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Head to Harbor Freight (because they are so cheap) And pick up some “snap ring pliers” Pop that puppy right out.

Yes. Chilled water is very sensative to flow rate. Too slow, not enough heat exchange, too fast! Not enough heat exchange. Fingers crossed getting the flow rate where it belongs fixes it.

In theory, the thermodynamic action taking place inside the fermenter shouldn’t allow any beer to be in contact with the sub-freezing coil long enough for it to freeze. There should still be enough heat energy in the beer to keep freezing from happening. As the warm beer moves towards the cold...

X2 on how many coils were in contact with the beer. You will need all of them in contact to cool efficiently. If the water in the beer didn’t freeze @ 28. It shouldn’t @ 22. Below freezing is below freezing. And the beer itself will never get to 22

Great thread. It looks like you had a 10 degree delta. The glycol was at 28 and the beer maintained 38. 10 degree delta is about as good as is gets. Maybe if you had a much larger supply of glycol (like 10gallons) then you could get the delta even lower. (Beer temp closer to glycol temp)...

1.5 quarts per pound of grain is my standard. I have a traditional flysparge system. All brew vessels are converted kegs. I wrap my mash tun in the winter. Summer time I usually let it fly naked. (I live in New England)

That could also be an issue. Definitely start adjusting and measuring mash and sparge pH. It can make up to a 10% difference or more in efficiency.

That’s a great system! So we can’t blame it for poor efficiency. Are you adjusting and measuring mash pH. And equally important, your sparge water pH. You want the sparge water below 6 pH. I aim for 5.5 Crushing grain your self? Or LHBS? Most mills at most stores are pretty worn out. And...

No. Mash tun design could effect your efficiency. Are you running 40 gallon batches thru a 1/2” bazooka tube? If yes your efficiency might suck. Using a proper mash tun, full sized false bottle? Then mash tun design is not causing poor efficiency. Back to grain crush and pH.

Ok. That’s good you adjusted and made the beer work! So why didn’t you hit target gravity at Target preboil volume. Grain crush. Mash pH Mash tun? @ 40 gallon batches curious are to what you are using.

@ 1020 you still had good wort left. You also, did not hit your post boil gravity of 1060? You could have continued to sparge until you have enough strong enough wort to boil down to 1060. Let’s say 44 gallons @1054 would have reduced to 40gal @ 1060. This is assuming you had enough room...

Yup. It’s simply expert marketing. That’s what they do best. The beer, not my cup of tea.

I️ don’t doubt you. However. I’ve done 120+ min decoction mashes. Hit 90+% efficiency Brew house efficiency. And every time I️ use iodine and there is so much as a kernel of grain present. The iodine turns black. I️ don’t even use iodine anymore. I&#65039...

Iodine test will always be black with grain. Clear wort only for the test. Best performed by placing a drop or two of clear liquid (wort) on a piece of large white chaulk. Drop iodine into that. Check for color change.

Won’t work. It has to be boiled. Even for just 5 min.

I built an all gravity system using 15.5gal kegs with a burner under each. I was happy with this setup for years. And I just upgraded to a pump. And I love my system even more! Now instead of constantly stirring my mash with the burner lit (when raising to mash out temp for example). I just...

Also. Get your Sparge water down to below a pH of 6.0 I Target 5.5

With kids (mine are 2 and 4) I just brew at night. I start around 7 and am done between 12-1 am. I do final clean the next day. Keep brewing, welcome to the night shift!

The mills at LHBS can be really out of wack. I have my own mill, and as others have stated it's a great investment. If you don't want to buy a mill yet. Just try double crushing at the store. That's what a lot of the guys in my club do. And pick up some DME to have on hand. If your OG...

I did a Vienna smash but I pulled a double decoction. And went traditional with Sterling hops. One of my favorite beers to date. A definite rebrew