ipscman
Well-Known Member
I just switched from fly sparging (average efficiency in the 80s) to batch and got a surprisingly low (63%) efficiency. I went through the list of items in the sticky and can't find the fault.
However, in Denny's excellent summary he says, "I use 185-190F sparge water, which gives me a grain bed temp. of 165-168F." I thought with batch sparge you just heat the strike water to 168, which is what I did right after the first run-off. I didn't measure the temp of the grain bed after adding it.
Q 1: Is that a likely source of my low efficiency?
Q2: If I understand Denny correctly (setting a higher strike temperature to get the entire GRAIN bed to 168) then do I use the strike temp feature in Beersmith and use the hot grain temp after first runnings to find the proper strike temperature to get the grain bed to 168 before the second/batch sparge?
Major thanks.
However, in Denny's excellent summary he says, "I use 185-190F sparge water, which gives me a grain bed temp. of 165-168F." I thought with batch sparge you just heat the strike water to 168, which is what I did right after the first run-off. I didn't measure the temp of the grain bed after adding it.
Q 1: Is that a likely source of my low efficiency?
Q2: If I understand Denny correctly (setting a higher strike temperature to get the entire GRAIN bed to 168) then do I use the strike temp feature in Beersmith and use the hot grain temp after first runnings to find the proper strike temperature to get the grain bed to 168 before the second/batch sparge?
Major thanks.