help with sparging

[OBSCZONER]

hey all. I have made some exceptional beers using all grain and i may have even gotten on a high horse.. but my last few brews have had really poor efficiency and its hurtin my ego a bit.. i love making great beer and i love even more sharing it with my friends and family. when i plan to brew a brown and it ends as a type of mild. or aiming for a pale ale and get a pale mild it kinda sucks. Im hoping you can help my situation.. Im sure the problem is over sparging or something of the sort.. i dont have all the calculations from past batches on hand, however i do have the grain weight and batch size for my next batch, and average efficiency from my batches before the screw ups.

I am going to brew a brown ale. American Brown ale

4 gallon batch
9 lb grist with 1.50 Quart water per lb of grain for mash

past efficiency has ranged from 63%-67%

Any help with calculating the sparge amounts and such is more then appreciated. and thank you for your time

PROST

Also i usually use promash for my calculations unless i feel like bustin out the pen and pad.

 

[Stauffbier]

Are you batch or fly sparging?

Did you used to get better efficiency or has it always been in the mid 60's?

 

[OBSCZONER]

Fly sparging. and i have gotten better efficiency but on average out of all my brews since october 2011 its been around 63 - 67 %

 

[Stauffbier]

Do you check for starch conversion with an iodine test at the end of your mash? You might need to mash longer. If you're not getting good conversion before you start sparging your efficiency will be low. Make sure your sparge temp is getting the grain bed to around 168-170F and drain slower (if you're not doing these things already).. There are a lot of things that can lead to low efficiency. Without knowing what equipment you use and your process it's hard to troubleshoot.

 

[OBSCZONER]

i dont test with iodine or anything like that. i dont usually test the temp while sparging though i do test the temp of my sparge water. I have been worried about the flow rate of my sparge though. sometime i do it faster or slower and i think that may be an issue. I will make sure to get a good steady flow next time around and see how it plays out. I know it is all trial and error i just thought there may be something i was missing even it is something tiny. Thank you for the help and if you have any more pointers feel free to express them.

Cheers

 

[Scubajay]

It may be a little to late to help but after you sparge take a sample of grain from the center of your grain bed and taste it to see if you are leaving any sugar behind.