57% Efficiency, AGAIN!

[Dionysos911]

If I am mashing at 150 or higher I do a 60 minute mash. If I am mashing at 149 or lower I do a 90 minute mash. I've never done any sort of iodine test but I always hit my gravities for a recipe w/ 70% efficiency.

Sometimes I mash out. I didn't this last time and I still hit 70%. I'm not sure it really does anything. I might not do it anymore.

I am heating my sparge water up to about 180ish. My thermometer usually reads between 165 and 170 when I add the sparge water.

Another thing I thought of:

How fast are you lautering? When draining the mash runnings and the sparge runnings I never hold the handle of the MLT all the way open. Usually about 1/3 of the way open and it takes about 10-15 minutes to drain. (I do 10 gallon batches)

I usually open the valve about 1/2way. Next time I will slow it down some to see if that helps any.