Effc/Water question

[GABrewboy]

Grain Bill :

6# 2 Row Pale
1# Brown Malt
1# Dextrine
.75 # Chocolate British
1.5# Roasted Barley

Okay, I use the 60+qt igloo Ice Cube cooler with the ss braided hose. I did a single infusion at 154 degress for 1.5 hrs. Then I did a batch sparge and did a slow run off for about 30 mins @ a water temp of 174. I used 4.25 gallons of water for the mash and then 6.5 gallons for the sparge, which is what promash said to use which should yield 7.68 gallons into the kettle. Well I yielded almost 10 gallons and my effc was only 67%. Can anyone tell me what's up with that? The last 4-5 batches I have done I have followed the promash water schedule and end up with a good 2+ gallons more everytime and usually a good 7-10% lower in effc. And this water thing is making me spend a good 1.5hrs boiling down to get to the 6.5 gallons I need to be at since my kettle is only a 7 gallon kettle. HELP!

Thanks

 

[Chairman Cheyco]

I have noticed that promash and batch sparging don't get along that well. What you can do is after the first run-off measure your collected wort and figure out how much more you need to hit your pre-boil volume and sparge with only that much. Once you do this a couple times and have consistant results, figure out your system's efficiency and adjust your grain bill accordingly. People get too hung up on efficiency. We're not brewing with thousands of pounds of grain here people, what's a 5% increase in your grain cost $1? We need to keep things in perspective.

Good looking recipe by the way, gonna be nice and roasty.

 

[GABrewboy]

Thanks for the complement on the recipe. I think it is going to be a nice one as well.....smells very good as it continues to boil as I type.....is it ready yet.....Yeah, not for another 3+ months.....OUCH!!

Okay, so what your saying on Effc. is not to worry too much if I hit 67-70% verse hitting 75%? Or are you saying up my grain bill a few extra lbs to compensate for the loss in eff #'s?

Thanks for the help!

 

[Chairman Cheyco]

Or are you saying up my grain bill a few extra lbs to compensate for the loss in eff #'s?

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. If you can brew with nearly the same efficiency every time (even if it's a bit lower) you can easily adjust your grain bill to match your system and hit your OG every time. Which leads to predictable hop utilization etcetera.

 

[GABrewboy]

Let me ask this! In the promash software there is a measurement that you can take in the fermenter after you have racked it over from brewing. Is this at all accurate? If not, then why do they have it there? Reason I ask is I just took my reading just before pitching and it was at 1.041, which says I am now at an effc. of 78% and my recipe in promash says I should have hit 1.048 which would be if you were of course getting 100% effc. correct? So which is the correct reading....going into the kettle or going into the ferm.?

 

[Chairman Cheyco]

I'm not 100% sure on this either but it has to do with losses during boiling and racking. This changes the volumes and thus affects your efficiency and unless you know what all your losses are exactly and have them in the water needed section the efficiency calculation is screwy. It is most accurate to take the measurment before the boil.

 

[ESPY]

Grain Bill :
I used 4.25 gallons of water for the mash and then 6.5 gallons for the sparge, which is what promash said to use which should yield 7.68 gallons into the kettle.

I'm confused about water amounts here. I thought the ProMash default and the generally accepted water amounts were 1 qt per lb of grain for the mash and 1.3 qt per lb for the sparge.

With your grain bill of 10.25 lbs those numbers would only call for 2.6 gal of mash and 3.3 gal of sparge water.

Are my numbers wrong?

Thanks,
SP

 

[GABrewboy]

With those water amounts you would only yield about 3 gallons of wort, you will lose quite a bit from grain absoption and dead space.

 

[ESPY]

So what are the recommended water-to-grain ratios for mash and sparge?

 

[Blender]

Promash and batch sparging don't work very well. You can do these things on paper. Your additions are a bit off. This is what I do for batch sparging. I learned this from Denny Conn's advice and a lot of input from others that have been doing it far longer than I have.

You need to determine how much wort you wish to start with and then split it in half. You know, evaporation and all that stuff. I use 8 gallons. I mash at 1.2 quarts per pound. I figure .1 quart per pound for absorbtion. These means on the first sparge you will need to add the water lost to absorbtion before the first running. Read here and it might be clearer. >http://www.hbd.org/cascade/dennybrew/