Another poor brewhouse efficiency question

[spittybug]

I have a simple philosophy; I brew to volume since I DRINK volume, not abv. I stick to a well tested and practiced procedure. Fine grind, consistent temperature control in mash via near continuous recirculation (generally 152 degrees but I tweak a little based on style), as many small water volume batch sparges as needed to get to 12.5 gallons in the BK and I get one more gallon by squishing the mash using a giant press I made that goes in the MT. I boil down to 11.5 gallons, recirculate/cool to below 180 degrees and do any aroma hop additions, continue to recirculate cool until ~100 degrees when I do one last pass through the chiller plate on the way into the fermenter. 5 hours or so in the fermenter fridge and I'm down to pitching temps (1 pack, 2l starter, more if a lager or huge beer) . After all the trub precipitates I'm left with 10+ clean gallons to keg.

I know from experience I need ~20ml lactic unless it is a very dark beer, I use my very tasty well water (softened by the way) and will add a little amylase for 'good luck'. Fermcap in the boil.

If I miss a gravity reading, so be it. If something happens to disrupt the process I will extend the mash or do whatever to get on track, but if I nail the procedure I know I'm doing the best I can and the numbers will be what the numbers will be. I take notes for the day and when I brew again I look to see how I did and whether or not I need to change the recipe a bit to accommodate (assuming the process went well).

I can afford to buy my beer at the supermarket or any of the local breweries, but I drink mine. It is just a good as all of them as believed not only by me but the multitude of people who regularly enjoy it, including one of the local brewers! I would have a difficult time repeating the same beer over and over as in a brewery, but I do have a half dozen that I make fairly regularly. The rest are new!

 

[Malticulous]

My first mash tun was a five gallon water cooler. I never did get good consistent efficiency with it. I moved up to a 52 quart chest (with a low drain) and things improved. It's easy to stir and drains more complete.

Now I use a 70 qt cooler. WIth 30 lbs 1.7 qt/lb and a single batch sparge it's completely full and ~78% efficient. Any more grain then I have to do a double sparge.

 

[dmtaylor]

Gosh, you are wasting a ton of wort in those dead spaces. If you care about efficiency, you need to stop wasting wort.

If you don't care, then neither do I.

Beyond that:

Tighten the gap on your mill a little more. The end.

 

[tracer bullet]

I've learned I need to tweak my water estimates a bit based on my recipe - meaning if it's a 3 gallon pale ale without a lot of malt, vs. a 5 gallon imperial stout with a crapload of malt, each will have a different water absorption amount - which really just means how much I can squeeze out and / or how long I am willing to let it drip before it goes into the compost bin.

You may also find that whatever markings you are using (kettle, fermenter, 1 gallon, 2 gallons, etc) are wrong. And need to keep in mind that water expands as it gets warmer and 5 gallons cold might be 5 -1/4 gallons at boil temps.

I leave trub behind but not that much wort / beer, maybe a 1/4 gallon at most at any step. Up to you.