Hi all, I've done about 5 or so brews on my new BIAB system and seem to be consistently getting low numbers and am trying to trace down the cause.
I know the first response is always on the crush. I am getting it from the LHBS and in the order I put comment to crush at 1.026 which they promise they do. The grain looks quite crushed with a good bit of flour at the bottom of the bag, so I don't immediately think this is my issue, but don't know what else it could be.
My set up is a Spike 10 gallon kettle with electric heating element and false bottom from brewHardware. I'm using an inkbird to maintian mash temps and recirculate with a pump during mash as well as stirring occasionally. Then after mash suspend bag over a bucket and squeeze to try and get as much liquid out of the bag as possible and add back to the pot, but no sparge.
This recipe from the most recent brew is:
10# German Pilsner
0.25# Melanoidin Malt
0.5# Carapils
I started with 7.75 gallons of water. After the mash at 148 for 80 min(and adding back all the drips from the bag), I had 6.75 gallons left at about 1.035 (measured with refactometer). After 60 min boil I was left with 5.5 gallons at 1.045. Target OG was 1.055.
According to brewers friend this gives 67% conversion efficiency and 60% ending kettle.
I'm using tap water that has been run through a filter, but is otherwise untouched. So water chemistry is my first thought, but not sure how much impact this would have?
Any ideas on what could be causing the low numbers would be much appreciated.
I know the first response is always on the crush. I am getting it from the LHBS and in the order I put comment to crush at 1.026 which they promise they do. The grain looks quite crushed with a good bit of flour at the bottom of the bag, so I don't immediately think this is my issue, but don't know what else it could be.
My set up is a Spike 10 gallon kettle with electric heating element and false bottom from brewHardware. I'm using an inkbird to maintian mash temps and recirculate with a pump during mash as well as stirring occasionally. Then after mash suspend bag over a bucket and squeeze to try and get as much liquid out of the bag as possible and add back to the pot, but no sparge.
This recipe from the most recent brew is:
10# German Pilsner
0.25# Melanoidin Malt
0.5# Carapils
I started with 7.75 gallons of water. After the mash at 148 for 80 min(and adding back all the drips from the bag), I had 6.75 gallons left at about 1.035 (measured with refactometer). After 60 min boil I was left with 5.5 gallons at 1.045. Target OG was 1.055.
According to brewers friend this gives 67% conversion efficiency and 60% ending kettle.
I'm using tap water that has been run through a filter, but is otherwise untouched. So water chemistry is my first thought, but not sure how much impact this would have?
Any ideas on what could be causing the low numbers would be much appreciated.
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