Tips on improving my efficiency?

Just brewed my first AG batch last night, and everything went smoothly except I only hit an OG of 1.040 instead of my targeted 1.058 (that's 48.1% if you're keeping score at home).

I mashed 11.85# of grains with a 1.25 water/grain ratio at 154 for 0 min. Drained the MLT (48 qt cooler), then added 4.5 gallons of 179 degree sparge water, rested for 10 min at around 167 degrees, then drained again. I collected around 6.5 gal. of wort for a 5 gallon batch.

The only thing I can think of that I didn't do was stir the grain bed when adding each addition of water.

Could this have had such a drastic effect on my efficiency? Anyone see anything else wrong? TIA

I find most of my efficiency issues is simple miscalculation of water volume...

Next biggest issue is crush - makes a big difference. When I order kits I always put in the comments to crush a little finer than their standard crush. Usually gets me between 73% - 79% on my poor-mans igloo mash tun.

I always use PH 5.3 (I think that is what it is called) in my mash - saw a slight increase after I started using this, but not a bunch.

Stir that grain like a mad man on the mash and the sparge - let it sit about 5 min to calm down then recirculate until it runs clean.

DD2000GT said:

I find most of my efficiency issues is simple miscalculation of water volume... Next biggest issue is crush - makes a big difference.

Click to expand...

There is a ton of truth in those two statements.

You mentioned this is your first AG brew. I found it took almost 20 batches before I really understood how my system behaves. Before your next batch, take an hour and figure out the volume levels in all of your vessels, as well as dead space. Take measurements in qts, not gallons. The OP was very precise with volumes and temperatures going into the mash, which is good, but did not specify how much wort went into the kettle pre-boil. That is really the number that matters. You need to know that volume, and keep it consistent every batch, before you can calculate your system's efficiency. From there, settle on a boil time (I like 75 minutes) so that you can figure out your evaporation rate based on final volume in the kettle. I do not think you can really get into efficiency or consistency until you have those few things dialed in.

The crush is also important - not even so much for improved efficeincy - more so for improved consistency. IMO, it is better to crush your own grains not for the savings of buying in bulk, but because you control the consistency of the crush. This is a little unusual, but I started with an efficiency of 85%, and decided to loosen up the mill gap a bit and sparge faster to get the efficiency down to 75%. I am much happier now with the quality of the wort, as well as the ease of sparging through a mash bed with less flour.

Stirring is good, but you do not have to go crazy. Just try to break up the serious clumps while you dough in. Again, it makes sparging a lot easier.

Finally, I disagree a bit about the Five Star 5.2. I formerly used it, but after some research and talking to brewers smarter than myself, it seems that experiments have showed it's benefits to be minimal if any. On the flip side, it is introducing a pretty pronounced mineral character to the mash at the suggested dose. Basically, the down outweigh the ups. I've stopped using it, and suggest the same to others.

Joe

+1 on getting the crush right

+1 on stirring after every H2O addition

You may want to break your sparge into two equal aliquots. From your post, you are leaving about 1.7 gallons of wort in your tun. (4.5 + (11.85 * 1.25/4) -6.5 = 1.7)

Lets say the specific gravity of your 4.5 gallons of sparge was 1.025. If you broke that into two, you would have one that was roughly (I'm just estimating) 1.035 and one that was 1.015. So instead of leaving 1.7 gallons of 1.025 behind, you would be leaving 1.7 gallons of 1.015 behind. That should get you about a 10% bump.

Yes, you'll definitely get a bump by splitting your sparge into two equal batches. I use 185F water to sparge, mix well then let sit for 10 minutes, then repeat. But first make sure you can get consistency in grind, temperatures and volumes then work on nailing down each one, one at a time.

mattmcl said:

Yes, you'll definitely get a bump by splitting your sparge into two equal batches. I use 185F water to sparge, mix well then let sit for 10 minutes, then repeat. But first make sure you can get consistency in grind, temperatures and volumes then work on nailing down each one, one at a time.

Click to expand...

Watch using 185° water in a cooler. The inner liner of mine is a little warped because of that.

Also, 175° to 180° sparge is only need for the first one. It denatures the enzymes. Getting temperatures that high, combined with the lower density of the wort, can lead to tannin extraction. The second sparge is just there to further rinse the sugars from the grains, the enzymes are already gone..

cosgcm5 said:

I mashed 11.85# of grains with a 1.25 water/grain ratio at 154 for 0 min. Drained the MLT (48 qt cooler), then added 4.5 gallons of 179 degree sparge water, rested for 10 min at around 167 degrees, then drained again. I collected around 6.5 gal. of wort for a 5 gallon batch.

Click to expand...

Your Sacc rest is 0 mins...that's definitely the problem. Try doing it for 60, that's the norm. I'm really surprised nobody caught this in all the posts above...

Make sure you do a mash-out (IE put a gallon of boiling water in at the end of the mash before you drain the first runnings). This not only denatures the enzymes, it also

I have found this to increase my efficiency about 5%.

I caught it but I was (hopefully correctly) assuming a typo and that he meant 60 minutes.

Not stirring after the sparge infusion could easily cost 10-20%. A few more points for inaccurate volume measurements (how do you measure your volumes?). A few more points for a coarse crush.

DannPM said:

Your Sacc rest is 0 mins...that's definitely the problem. Try doing it for 60, that's the norm. I'm really surprised nobody caught this in all the posts above...

Click to expand...

That was actually a typo, it was in fact 60 minutes. Thanks for all the tips. Here's my plan of action: (assuming the same 11.85 lbs. of grain):

Mash at 154 degrees for 60 minutes with 3.07 gallons of water. Then adding 1.5 gallons of boiling water (stirring of course), raising the temperature to 168 and holding for 10 minutes before draining.

Then, sparging in two batches with 1.89 gallons of water in each (stirring again).

Total water: 8.36 gallons. Lost to grain absorption: 1.54 gallons. Lost to dead-space: .26 gallons. Planned Pre-boil volume: 6.57 gallons.

Think this will bump that 48% efficiency I hit on the last batch?

And Bobby, I've been using a 2 qt. measuring pitcher for measuring water going into the MLT. For measuring the pre-boil volume, I poured water in 1/2 qt. increments into my kettle, then marked them off on a long plastic spoon handle. Does this seem accurate enough, or is there a better way here?

Thanks for all the input, I'm learning by the minute from you guys.

I would suggest that if you're batch sparging, skip the mashout infusion, and instead drain the MLT after the mash. Then, add the mashout water to the sparge amounts, divide by half, and add half the sparge water at a time. I'd go up to 185 or so with the first addition, because you want to bring your grainbed to 168.

Your efficiency will be better adding the mashout addition to the sparge volume, trust me!

Yooper said:

I would suggest that if you're batch sparging, skip the mashout infusion, and instead drain the MLT after the mash. Then, add the mashout water to the sparge amounts, divide by half, and add half the sparge water at a time. I'd go up to 185 or so with the first addition, because you want to bring your grainbed to 168.

Your efficiency will be better adding the mashout addition to the sparge volume, trust me!

Click to expand...

What would you suggest if Ive been fly sparging on a HERMS system with the mashout infusion. I'm still not even hitting 70 and I vorlauf during the entire mash

There are a few things I typically recommend to maximize/get consistent efficiency:

1. If possible, get a fine crush on your grains. Some of us have our own mills which makes this easy. If the crush is not somewhat fine you'll have starches stuck inside of uncrushed grain. Essentially lost efficiency.

2. Drain your mash tun dry (relatively). This is in reference to both your mash and sparge (especially your sparge). Any liquid left in your mash tun is lost efficiency.

3. Have a plan for your volumes (mash water, sparge water, preboil, post boil, etc...) and measure/record each step of the way. This will allow you to plan for future brews better and give you options during brewday to make on the fly decisions that can help you produce the beer you set out to produce.

Many other hints etc..., but those are very important to getting good/consistent efficiency.

In my signature below you'll find my brew chart. Could be a helpful resource for you. Covers batch sparge all grain brewing from grain to glass. Essentially does all the math for you (plus a whole lot more) and let's you concentrate on brewing and measuring (item number 3 above is easy when using it). Spent a lot of time researching the information around here and many other resources. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.

cp

1. I let "More Beer" crush my grain so I dont know.. I will leave this variable out for right now because its a constant..
2 & 3. I have not been fully draining my Mash Tun. I just continue the 170` Fly Sparge until my BK has the proper pre-boil Volume. I may have been leaving sugar in the tun..
Now that I bought BrewSmth I think planning the water volumes better should help me leave nothing in those vessles . Cant wait to Brew again. and thanxx for the Advice

I batch sparge so my comments would be with batch sparging in mind. I have never fly sparged so hard for me to comment on it (though grain crush certainly would pertain). My brewchart/workbook is setup for batch sparge brewing.

Did you correct your OG reading for temperature?