How to calculate efficiency? Why is mine so low!

[blizz81]

However you want, just not any lower than .045 or the grains won't go through, and worried for some reason (?) about running through twice....haha...still a bit puzzled with this LHBS. Glad to see numbers are up, sure you can do better (if you're interested in it).

 

[bairdo]

Your LHBS is taking the p*ss - that first crush pic you posted is just plain terrible. Agreed its looking better though.

Like you I went through all this too - here's the thread https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/why-my-efficiency-so-low-472572/

To summarize I was stuffing up 3 things.
1. Grain crush was rubbish
2. Was fly sparging too fast
3. Sparge water was not hot enough

After adjusting those 3 things my low efficiency problem went away.

Btw as a result I got myself a MM2 mill. It's set to 0.45. I can go tighter on the gap but I'm happy with the crush for now.

 

[Lithobid]

I was playing on the cautious side with this last batch. The next batch I'll be switching to a fly sparging system, and I'm also going to send all the grains throughout twice at the 0.45mm setting. I'm learning a lot with each go, and thanks to he advice here from the forum, I'm documenting everything well, and avoiding lost of other easy beginner mistakes. Thanks again for your help!

 

[stratslinger]

Folks - just keep in mind units here - and this is where I have to really question what the LHBS is telling OP about what their mill is set at (or OP's interpretation thereof):

They say it's set at .45mm - are you positive it's .45mm, and not .045" (inches)? Seems weird that a place in Ohio would be using metric, but not completely unbelievable... Anyway, if they are really using metric, and it's truly 0.45mm, that converts to roughly .018". I routinely set my mill to about .035", and I know I get a finer crush than what has been pictured so far by OP.

If it's .045", that would jive with the pictures, and the LHBS is talking out their hindquarters when saying that they can't run their grain through if they close the gap any further (well, unless it's a really slapdash mill, I guess).

If they're indeed telling you .45mm though, then they're flat out lying about what they're set to. I would believe that they wouldn't want to go smaller than a .45mm gap - but they're no where near that gap with the crush they're giving you.

 

[Lithobid]

Stratslinger

Excellent info, and I will investigate, I'm a little taken aback at how folks think the LHBS guy is lying or crazy, you all must have had some really terrible experiences in the past. I think it's much more likely, that a newbie brewer, is not accurately conveying information in this "telephone" style game. He's a good guy, and offers great service, and is equally interested in solving my effiecency woes.

 

[afr0byte]

Stratslinger

Excellent info, and I will investigate, I'm a little taken aback at how folks think the LHBS guy is lying or crazy, you all must have had some really terrible experiences in the past. I think it's much more likely, that a newbie brewer, is not accurately conveying information in this "telephone" style game. He's a good guy, and offers great service, and is equally interested in solving my effiecency woes.

Pictures don't lie, and it's pretty unusual if a mill cant go lower than .045.

 

[Lithobid]

So enjoyed a lovely Sunday with fall colors, and a little time off from work today. Was not planning on brewing, all fermenters are full, though wanted to goto the LHBS and fiddle with the mill, and see what kind of results I can get.

The first picture is running some 2-row through at 0.45mm (checked and it is in mm on this mill) twice over. It gave a good crush, better than what I last posted in my opinion, though still not what other posters have put up.

So I asked the LHBS to set the mill at 0.39mm for a tighter crush. We set the mill put in the grain and started running it through. Guess what, it didn't go through!!! You could spin the mill all day long, and not a kernel would go through. Then the HBS suggested running it through at 0.45, then reset the mill and run it through at 0.39. Worked brilliantly! That's the second picture and to me looks just about right. All endosperm are out of the shell and crushed/cracked thoroughly, and the shells are intact 3/4 of the way to set up a nice filter during sparge.

I'm gonna do some tests with both to check grain bed set up and efficiency. I'm concluding that this mill is similar to others, and that you can't mill beginning at 0.39 or less, but have to start with a larger gap and then re-run at a tighter setting. If so, this is important information for a newbie to know!

Thanks again for the help!

 

[afr0byte]

View attachment 230535View attachment 230536

So enjoyed a lovely Sunday with fall colors, and a little time off from work today. Was not planning on brewing, all fermenters are full, though wanted to goto the LHBS and fiddle with the mill, and see what kind of results I can get.

The first picture is running some 2-row through at 0.45mm (checked and it is in mm on this mill) twice over. It gave a good crush, better than what I last posted in my opinion, though still not what other posters have put up.

So I asked the LHBS to set the mill at 0.39mm for a tighter crush. We set the mill put in the grain and started running it through. Guess what, it didn't go through!!! You could spin the mill all day long, and not a kernel would go through. Then the HBS suggested running it through at 0.45, then reset the mill and run it through at 0.39. Worked brilliantly! That's the second picture and to me looks just about right. All endosperm are out of the shell and crushed/cracked thoroughly, and the shells are intact 3/4 of the way to set up a nice filter during sparge.

I'm gonna do some tests with both to check grain bed set up and efficiency. I'm concluding that this mill is similar to others, and that you can't mill beginning at 0.39 or less, but have to start with a larger gap and then re-run at a tighter setting. If so, this is important information for a newbie to know!

Thanks again for the help!

Most mills, in the US anyways, are set in thousandths of an inch, hence the confusion.

 

[afr0byte]

Also, if it actually is .45mm the grain should be crushed a lot more...that's less than half .039"

 

[turkeygecko]

When I did infusion mashes, I crushed around .025. Crush makes biggest difference.

Use the calculators at brewersfriend.com to calc efficiency


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[liquidlunch]

I have a question regarding this topic. I never figured out my efficiency before but my last beer I hit the number on my recipe dead on and I went back into Brewers friend calculator and it said I was at 60% efficiency. Is that my recipe or am I missing something. My software is set 70%

 

[user 141939]

Here's a neat thing. My efficiency has gone up almost five points when I got a new mash paddle. You see, i got a sweet one for my birthday. It is so much better at stirring up my wort during batch sparge that it showed up in my numbers. Love that thing.