48 Quart Coleman Folks, what are you Getting for Efficiency Numbers?

Brewed my 2nd AG this past weekend, and I hit ALL my numbers, to a Tee. The whole process went very well. As far as the Crush of the grain goes, I am using a friend's JSP. He gets low 83%ish every time he brews. So why in the heck am I still only getting 62% Efficiency!?!?!? Only thing I can cme up with is my Mash/Lautering Tun design. It is a simple 48 quart Coleman Cooler with a Copper Manifold in the bottom with a single Spigot outlet. Reaso I bring up the Tun is while Iw as brewing, I read a good article in BYO about Lautering, and they brought up some different designs and which ones they got the best results with. So, I am wondering, if you are using a 48 qt Rectangular Coleman Cooler, what are your Efficiency numbers?


BTW, I am batch sparging. I did three equal volume Sparges this weekend.

 

I have the 50qt igloo cube with a cpvc manifold in the bottom of mine and I hit a constant 82-83% effecincy. I do crush a little finer than most maybe and I also fly sparge which takes 45-60 minutes. I tried batch sparging but my effecincys were in the 60's. Again this is when I first started all grain brewing have have learned alot since then.

 

You wouldn't by any chance have a few pictures of you Fly Sparging System, would ya?

 

If you use the same grain crush than your friend and he gets 83% efficiency, then you should get the same unless you have problems with your mash. For batch sparging, the design of the mash-tun doesn't have an affect on the efficiency unless you created a large dead space that cannot be drained.

Check the conversion of your mash and or its pH. Also, sparge with about 168 *F water and make sure you stir well after adding a batch of sparge water.

Kai

 

I have a 48 quart and the only thing I can think of in your case is your increased deadspace. I use a braid that's clamped over a tip tube that goes right down to the lowest spot in the cooler. The space between the cooler floor and your highest slot is deadspace.

You have to also quote the OG of your recipe because the higher you go, the lower the efficiency numbers would be. Anyway, on my mid grav beers (1.040-1.060), I get around 88-92% with batch sparging.

I'd be looking at the crush and your sparge temps. Throw the thermometer into the mash right after you stir your sparge infusion in to get an idea how close to 170F you're getting. I use 180F sparge water.

I'd bet that fly sparging is NOT going to do much for you.

 

I have a 52 Qt Coleman Extreme with a stainless steel braid and I am consistently hitting at or above 75% efficiency using grain that I crush at my LHBS.

Have you checked you thermometer to make sure it was accurate?

 

Here is my rig, manifold on the bottom and sparge manifold on the top. I like this setup because I can fly sparge with the lid closed.

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I have the 72 quart coleman extreme with a stainless steel braid. On my first AG i hit around 63% efficiency with the Austin Home Brew supply crush. I did a dough in, mash out, and one sparge.

On my second AG batch I hit 75% efficiency. The grains were also from Austin Home Brew supply but this time - taking advice from some people here - I skipped the mash out and did 2 sparges instead.

I've concluded that more sparges equals better efficiency with my setup.

 

I have a 48 quart igloo cooler with a SS braid. I hit 74% on my first try.
Mash out and split my sparge into 2 batches.

 

48 Quart Igloo with CPVC manifold. With the terrible crush provided by my LHBS I am getting around 71% efficiency.

 

I have checked the Thermometer, it is dead on accurate.

 

Here's what my Brew Day looked like...

Grain Bill


12 lbs UK 2 Row
10 Ounces 60L
10 Ounces Victory
8 Ounces Wheat Malt
2 ounces Roasted Barley
Target OG is 1.059

heated up Mash Tun with 1 gallon boiling water

Added 2 gallons of 174 degree water to Mash Tun to stabilize temp. Added all the grains while mixing, then added 2 1/4 gallons of 175 degree water to tun while mixing throughly. Brought temp to 162 degrees. (Grain was 69 degrees). Added 1 quart of 45 degree water to mash Tun while mixing throughly. Brought temp down to 147. Added 2 quarts of 180 degree water while thoroughly mixing, which brought Mash temp up to 153 degrees. Lit a Cigar

10 minutes into Mash, Temp at 154 degrees.

30 minutes into Mash, temp at a Rock Steady 154 degrees.

50 minutes into Mash, temp at 153.7 degrees.

60 minutes into Mash, temp at 153.5 degrees. Popped the lid and gave the Mash a thorough mix. After the Mixing, 66 minutes into Mash, temp at 151.9 degrees.

75 minutes into mash, temp at 152.1 degrees.

Added 2 1/4 gallons of 210 degree water, brought temp up to 153.3. Waited 10 minutes, then I sparged 1 1/2 quarts of Wort into a Quart measuring Cup, and recirculated.

1st Sparge, got 3 1/4 gallons of Wort (Sparged at 1 qt per minute). Looking to get 7 gallons total. Going to add Boling water next Sparge.

Added 2 gallons of Boiling Water to Mash. Brought temp up to 164 degrees. Waited 10 minutes after another through mixing, and did my second sparge. Again, sparged at 1 qt per minute. Now have 5 gallons of Wort.

Added 2 1/4 Gallons of Boiling water. Brought temp to 176. Got 7 gallons of Wort Total after this thrid sparge. Hydro reading of 1.046.




After a 1 Hour Boil, I had 5 1/2 gallons of Wort for the fermenter with a Hydrp reading of 1.056. That gave me an efficiency of 62.5%.


So, anyone see any discrepencies besides the initial water infusion? Any insight would be beneficial because as of this point, the only things I can come up with is that I am not getting a good enough Mash. I am going to have to start doing Iodine readings.

 

I stir every 15 minutes. How was the crush?

 

Crush was great. Used a buddy's mill. He gets 83% efficiency consistently.

 

With our 62qt ColemanX-treme with a SS braid we get 85%consistently.That's batch sparging too.We try to mill on the fine side,sometimes resulting in stuck mashes/sparges.I don't see where it would be your tun.I love this cooler.
Cheers

 

I hear ya onescalerguy. I can not wait to order my new JSP Adjustable Mill tomorrow night so I can start experimenting with my crush. Still though, it boggles my mind to know that my buddy gets 83% out of his Mill. but he is also using a totally different Brewing system(The one where the wort runs through the HLT to keep a constant temp). Still though, I would imagine that I would be getting a better efficency then what I am. Obviously, that is not the case.

 

How do you measure your effic.?All your procedures sound spot-on(i'm a bit less precise with water amounts,temps,etc.).I've always used Beertools for my recipe calcs.and played with effic #'s until i came up with 85% and hit my targets every time.Good luck getting it dialed in.
Cheers

 

Next time you brew note the total amount of water you needed (strike and sparge), the pre-boil volume and how many times you sparged.

Also check for conversion, make sure you sparge with ~170*F water and stir very well to make sure that there are no un-sparged pockets.

Kai

 

I have an 80qt with a copper manifold. I use 5 gallons at 180* to preheat the tun (then that water is boiled to clean the CFC) I then add the strike water to the tun and then the grains. Mash for 60 minutes then mashout with x gallons of boiling water. Then I do two batch sparges with a 10 minute rest on each.
Have been hitting in the low 80's with the corona milled grains from my LHBS, but I have hit as high as 89%. I now have a BC mill and have only done one brew with it and got 76%. So I think with some tweaks on the mill I can get back up there.

 

I have an Igloo 48qt, and I average about 72-75% eff. I don't keep very good numbers, though, so those are VERY roughly estimated. That's a S/S braid manifold, by the way.

I use 5.2 and that's about it. I just try to be very attentive to temps.

 

what about water? what type of water are you using and what type is he? I think ph can mess with you eff right