Anvil all in one

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Mrcmb

Novice Brewer.....Thanks to Covid
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I've been looking into the Anvil all in ones for a few days now. Anyone regret the purchases after moving from their old all grain setup? I'm looking at the 18 incase I need to do two batches at a time
 
My only issue with it is the lower efficiency and/or inconsistent efficiency I get with it.

I get between 60% and 72% usually, for me it just depends on the day.
 
My only issue with it is the lower efficiency and/or inconsistent efficiency I get with it.

I get between 60% and 72% usually, for me it just depends on the day.
I've been reading about doing a slower mash out. How Have you tried anything to increase it?
 
I've been reading about doing a slower mash out. How Have you tried anything to increase it?

I've tried everything you could have possibly read. Mash out, Sparging, No-Sparge, tighter mill gap, long mash times, tap water, distilled & RO with salt additions, etc.

Nothing has helped.

It's really no big deal in the long run.

I based all my recipes on 60%, if I get higher I consider it a win.

If anything, all my beers over attenuate, but that has nothing to do with the Anvil.
 
As with all BIAB brewing your efficiencies will be lower than fly or even batch sparging. I have found with the Foundry that there is a phenomenon where, when using the recirculation kit, the water on the sides of the unit between the malt pipe and the outer kettle wall does not get drawn into the pump on the bottom. It has to do with a pressure difference between the bottom of the column where the liquid is being sucked out and the top of the column where the liquid is being added.

To get this "still" water to come in contact with your your grains Foundry users have found that lifting the malt pipe once or twice (twice is better) will incorporate that side-wall water. Otherwise, when you lift the malt pipe at the end of the mash it is like adding a couple of quarts of fresh water on top of your finished mash.

I started doing this and my BHE is consistently 76-77%. You can also use a brew bag without the malt pipe to bump efficiency up a bit higher. I've had mine a couple years now and don't regret it one bit.

PS. I do a full volume mash with no sparge.
 
I did my first brew in my Anvil 10.5 this week. I used the malt pipe with my Wilser bag in the pipe. I also made a DIY small batch adapter cutting a food grade bucket to cover side holes since I did a 2.5G batch for a session IPA (light grain bill which included flaked oats). I crushed my grains at 0.028”. I used the recirculating pump on a trickle. Every 15 min I’d stir the mash and lift the malt pipe up and down to homogenize the water in the dead space. My mash efficiency was 75%. All of my previous brews with my kettle and propane burner never got above 70% and usually was in the high 60’s for the same recipe.
 
This is my 3rd year brewing with the Anvil 10.5. No regrets. I’ve brewed at least 50 times with no issues. My advise is to get the 18 and read every post you can find on the Anvil and it’s quirks. Then brew and develop your own best practices.
 
I'm maybe 5% lower with the 10.5 than my old converted keg system. I've been doing no sparge, lifting the cylinder a couple of times during mash. That brought me up a couple of 2 or 3 points. But really no issue. Add a half pound of grain or so and it's fine. I don't brew 9% beers, if I did, I'd go down to 3 gallon brew. Or get larger 18g. I love having one vessel to clean rather than 2 and NO propane
 
My only issue with it is the lower efficiency and/or inconsistent efficiency I get with it.

I get between 60% and 72% usually, for me it just depends on the day.

The inconsistency still happening, although this time for the better.

I was aiming to make and 1.049 OG pale ale (calculated at 65% BH), actually OG was 1.058......so 80% BH efficiency. I'll take the win.

I have never gotten that high before, not even with the old batch sparge setup.

The changes I made:

1. Dunked the grain basket and stirred every 10 minutes instead of 15.
2. made exact water additions according to Brewfather. (to .001)
3. I may have increased the recirculating rate (kind of hard to really judge that one.)
4. While draining the malt pipe, I waited an extra few minutes to start sparging and did it through a colander to spread the follow more evenly.
5. Squeezed bag pretty heavily.
 
2.5+ years with my Foundry and no regrets. Get 72-75% brewhouse efficiency depending on style with good crush, using a bag and full volume mash. More importantly, you can make great beer with the system. Enter a lot of comps and win a lot of medals with Foundry made beers, which to me proves it makes beer just as good as an expensive three kettle system does.
 
2.5+ years with my Foundry and no regrets. Get 72-75% brewhouse efficiency depending on style with good crush, using a bag and full volume mash. More importantly, you can make great beer with the system. Enter a lot of comps and win a lot of medals with Foundry made beers, which to me proves it makes beer just as good as an expensive three kettle system does.
Are you defining brewhouse efficiency as efficiency into the fermenter or efficiency into packaging? Regardless, that high of a BH efficiency indicates very little liquid loss due to grain absorption and hops absorption and very little trub loss with you process. Good for you!
For my NEIPAs I have efficiencies into packaging in the 60s%. Now my mash conversion efficiencies will be in the mid 80s. It's the liquid losses and trub losses throughout the process that drops my BH efficiencies into the 60s.
 
It's brewhouse efficiency into the fermenter. I should note that I recirculate, lift the basket several times during mash mix the water/wort outside of the pipe, and I also push down on the bag when draining with my mash paddle to squeeze extra wort out of the grain.
 

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