Efficiency is.. not my friend.

So, I've been brewing for about a year now. I've got probably 10-15 brews under my belt now, and I am stumped on why I cannot get my efficiency above 65% in most cases..

I started with BIAB in my converted Keggle and would always double crush my grain but would only get about 60% efficiency if i was lucky. I've tried multiple places with multiple crushes, BMW, my LHBS Adventures in Hombrewing, and Northern Brewer.

I finally just gave up and would order an extra 2-3 lbs for each brew. I can keep doing that, but I want to reach out and see what could be the problem.

I've recently purchased a 10 gallon igloo that i've converted over to a mash tun. I have a second 5 gallon cooler that I use as a HLT and I've not broken 65% efficiency when I've hit all my numbers and check starch conversion with iodine and everything seems great.. I've used this new setup for 2 brews now, and have another one scheduled for tomorrow. But yet i cannot get better than 65% efficiency? I have no clue what i'm doing wrong!

Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

how is your brew water, are you making adjustments for ph? I'm having almost identical issues with my BIAB efficiency and I'm just starting to move towards controlling my ph

 

I've not done any tests on water yet. It is city water, and from what I could see it should be fine, but I should probably grab some PH paper and check it out for myself.

Water is the one part of brewing that I don't quite know how to fix. PH stabilizer?

 

Im with you on that. I just threw in a $1.50 pack of ph test strips in my last order and I took a baseline measurement on my last mash. Need to read up on making adjustments. I generally use tap water, bottled water, or some combination of the two. Maybe others much more experienced than I am will chime in on this, but it sounds like a starting point to me for solving this problem.

 

Try using some lactic acid in the mash. I use around 1 tsp for 5 gallons. Fly sparge...

 

you've been doing all your crushes at the brew places. try getting a grain mill and grinding your own. the mills at those places are only setup to get 60% effeciency

 

Huh?

Grain mills are adjustable and a reputable LHBS should give you a good grind. If your LHBS isn't giving you quite the grind you want on your grain, ask for a double grind.

Use lactic acid (ph down) to lower your mash water pH to 5.2-5.4 or use baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to raise the pH.

 

What do you mean "set up" ? As in it doesnt crush well enough? I usually inspect the crush before I mash in and they have always been pretty good for me..

 

correct, it's setup to not crush as fine as it could. for one it's meant to be for regular mash ton brewing so it's not crushed as fine as BIAB needs to be so as to get around the "stuck sparge" issue. and 2.... they keep the crush at about 60% so you have to buy more grain to make up for it and have you coming back more often. I've run into the same issue doing BIAB

 

I do BIAB, I crush my own grains and usually get somewhere between 80 and 85%.

Maybe I am just lucky, but I don't adjust my water; never checked it.

When I started BIAB, I used an old, inefficient mill, it seemed to crush fine enough (I didn't know any better, but it met the description and pictures in books). I regularly got somewhere between 65 and 70%.

Just getting a new mill (and it is a cheap Corona mill) increased my efficiency by 15%.

 

I've got a shiny new corona mill (with the recommended bolt and washer modification) sitting in my garage ready for my next batch. I'm hoping this solves part of my problem, maybe that will help the OP too.

 

My first BIAB batch came in at an impressive 63% efficiency. I bought a two roller mill. I'll find out if it makes a difference in a couple weeks.

 

another thing to consider, make sure you're not using too much water and check your evaporation rate.

 

have you ever tried 5.2 Ph stabilizer?

alot of people swear by it.

 

^^^^^^^^ +1

Same here. Corona mill to crush my grains, doing BIAB, using tap water treated with campden tabs and usually getting around 85% efficiency.

Only things I can add to what has already been said are, if you aren't already, do a good few vigorous stirring sessions during the mash, especially when putting a little heat in if you are doing stovetop BIAB in your kettle. I Have mashed for 90 minutes and 60 minutes and found no real noticeable difference in efficiency between the two. Tend to dunk sparge in the wort, 3 or 4 times, squeezing the living daylights out of the bag and extracting every last drop possible between each dunk then stir the grist up really well again after each re-introduction of the bag into the wort.
One final squeeze to get as much as possible from the bag of grist before firing up the boil.

Another way that I've heard of people getting good efficiency is overnight mashing, might be something to look into.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/overnight-mash-keeping-my-cool-295579/

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/brew-bag-overnight-mash-high-efficiency-383919/

 

I dont do BIAB anymore, I've just got a 3 vessle setup.

I'll probably grab a corona mill since so many swear by it, or i might just save my pennies and grab a barley crusher or something. I'll grab some PH strips and 5.2 stabilizer as well and see if that helps.

Thanks for the input everyone

 

I'll echo this. When I startedd having efficiency issues I blamed it on the mill at the LHBS ... and then each of the online HBS that I used. Unfortunately the problem was closer to home, needed to mash with less water, adjust my recipes for brewing 5.5 gallons instead of 5 and do a better job of monitoring the fibal volume so it isn't more than 5.5 gallons. The result has been 70%+ efficiency and some great beer.

Good luck.