wookiemofo
Well-Known Member
I've been trying to up my eff lately, trying to determine what it is I need to do to get it up. I seem to be hitting right around 65% on all grain, while a buddy who has almost the exact same system gets around 72%. We order our grain crushed from the same online source, even our hops come from the same place (has nothing to do with eff i know.)
Here are the two systems.
My system:
10 gallon Polarware brew kettle with ball valve. No false or braids.
Smaller 4 gallon kettle used for additional water
10 gallon Rubbermaid Orange drink cooler with a T manifold consisting of 2 metal braids. .5 gallon dead space.
Bayou SQ14 Burner
My process is as follows (I follow Bobby M's Primer). Heat strike water to 185. Dump in cooler, add Five Star 5.2, cover and let sit 5 minutes. Check temp, stir water to obtain 168 degrees (fluctuates based on mash temp). Dough in with a metal stir spoon. Check temps and add hot or cold water a qt at a time to achieve desired temp. Average an addition of 1-2 qts to cool down the sparge. This is taken from sparge water volume. Once mash temp is reached, MLT gets covered and towels are placed on top to help hold temp. After 60 minutes, 2 qts are slowly vourlofed, then i run the lauter slow to start and fully open. I then dump in half my sparge volume at 180 degrees, stir 2-3 minutes, vourlof and drain. Repeat with the last half sparge volume at 180 degrees. Boil... yada yada. The last batch I brewed I took the time to measure my preboil volume and gravity. I was a quart high on volume and my mash eff measured in at 70%. Measured my OG out of the fermentor after the wort cooled before I pitched, efficiency came in at 65%
His system:
10 gallon polare ware brew kettle with ball valve, no false or braid.
secondary 10 gallon kettle for heating strike and sparge.
*10 gallon rubbermaid orange drink cooler with false bottom. Less then a quart deadspace.
Basic turkey fryer from menards/home depot
His process: Pretty much the same except he'll preheat his cooler then dump water. Then add boiling and cold water to the cooler until he obtains his volume and temp, then dough in. He uses a paint mixer bit on a drill to stir. At the end of 60 minutes he will mash out to raise grain bed temp, vourlof, lauter wide open. Then sparge once with water left over after mash out. Hasn't really monitored sparge tempurature. All said and done he'll come out at 72% pretty much on the dot.
One difference I think I noticed is on my end, beer smith was adding deadspace volume to my strike, so I was mashing at 1.33tq/lb. He isn't adding that and mashing at 1.25qt/lb.
He has a false bottom in his cooler, I have two braids. Hid deadspace is much less than mine.
The two systems are almost identical. As are the processes. Aside from him mashing out and I double sparging. Our grain is crushed by the same mill, maybe at different times.
I can't figure out what I need to do to gain 5-7%. I understand that if I always hit 65%, that I could leave it at that and be happy with the consistency. But I'd like to tweak my system and get that desired efficiency.
Any thoughts?
Here are the two systems.
My system:
10 gallon Polarware brew kettle with ball valve. No false or braids.
Smaller 4 gallon kettle used for additional water
10 gallon Rubbermaid Orange drink cooler with a T manifold consisting of 2 metal braids. .5 gallon dead space.
Bayou SQ14 Burner
My process is as follows (I follow Bobby M's Primer). Heat strike water to 185. Dump in cooler, add Five Star 5.2, cover and let sit 5 minutes. Check temp, stir water to obtain 168 degrees (fluctuates based on mash temp). Dough in with a metal stir spoon. Check temps and add hot or cold water a qt at a time to achieve desired temp. Average an addition of 1-2 qts to cool down the sparge. This is taken from sparge water volume. Once mash temp is reached, MLT gets covered and towels are placed on top to help hold temp. After 60 minutes, 2 qts are slowly vourlofed, then i run the lauter slow to start and fully open. I then dump in half my sparge volume at 180 degrees, stir 2-3 minutes, vourlof and drain. Repeat with the last half sparge volume at 180 degrees. Boil... yada yada. The last batch I brewed I took the time to measure my preboil volume and gravity. I was a quart high on volume and my mash eff measured in at 70%. Measured my OG out of the fermentor after the wort cooled before I pitched, efficiency came in at 65%
His system:
10 gallon polare ware brew kettle with ball valve, no false or braid.
secondary 10 gallon kettle for heating strike and sparge.
*10 gallon rubbermaid orange drink cooler with false bottom. Less then a quart deadspace.
Basic turkey fryer from menards/home depot
His process: Pretty much the same except he'll preheat his cooler then dump water. Then add boiling and cold water to the cooler until he obtains his volume and temp, then dough in. He uses a paint mixer bit on a drill to stir. At the end of 60 minutes he will mash out to raise grain bed temp, vourlof, lauter wide open. Then sparge once with water left over after mash out. Hasn't really monitored sparge tempurature. All said and done he'll come out at 72% pretty much on the dot.
One difference I think I noticed is on my end, beer smith was adding deadspace volume to my strike, so I was mashing at 1.33tq/lb. He isn't adding that and mashing at 1.25qt/lb.
He has a false bottom in his cooler, I have two braids. Hid deadspace is much less than mine.
The two systems are almost identical. As are the processes. Aside from him mashing out and I double sparging. Our grain is crushed by the same mill, maybe at different times.
I can't figure out what I need to do to gain 5-7%. I understand that if I always hit 65%, that I could leave it at that and be happy with the consistency. But I'd like to tweak my system and get that desired efficiency.
Any thoughts?
