Efficiency problem

[casebrew]

I don't think you can choke only one side of the system. Sparge water is suposed to be 1/2 inch above the malt. If you are only choking the input, you will have channeling er sumptin. The whole point is to soak the sugars out, so the malt has to be soaking in warm water.

Do you pump 'up' so high you can't see into the tun to maintain water adequite for saoking all of the grain?

Looking at your pic, you 'lifted' the sparge ring? You are keeping it above the grains, aren't you? to get a flow downward through the grains? Or did I misunderestimate you, and that is your drain 'manifold'?

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

I'm having a similar problem with beersmith.

My problem is that I can find no way for the program to determine boil volume based on your OG.

Whether I have a high grav or low grav recipe it still calculates the boil volume based on my equipment and boil time. But how can I know what my boil time is unless I know how much wort will be collected in advance?

Is there no way to estimate how much wort will be collected given a final runnings SG of 1.010? Shouldn't beersmith be able to estimate this, then adjust your boil time accordingly?

 

[Biermann]

I don't think you can choke only one side of the system. Sparge water is suposed to be 1/2 inch above the malt. If you are only choking the input, you will have channeling er sumptin. The whole point is to soak the sugars out, so the malt has to be soaking in warm water.

Do you pump 'up' so high you can't see into the tun to maintain water adequite for saoking all of the grain?

Looking at your pic, you 'lifted' the sparge ring? You are keeping it above the grains, aren't you? to get a flow downward through the grains? Or did I misunderestimate you, and that is your drain 'manifold'?

No, that is my sparge ring. I usually keep a layer of water above the bed of grain, and the sparge ring sits around the top of the water layer (slightly above the grain bed, but no so high as to cause a frothing HSA mess).

 

[Kaiser]

Batch sparging is the only suggestion I have as well. If this doesn't work I don't know what else could help w/o actually being there

Kai

 

[Biermann]

Thanks for all the help though.

I think I've at least narrowed down the problem.

 

[madjazz]

I have had similar problems with efficiency due to my sparge. I spent $3 to get some insulated tubing for my sparge water to move through from the hot liquor tank to my sparge arm. This kept my water hotter (I was losing about 10-15 degrees from tank to tun). My efficiency went up 12% consistently!

 

[Biermann]

Well, I think I have corrected my efficiency problem, thanks to all of your suggestions.

I changed my sparge habits, and really choked down my pump--I did a nice, slow sparge with my most recent batch (1 1/2 hours), and my efficiency ended up around 73%, with the grain bill being 50% wheat!! My former efficiencies were consistently in the 60's%.

So, thanks for the comments and suggestions!!

 

[Dude]

Well, I think I have corrected my efficiency problem, thanks to all of your suggestions.

I changed my sparge habits, and really choked down my pump--I did a nice, slow sparge with my most recent batch (1 1/2 hours), and my efficiency ended up around 73%, with the grain bill being 50% wheat!! My former efficiencies were consistently in the 60's%.

So, thanks for the comments and suggestions!!

I just now saw this thread--looks like you figured it out. With all that wheat that is a good efficiency.

I'll re-emphasize a few things too, based on my experience.

1. Crush is HUGE. Especially with wheat beers. A 122 deg. protein rest will also help your efficiency some when using wheat.

2. Sparging needs to go slow and you figured that out, but what concerns me is your 1.040 gravity when you finished your sparge. That needs to be much lower. Not only because you are leaving a lot of sugars behind, but IMHO it is better to have more wort available in case you do mess up your efficiency somehow. You can always boil harder if you have too much wort, or dilute if you have too much sugars.

3. Don't batch sparge with that fancy system unless you are trying to save time. Dial that sucker in and use it correctly. I think your beers will be better for it in the long run.

I think you are on the right track.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Loved reading this thread - it shed some light on some of my own problems, I think. I had piss poor efficiency with my first AG attempt (sub-50%!). I dialed in my grain mill, and I got a much nicer crush with the next batch. I wound up at 70% with that one (just under 50% wheat). I think my sparge technique could stand some improvement, and I'll take the advice here to heart.

I'm with Dude 100% on this, though:

Don't batch sparge with that fancy system unless you are trying to save time. Dial that sucker in and use it correctly. I think your beers will be better for it in the long run.

I spent a lot of time and effort on a fly-sparge setup, so I'm gonna figure out how to make it work for me!

 

[Biermann]

I just now saw this thread--looks like you figured it out. With all that wheat that is a good efficiency.

I'll re-emphasize a few things too, based on my experience.

1. Crush is HUGE. Especially with wheat beers. A 122 deg. protein rest will also help your efficiency some when using wheat.

2. Sparging needs to go slow and you figured that out, but what concerns me is your 1.040 gravity when you finished your sparge. That needs to be much lower. Not only because you are leaving a lot of sugars behind, but IMHO it is better to have more wort available in case you do mess up your efficiency somehow. You can always boil harder if you have too much wort, or dilute if you have too much sugars.

3. Don't batch sparge with that fancy system unless you are trying to save time. Dial that sucker in and use it correctly. I think your beers will be better for it in the long run.

I think you are on the right track.

I didn't batch sparge--don't think I would--defeats the purpose of my system


My runnings were quite thin after filling my kettle--didn't take a reading, but it looked like water, and my kettle was full--

 

[ajf]

Well, I think I have corrected my efficiency problem, thanks to all of your suggestions.

I changed my sparge habits, and really choked down my pump--I did a nice, slow sparge with my most recent batch (1 1/2 hours), and my efficiency ended up around 73%, with the grain bill being 50% wheat!! My former efficiencies were consistently in the 60's%.

So, thanks for the comments and suggestions!!

Great news. It's great to hear of a successful outcome.

-a.

 

[Biermann]

Indeed, I'm glad to have figured out the problem.

I also spent some time before I brewed to dial in my system and calibrate things a little better, which I also think helped.