Recent content by soup67

Not sure what you mean by "topped up", but that beer will be fine for a while (months). If it is sitting on yeast I'd rack to secondary. I'd use an airlock, just 'cause. Just remember to keep it filled. Soup

Do you mind posting a pick of this set-up? Bo

What did he change from/to?

That was my understanding, so I just drain the MLT as quickly as possible. I've also tried double batch sparges many times with no improvement, although intuitively it seems like a second rinse of the grain would help. I plan to increase my boil volume to 6.75g and boil a little harder...

Stir? I've stirred hard and long. Once even with a 5g paint stirrer attached to a drill, to the point that I was worried I beating up the grain. No noticeable improvement. I normally use a big SS spoon. Maybe I should use this as a reason to make a cool mash paddle?

I mashed at 1.3qt/lb and got first runnings of 1.084. Per Kaiser's table, this is pretty close what I should expect, right? So I really don't think it is a crush/mash problem. Something is off with my sparge...

48 qt Coleman cooler for an MLT. Not sure how much water was above grain bed after it settled-- maybe 3-4 inches? Mash started at 153 and finished at 151.

Yes, I sparge to my boil volume-- 6.25g for a 5g batch (I shoot for 5.25 into fermenter). My buddy does 10g batches, but boils off at roughly the same rate. He tells me his second runnings are around 1.010-- significantly lower than mine, which tells me I am leaving a lot of sugar in the MLT...

Will do on the crush pic, but it looks a lot like what I see here as a decent crush. I stir well and have tried the double batch sparge several times. It never resulted in any meaningful increase. I boil rather gently, and boil off about 1g/hour. Today was a little different (dry and...

Thanks. I put 5g of 1.071 wort into the fermenter. Recipe was calculated at 68% and to put 5.25g into the fermenter (to allow for trub), but I boiled off a little extra (and undershot my OG. soup

I am flummoxed by my consistently low efficiency-- 60-65% after 40 or so AG batches. So I'm here for some suggestions. I've read the sticky, and have tried all thicknesses of mashes, long mashes, mashing out, single and double batch sparges, stir like crazy-- nothing has a measurable impact on...

60 minutes. I am beginning to think I have a conversion problem. I was thinking it is related to mash thickness-- had not thought about time.

by mashing too thin? I use the "Denny" set-up, but for some reason have not been mashing out. I mash thin, drain the mash tun, measure my first runnings, and do a single batch sparge with the necessary volume of very hot water. I try to get a 40/60 to 50/50 split in first and second runnings...

In the tea.