CountryGravy
Well-Known Member
To catch you up quickly: I was having a very tough time getting my efficiency up. I started in the mid 50's and dropped into the low 50's in my first BIAB batches. In the past I have used single-milled grain from Midwest and MoreBeer with no mash pH testing and simply wrapped my kettle in a blanket.
I received many good suggestions after posting here, and most of them involved me getting double-milled grains. A couple of other suggestions recommended some type of sparge. So, I decided to finish off my single-milled grain (again, low 50's) and then placed a big order with Ritebrew.
I decided to make a Tripel. I figured that with the large grain bill, even with low efficiency, I wouldn't end up with 3.5% abv hoppy cereal water.
I decided to give Beersmith a try (I've been using BrewTarget for a long time, which I do love) and developed my recipe. The grain bill ended up with 6.5 lbs for my 3 gallon batch, not including sugar. I also ordered pH paper (a real meter will have to wait), some Irish moss, yeast energizer and nutrient, and some Wyeast Belgian Strong Ale yeast.
My brew process went like so:
1. Wednesday, I made a 1 quart starter using DME and sugar to resemble my Tripel's makeup.
2. Friday, I made another 1.5 quarts of DME based wort and then split my original starter with it into two sanitized containers. Both fermented beautifully and smelled great.
3. Saturday, I took put one starter in the refridgerator to save, decant, and pitch next weekend (attempting a Belgian IPA), and began the brew process.
4. Heated ~3.1 gallons of water to 163. This actually ended up a little high after mash in, and I had to had add a little cold water to bring it down to ~152.
5. I put the kettle in an oven preheated to 170, and then turned the oven off. Mashed for one hour. Checked the temp with 15 minutes left... one degree lost!
6. Heated up 1 gallon of sparge water. Pulled the kettle out of the oven, lifted and spun the bag a bit, and then placed it in the sparge water and stirred. I let it sit in the sparge water a little less than ten minutes. I then put a basket upside down in that pot and pressed most of the remaining wort out of the bag.
7. Added the sparge water to the kettle. Drew a sample, tested with my hydrometer and adjusted for temp: 77% pre boil efficiency! I almost danced, and I'm no dancer. 3.8 gallons of wort to boil.
8. Boiled, followed the hops schedule, added the irish moss, cooled in an ice bath, and...
9. There was a ludicrous amount of trub. I boiled down to 3.2 gallons and I only got about 2.5 gallons into the fermentor before I was sucking sludge and irish moss. I'm sure I'll lose another .25-.5 gallons bottling. Not happy about that. At least the hydro reading verified 77% efficiency.
What do you guys suggest for the trub? Dump it all in, even if it will be sitting in the primary three weeks and I'd like to reuse the yeast? Strain through a paint strainer or my BIAB bag? I've seen those recommendations on here through the search function, but I'm undecided.
THANK YOU ALL for the help getting my efficiency up. Couldn't be happier about that. Those yeasties are going crazy!
I received many good suggestions after posting here, and most of them involved me getting double-milled grains. A couple of other suggestions recommended some type of sparge. So, I decided to finish off my single-milled grain (again, low 50's) and then placed a big order with Ritebrew.
I decided to make a Tripel. I figured that with the large grain bill, even with low efficiency, I wouldn't end up with 3.5% abv hoppy cereal water.
I decided to give Beersmith a try (I've been using BrewTarget for a long time, which I do love) and developed my recipe. The grain bill ended up with 6.5 lbs for my 3 gallon batch, not including sugar. I also ordered pH paper (a real meter will have to wait), some Irish moss, yeast energizer and nutrient, and some Wyeast Belgian Strong Ale yeast.
My brew process went like so:
1. Wednesday, I made a 1 quart starter using DME and sugar to resemble my Tripel's makeup.
2. Friday, I made another 1.5 quarts of DME based wort and then split my original starter with it into two sanitized containers. Both fermented beautifully and smelled great.
3. Saturday, I took put one starter in the refridgerator to save, decant, and pitch next weekend (attempting a Belgian IPA), and began the brew process.
4. Heated ~3.1 gallons of water to 163. This actually ended up a little high after mash in, and I had to had add a little cold water to bring it down to ~152.
5. I put the kettle in an oven preheated to 170, and then turned the oven off. Mashed for one hour. Checked the temp with 15 minutes left... one degree lost!
6. Heated up 1 gallon of sparge water. Pulled the kettle out of the oven, lifted and spun the bag a bit, and then placed it in the sparge water and stirred. I let it sit in the sparge water a little less than ten minutes. I then put a basket upside down in that pot and pressed most of the remaining wort out of the bag.
7. Added the sparge water to the kettle. Drew a sample, tested with my hydrometer and adjusted for temp: 77% pre boil efficiency! I almost danced, and I'm no dancer. 3.8 gallons of wort to boil.
8. Boiled, followed the hops schedule, added the irish moss, cooled in an ice bath, and...
9. There was a ludicrous amount of trub. I boiled down to 3.2 gallons and I only got about 2.5 gallons into the fermentor before I was sucking sludge and irish moss. I'm sure I'll lose another .25-.5 gallons bottling. Not happy about that. At least the hydro reading verified 77% efficiency.
What do you guys suggest for the trub? Dump it all in, even if it will be sitting in the primary three weeks and I'd like to reuse the yeast? Strain through a paint strainer or my BIAB bag? I've seen those recommendations on here through the search function, but I'm undecided.
THANK YOU ALL for the help getting my efficiency up. Couldn't be happier about that. Those yeasties are going crazy!
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