Hello - New to all grain brewing and new to the forum.
I have been doing partial mash brewing for a few years so I have a few batches under my belt and thought I should start all grain brewing since I like the details of the brewing process. To get ready for this I bought a new larger kettle, built a mash tun, and built a wort chiller.
I probably made a few mistakes in the process mainly do to poor planning and lack of experience associated with mashing etc..My main problem had to do with calculating mash water, sparge water, and what water to grist ratio I should use. I also had a hard time confirming how much water I used in the mash and sparge, but estimate 4.5 for each. I estimate that I probably got around 6 gallons out. I think next time I am going to mark my kettle with measurements. So all these issues may attribute to my efficiency. Here are the details of my mashing.
Grain Quantity ~ 12.33 lbs
Target Water to Grist Ratio: 1.5 ( I found that this was tough to fit in my 5 gallon mash tun @ 12.33 lbs of grain.)
Strike Water Temp: 167F
Strike Water Volume: 4.5 ga.
Mash Temp: 151F - a bit lower than I wanted and might be due to the fact that I couldn't get all the water I needed to support a 1.5 grist ratio.
Sparge Water Temp 167F
Sparge Volume ~ 4.5 gallons
I estimated I got about 3 gallons of first runnings and about 3 gallons from the sparge
I estimated my pre boil points assuming 6 gallons at about 75.5. I calculated this by taking the PPG for each grain X Lbs of grain / boil volume
I measured my pre boil gravity at 1.044, so 44 PPG. I think this is correct. So to determine eff. I divided 44/75.5 and calculate 58%. Seems pretty low for all the work I did. Even if I was off by .5 gallon + or - my eff. would be between 53%-63%. Assume I have done the calcs correct. Below is my grain bill if somebody wants to check my numbers.
American Pale 2 row: 10 lbs
American Caramel Crystal 40: 1 lbs
American Wheat: 1lbs
American Special Roast: .25 lbs.
Any thoughts on my poor efficiency?
Thanks,
Jared
I have been doing partial mash brewing for a few years so I have a few batches under my belt and thought I should start all grain brewing since I like the details of the brewing process. To get ready for this I bought a new larger kettle, built a mash tun, and built a wort chiller.
I probably made a few mistakes in the process mainly do to poor planning and lack of experience associated with mashing etc..My main problem had to do with calculating mash water, sparge water, and what water to grist ratio I should use. I also had a hard time confirming how much water I used in the mash and sparge, but estimate 4.5 for each. I estimate that I probably got around 6 gallons out. I think next time I am going to mark my kettle with measurements. So all these issues may attribute to my efficiency. Here are the details of my mashing.
Grain Quantity ~ 12.33 lbs
Target Water to Grist Ratio: 1.5 ( I found that this was tough to fit in my 5 gallon mash tun @ 12.33 lbs of grain.)
Strike Water Temp: 167F
Strike Water Volume: 4.5 ga.
Mash Temp: 151F - a bit lower than I wanted and might be due to the fact that I couldn't get all the water I needed to support a 1.5 grist ratio.
Sparge Water Temp 167F
Sparge Volume ~ 4.5 gallons
I estimated I got about 3 gallons of first runnings and about 3 gallons from the sparge
I estimated my pre boil points assuming 6 gallons at about 75.5. I calculated this by taking the PPG for each grain X Lbs of grain / boil volume
I measured my pre boil gravity at 1.044, so 44 PPG. I think this is correct. So to determine eff. I divided 44/75.5 and calculate 58%. Seems pretty low for all the work I did. Even if I was off by .5 gallon + or - my eff. would be between 53%-63%. Assume I have done the calcs correct. Below is my grain bill if somebody wants to check my numbers.
American Pale 2 row: 10 lbs
American Caramel Crystal 40: 1 lbs
American Wheat: 1lbs
American Special Roast: .25 lbs.
Any thoughts on my poor efficiency?
Thanks,
Jared