adamjackson
Well-Known Member
I'm using Beersmith and there are tons of mash options, fly sparge, batch sparge, something about stepping, etc.... Here's my process and I'm hitting my efficiencies within .1-.3% ABV so I'm going to keep doing it this way unless someone says I'm just doing it in the most effed up way possible.
10 Gal Igloo Converted mash tun w/ false bottome and drain thingy
Pour in double-crushed grain
Add water at temp beersmith tells me to after I get the temp of the grain and put that in with the temp of the mash
try to eliminate any clumpy areas in the tun with a long wooden paddle
keep thermometer in there until the mash water / grain reaches the desired temperature
Seal lid and cover lid with a bunch of towels since most of the heat loss happens there.
I almost always mash for 2-3 hours even if it only calls for 60 minutes to get the most possible sugar content
Drain into kettle, bring kettle "wort" up to 170
Pour wort back into mash tun, (repeat 3 times)
Drain wort into kettle a 4th time.
My home water runs about 140-170 on the highest temperature (i've measured it, not even joking thank goodness we don't have any small children) so I put my kitchen extendable faucet on the multi-spray setting (like a shower head) and pour that over the grain leaving the spout open into the kettle
Once the kettle is at 5.75 Gallons (5 gallon batch), I move it to the Propane burner and reach boil, adding hops etc...usually, I have exactly 5 gallons left after a 1 hour boil, cool with worth chiller, transfer to carboy, pitch yeast.
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I've done this the last 4 batches and have hit my efficiency (65-70%) so I don't think I need to change anything but I need to know what kind of mash / sparging I'm doing and if there are some tweaks I should make to improve things.
Thank you.
10 Gal Igloo Converted mash tun w/ false bottome and drain thingy
Pour in double-crushed grain
Add water at temp beersmith tells me to after I get the temp of the grain and put that in with the temp of the mash
try to eliminate any clumpy areas in the tun with a long wooden paddle
keep thermometer in there until the mash water / grain reaches the desired temperature
Seal lid and cover lid with a bunch of towels since most of the heat loss happens there.
I almost always mash for 2-3 hours even if it only calls for 60 minutes to get the most possible sugar content
Drain into kettle, bring kettle "wort" up to 170
Pour wort back into mash tun, (repeat 3 times)
Drain wort into kettle a 4th time.
My home water runs about 140-170 on the highest temperature (i've measured it, not even joking thank goodness we don't have any small children) so I put my kitchen extendable faucet on the multi-spray setting (like a shower head) and pour that over the grain leaving the spout open into the kettle
Once the kettle is at 5.75 Gallons (5 gallon batch), I move it to the Propane burner and reach boil, adding hops etc...usually, I have exactly 5 gallons left after a 1 hour boil, cool with worth chiller, transfer to carboy, pitch yeast.
==========
I've done this the last 4 batches and have hit my efficiency (65-70%) so I don't think I need to change anything but I need to know what kind of mash / sparging I'm doing and if there are some tweaks I should make to improve things.
Thank you.