First partial mash, looking for tips

[oze152]

I completed my first partial mash yesterday, an oatmeal stout, and hit about 60% efficiency. I started by heating 2 gallons of strike water to 160*F then added 2.5 lbs of 2Row and 1lb of flaked oats in a large grain bag and stirring the mash for a couple minutes to get a good mix. I wrapped my kettle in some scrap memory foam and a towel to insulate, and left it sit for about 45 minutes before sparging with 1.5 gallons of 165*F water. My mash temp held steady the entire 45 minutes at between 150-152*F.

During the mash, in a seperate kettle I steeped 1lb of 60L crystal and 1lb of chocolate malt at 155 for 35 minutes. I then added all tthe wort together along with 3lbs briess x-light dme and began my boil.

Boil ended with 4 gallons added to 1.5 gallons of cold water for a final volume of 5.5 gallons of wort with a SG of 1.042 (temp adjusted). I plugged my data into brew calculus and got a mash efficiency around 60-65%.

Just wondering if there are any tips I can use to improve my efficiency based on my process outlined above. Thanks everyone!

 

[Bensiff]

Its hard to get a good sparge with partial mashes from my memory of the days of trying to slowly pour hot water from a pot over grains. I would take that number into consideration and up the grain in the future to account for the efficiency, it doesn't cost much money to add an extra pound.

 

[bobbrews]

I sparge by dipping the grain bag in the separate kettle with the bulk of the brewing water held at mash-out temps. Afterward, I tie the bag and it drains in a bowl. Those runnings are added to the main kettle. My efficiency is always quite high.

A problem that a couple people are having lately is a poor crush on their grain. Inspect your grains and make sure they are legit, or ask for a double crush next time.

If all else fails, try full volume boils with no top off water. Measure in either quarts or liters, not both. They differ slightly. Account for a more accurate boil-off rate prior to brewing your recipe. Basically, get everything as exact as possible. How much water did you use for your mash-in? Your process as is seems fairly legit, but I'm a big fan of not using top off water.

 

[oze152]

My mash in was 2 gallons of water to 3.5 lbs of grain to start, sparged with 1.5 gallons of water. After sparge this was combined with 2 gallons of wort from my steeping grains, which I did seperately. Starting boil volume was around 5 gallons endding at 4 gallons. Perhaps I will just shoot for a larger starting volume next time.