly a gallon of loss seemed like a lot for only 3.64 gallons of post boil wort. Boiling off a little bit more would have helped his OG I would think..

 

[dukes]

I did a one gallon batch today with 2.25 oz of hops and only lost .2 gal from post boil to the fermenter (we're talking batch sizes so fermenter loss doesn't come into play just yet). .89 gal seems like a lot of loss for only an ounce of hops. He could lose all the wort to post boil trub he wants though and he'll still get the same post boil gravity because the problem is the amount of water he's left with post boil and the grain bill he's using. He either needs more grain or less water.

Edit: And I think the reason for the grain/water discrepancy is that something seems messed up with his beersmith equipment profile. I think it would be helpful to see a screenshot of the "water" tab of his recipe to see what he has set for losses and whatnot

 

[Aschecte]

I account for that loss in my batches too, but I only lose a gallon (half in the kettle-half in the fermentor) out of my 6 gallons of post boil wort. In the OP's case I thought nearly a gallon of loss seemed like a lot for only 3.64 gallons of post boil wort. Boiling off a little bit more would have helped his OG I would think..

Your right I forgot he's doing a 2.5 gallon batch so in theory their should only be maybe a .25 gallon loss to both not 1 gallon of loss. Also this could be a water Chem issue he's having if his water is really hard maybe there's not enough grain to pull the ph down to that 5.2-5.4 range to get good conversion. Also could be a problem with the crush of the grain being too course. Also could be that he is getting a higher extraction but beersmiths inputs are not correct so it is spitting out the wrong eff. There are a lot of what ifs in this scenario.

 

[baptistbrewer]

Can you send us a pic of your crushed grain? That was it for me man. I was getting 59-60% eff. All I changed was my crush and I get I. The 70s now.

 

[BrewerDon]

Drained completely, got about 1.5 gallons initial runnings. I guess that means 6 lbs of grains absorbs about .8 gallons of water? BeerSmith told me to sparge with .6 and 2.2 gallons. Why? Sparging with 1.4 and 1.4. Drain after initial runnings, add in 1.4 gallons 170º water, mix, vorlauf, drain, repeat. Ended up with about 4.15 gallons, perfect.

Boil for 60 minutes with proper hop additions.

Rehydrated Irish Moss with hot tap water, sit for one hour and added at 10 minutes. Really mossy!

Cooled with wort chiller to mid 70's. Collected about 2.6 gallons (wanted 2.75). 1.042 for efficiency of 50%.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Next time, you really need to take an additional specific gravity reading with your pre-boil volume. That will tell you how well you did with your conversion and help you pinpoint *where* you are having your efficiency issues.

 

[mother_night]

What's the gypsum in the mash for? Did you check the pH and need to adjust it with the gypsum? I don't think mash pH is totally responsible for poor efficiency, but it wouldn't help. How much did you use?

I am on a netbook, so it's hard to see it all at once but it looks like you're using 1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain in the mash? That would be a good amount.

As was mentioned, preheating the mash tun would be helpful.

Do you have any iodine or iodophor? I would recommend checking the mash for conversion before sparging, as at 148 or so, it might take longer than 60 minutes to convert.

The salts are merely a suggestion from my LHBS, they give out free little packets of salts and irish moss each time you buy the ingredients for a batch. Since I do half batches I just use half the packet. Honestly, I'm not sure what it's for and have never really thought about it. We have incredibly hard water here, so maybe I shouldn't use it if I am using any tap water?

I have iodophor. How do I use that to check for conversion? Maybe you can point me the way to a good explanation or tutorial.

My grain/water ratio is 1.5.

 

[mother_night]

I didn't see anything about a pre-boil gravity measurement. Next time, take a gravity reading before you start your boil and compare it to what BeerSmith calculates and see if there are any discrepancies.


Here's why: I don't think it's a mash problem. You're boiling down 4.14 gallons to 3.64 gallons, which when I put that into BeerSmith with your recipe, guess what.... 1.042 OG. I don't think you're boiling off enough water, or starting off with too much water. How are you getting down to 2.75 gallons from 3.64 gallons after the boil? Where's that extra gallon going? Are you not having BeerSmith calculate the pre-boil volume you should shoot for?


Edit - Wait, now I'm even more confused because your recipe is saying an estimated OG of 1.039 and you're not happy with 1.042 ??? Can you provide some clarification for what OG you're really shooting for?

Super Edit - Now I'm seeing/thinking those calculated numbers are based on you changing the recipe to match your 50% efficiency. Try these numbers out:

I didn't take a pre-boil gravity measurement, I will next time I brew in the next day or two.

I just took a look at my equipment profile and realized that all my settings for losses are WAY more than what I think I am actually experiencing.

• My "Lauter Tun Deadspace" is set to .25 gallons, which I don't think is that much.
  
• My "Loss to Trub and Chiller" is set to .75 gallons, which is in no way right. I am losing probably 12 - 20oz at the most.
  
• My "Fermenter Loss" is set to .25 gallons.
  
• Also, my "Boil Off" is set to .5 gallons per hour, I'm not sure if this is a standard amount for half batches as well. I brew on my stove and get a nice, rolling boil but it's not a huge powerful boil or anything.

Also, yes, I had played with my recipes efficiency before posting and forgot to set it back to what I originally had it set to (65%). Hopefully those setting explain some of my problems? Perhaps someone who uses similar equipment (5 gallon orange cooler, normal pot, full wort boil) can tell me what settings they use.

 

[mother_night]

Here is my water settings (which I now realize are completely messed up) and pictures of my crush from my LHBS. Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

[dukes]

• My "Lauter Tun Deadspace" is set to .25 gallons, which I don't think is that much.
  
• My "Loss to Trub and Chiller" is set to .75 gallons, which is in no way right. I am losing probably 12 - 20oz at the most.

I think these two settings are killing you.

Lauter Tun Deadspace - From what I've read, this really is only for people who used false bottoms a have water left in the cooler/kettle when they drain the mash/sparge water. I usually have mine set to zero.

Loss to Trub and Chiller - Sounds like you already have this one worked out. Set it to .15 gal (20 oz)


Updating those two settings should significantly help your efficiency. If you wanted to go even further, fill your brew kettle with 3 1/2 gallons of water, boil it for an hour, and then measure how much water remains and use that as your boil off rate.

 

[weirdboy]

Boy that crush sure doesn't look very good to me. It could be all the small particulates settled to the bottom (and hence, not in the pic) but if I saw that crush on my grain I'd re-crush it.

Regarding the post-boil volume vs volume into fermenter....are you using the BIAB settings in Beersmith, or just regular mash tun settings?

I ask because I have noticed the BIAB calculations are wildly inaccurate (as far as I can tell), which might be a contributing factor.

 

[Denny]

The crush sucks. There should be some flour there.

 

[mother_night]

Boy that crush sure doesn't look very good to me. It could be all the small particulates settled to the bottom (and hence, not in the pic) but if I saw that crush on my grain I'd re-crush it.

Regarding the post-boil volume vs volume into fermenter....are you using the BIAB settings in Beersmith, or just regular mash tun settings?

I ask because I have noticed the BIAB calculations are wildly inaccurate (as far as I can tell), which might be a contributing factor.

There is a little bit of flour at the bottom, but really not much. I've asked them to reset their mill setting before and they didn't seem to have a problem with it. Is there a standard width setting I can ask them to use?

I don't use BIAB settings. Just regular mash. I think I literally just took BrewSmiths standard cooler/pot equipment settings and reset it to 2.75 gallon batch volumes.

 

[mother_night]

The salts are merely a suggestion from my LHBS, they give out free little packets of salts and irish moss each time you buy the ingredients for a batch. Since I do half batches I just use half the packet. Honestly, I'm not sure what it's for and have never really thought about it. We have incredibly hard water here, so maybe I shouldn't use it if I am using any tap water?

I have iodophor. How do I use that to check for conversion? Maybe you can point me the way to a good explanation or tutorial.

My grain/water ratio is 1.5.

Nevermind. Here is a quick intro into using iodophor to check conversion. This is a great trick!

http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter14-5.html

I'll also look more into my local water profile and ask more questions about the brewing salts to figure out exactly what this this is and if I need it. Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[baptistbrewer]

It's the crush. Run it through again. Every shell needs to be pulverized.

 

[mother_night]

So I did a second batch (not the same beer, since I already had these ingredients on hand) but I adjusted my numbers in BrewSmith per everyone's suggestions, preheated my mash tun and paid more attention to my temperatures.

Current Trub Loss: .15 gallons
Current Lauter Tun Deadspace: .05 gallons

Things are still kind of weird. My pre and post boil volumes are way low, mash efficiency is still crap, but my post-boil OG is way higher than expected.

As before, here are my notes. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 3.52 gal
Post Boil Volume: 3.02 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 2.75 gal
Bottling Volume: 2.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.054 SG
Estimated Color: 4.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 27.5 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 68.5 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
2.75 gal Tempe Water 2011 Water 1 -
4.0 oz Rice Hulls (0.0 SRM) Adjunct 2 4.0 %
4 lbs Wheat Malt, Ger (2.0 SRM) Grain 3 64.0 %
1 lbs Pale Malt (6 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 4 16.0 %
8.0 oz Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 5 8.0 %
8.0 oz White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 6 8.0 %
1.00 oz Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.00 %] - Boil Hop 7 27.5 IBUs
0.14 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 8 -
1.0 pkg Nottingham (Danstar #-) [23.66 ml] Yeast 9 -


Mash Schedule: My Mash - Light
Total Grain Weight: 6 lbs 4.0 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash Step Add 2.42 gal of water at 166.0 F 153.0 F 75 min

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (Drain mash tun, , 1.89gal) of 170.0 F water
Notes:
------
Added 6-row because LHBS said all wheat wouldn't have enough diastatic power to convert itself, later I did the math and saw it has more than enough (also white wheat has tons of diastatic power). Next time will take out the 6-row for a real all wheat wheat.

Added about 1 qt boiling water, let sit for about 15 min then added mash water at about 181º, put on lid and let sit till it got to my desired dough-in temperature. Hopefully this all works to pre-heat my mash tun.
Mash in at 170.2 (17º above mash temperature).
Hit 154.2, 1 degree above where I was aiming for.
Covered in 2 towels, mash for 75 min.
Stir after 25 minutes. 152.2.
Stir after one hour, 148.6.
148.1 at sparge after 75 min mash. I do lose almost 6 degrees per hour.

Added sparge water at 197, mixed it up and got 166. Maybe from now on sparge water should be at 200.

Should have gotten 3.5 gallons out of the mash, got about 3.18 gallons. Pre-boil gravity is 1.036, measured mash efficiency 50%. Did iodophor check on a sample, full conversion as far as I can tell. Post a picture on HBT and see what they say.

Boiled for one hour with set hop addition. Irish moss at 10. Chill.

OG is 1.063, my highest yet. Should be 2.75 gallons into the fermenter, is MAYBE 2 gallons.

Somehow I lost .4 gallons in the mash (rice hulls? Does BrewSmith not account for those?)

Boil-off, cooling loss (what is that anyway?), trub loss should account for about .75 gallons, somehow I lost over 1 gallon. Trub loss setting is definitely accurate. It's not at all a particularly vigorous boil.

 

[dukes]

Pre-boil gravity is 1.036, measured mash efficiency 50%.

At what temperature was the reading taken? Sounds like it might have been pretty hot to be that low.

 

[tekkydave]

I sympathize with the low volume. I've yet to actually yield 2.5ga, despite sizing recipes for 1/2 of 5ga batches. It's a lot of cleaning for not that much beer. I figure I'm just taking my licks and learning the process. When I move I'll have more room for larger batches.

 

[erikhild59]

I'd say;
1) check and calibrate thermometers
2) pre-heat your MLT
3) get a grain mill and dial in a perfect crush for your system
4) mash longer if you have to, and do iodine test to check for converssion
5) heat up your sparge water to about 185F before infusing
6) stir your sparge like a mad man and then stir some more
7) let the sparge sit for 10 or 15 mins before draining

These are the changes I made recently (except I still haven't bought a mill, yet), and I went from 60% to 79% efficiency..

Good luck

This...especially 1, 2 and 3. (4 -7 are great too)

 

[BrewN00b]

Let me also put my agreement on preheating you MLT, also you should consider wrapping a nice thick blanket around the MLT during mash. In my igloo cooler MLT it saved me about 3 or 4 degrees over an hour. Again, I agree on a finer mill, for instance my local shop, which happens to be Austin Home Brew, they grind finer when I ask and that helps my efficiency by a solid five points.

 

[mother_night]

At what temperature was the reading taken? Sounds like it might have been pretty hot to be that low.

this is my temperature adjusted pre-boil og.

 

[mother_night]

I sympathize with the low volume. I've yet to actually yield 2.5ga, despite sizing recipes for 1/2 of 5ga batches. It's a lot of cleaning for not that much beer. I figure I'm just taking my licks and learning the process. When I move I'll have more room for larger batches.

it's frustrating to hear that i can basically expect to not hit either my og or volume numbers with half batches. are you at least hitting your proper gravity's?

 

[mother_night]

This...especially 1, 2 and 3. (4 -7 are great too)

except for the milling, i did all of these. next time i buy my grains ill have them mill it finer and see what happens.

 

[afr0byte]

it's frustrating to hear that i can basically expect to not hit either my og or volume numbers with half batches. are you at least hitting your proper gravity's?

That's not true at all. You most certainly can hit your og and volume numbers. You'll need to be especially certain that your measurements are accurate with your smaller batches. Also, looking at your crush, that's almost certainly the reason for your low efficiency. Also, as far as your strike water temp 17 degrees above the mash temp...that's not that odd. I don't preheat my mash tun in the traditional sense. I add my water to the mash tun at about 7 degrees above the strike temperature (I add grain to water instead of water to grains...you should do that to reduce dough balls if you're not already.). I then leave it to heat the mash tun for 15 minutes, roughly. Sometimes I'll have to open the lid and stir a bit if it's not dropping fast enough, but I'm never far off from my target mash temp. I also only drop a degree or two. I think you'd be better off if you did the calculations out by hand for a batch as opposed to relying on Beer Smith (except for the strike temperature calculator).

 

[Yooper]

this is my temperature adjusted pre-boil og.

"Temperature adjusted" only gives accurate readings if the sample is cooled to 90 degrees or below before the reading is taken, and then the temperature adjustment is applied. If the reading is at mash temperature, it's worthless.

 

[tekkydave]

it's frustrating to hear that i can basically expect to not hit either my og or volume numbers with half batches. are you at least hitting your proper gravity's?

No, I am usually a bit over OG, or very close to it. I think that due to the small batch size, boil off, wort transfer and trub loss are much more noticeable. Also, my BK is 4ga, so I personally can't start my boil with much more than 3.5ga, without having a heart attack. If I had a larger BK, I would b able to make that up. Since I am a kitchen brew, I'm going to try and get a larger kettle, and slowly increase batch size, to see if my stove can handle it.