I need help figuring out why I can’t brew anymore lol

[Saunassa]

I doubt I was running the burner at full blast back in Ohio but have no clue how hard I was running it generally. So there is room to work there, but I need a baseline, and the 2.3 gallons is at full strength of the burner and at least I can use that for reference (and it's what I've done the last two brews). My kettle is wide, the burner is strong,

. It sounds like you are using the burner full out for the last two brews. Is this correct? As I understand it we just need a gentle rolling boil and not one that looks like a hot tub. They probably mix Lpg for different climates and your burner for the same setting is more efficient then before? This might help explain, along with possibly drier climate, that multiple people experience this moving to Texas.

 

[woodmansee]

So update: We brewed again about two weeks ago. Made a couple changes to our strategy.
1) Calculated for the 2.3g boil-off rate, as well as grain absorption and mash tun loss.
2)Double crushed the grain for this run, which felt risky since it is a wheat beer and I didn't want to get a stuck sparge but it went fine
3) Used bottled spring water instead of tap water.

The recipe was similar but not identical to the last wheat beer we did, but close enough that I think they can be compared in terms of the mash and boil aspects.

This brew went exactly as planned. We carefully measured all our volumes to ensure we were putting in and getting out what we expected. We also checked the mash pH (not much concern here though with the spring water) and it was 5.2-5.3 so perfect. Temps stayed right where we wanted them, got the expected volume into the boil kettle with a pre-boil gravity of 1.038 (target 1.040). Boiled at full strength still, and ended up with ~5.5-5.75 gallons into the fermenter at 1.055 OG (Target 1.058).

I don't have a final gravity yet, but should be transferring it any day (as soon as the keg kicks) and will get that reading then. But overall, I'm really happy. My next plan is to run a very small mash with double-crushed grains and tap water to determine if the water itself is hurting my efficiency. This brew clocked in right at 72% efficiency, so I want to compare that to a mash done the same way but with my water. However, I am just going to continue to double crush all my grains for the time being to be safe. The mini-mash will give me more information on what was actually happening, but at least for now, I have a path to hit my targets!

 

[IslandLizard]

Good to hear you're back in the brewing game. Congrats!

This brew clocked in right at 72% efficiency

Wheat and Rye malt kernels are much smaller than barley and really need a tighter gap.
On my 2-roller Monster Mill 0.026" vs. 0.034" for barley to get them crushed well enough. Running through twice on a wider gap won't get them crushed well enough as once through an appropriately narrower gap would.

Oat malt kernels (not flaked oats) are much narrower, needle like, they need an even tighter gap.

If you use a fair percentage of small kernel grain, wider gaps will tank your mash efficiency.

2.3 gallon boil off per hour is still way too much. There must be ways to reduce that to around 1 gallon/hr.

 

[balrog]

+1 on the boil off rate. Wasting many much energyzen, making much unnecessary mash volume. Turn down the burn. Roiling boil. Just get the water moving.

 

[Lorne Lemaire]

i would like to add that the speed at which wort is drawn from mash tun is very important as well. Too fast and sugars will be left behind also mash out/sparge temperature needs to be right as higher temperature (174) will aid in extraction.

 

[skidaddytn]

Also what can really lose a lot of water is if you wait until you have all of your sparge done before lighting the burner. I usually fire the burner as soon as I have a few inches and try to keep it to where I'm ready to rock and roll as soon as the brew pot hits the pre-60 min mark. Usually since the mash/sparge temperature is already hot, it doesn't take as much heat to maintain as it is filling.

 

[TheMadKing]

i would like to add that the speed at which wort is drawn from mash tun is very important as well. Too fast and sugars will be left behind also mash out/sparge temperature needs to be right as higher temperature (174) will aid in extraction.

The rate at which the wort leaves the mash tun has no impact on the amount of sugars in solution - just something to keep in mind. A person batch sparging can drain the mash tun in a few minutes, and then do a series of batch sparges and be far more efficient than someone who drains the mash tun over the course of 2 hours and does not sparge at all.

Also what can really lose a lot of water is if you wait until you have all of your sparge done before lighting the burner. I usually fire the burner as soon as I have a few inches and try to keep it to where I'm ready to rock and roll as soon as the brew pot hits the pre-60 min mark. Usually since the mash/sparge temperature is already hot, it doesn't take as much heat to maintain as it is filling.

Can you clarify this?

Lighting the burner while your boil kettle is filling causes you to evaporate wort from your boil kettle at a faster rate than keeping the burner off because the temperature will be higher for longer. I'm not sure I'm fully understanding what you're saying though

 

[Lorne Lemaire]

The rate at which the wort leaves the mash tun has no impact on the amount of sugars in solution - just something to keep in mind. A person batch sparging can drain the mash tun in a few minutes, and then do a series of batch sparges and be far more efficient than someone who drains the mash tun over the course of 2 hours and does not sparge at all.



Can you clarify this?

Lighting the burner while your boil kettle is filling causes you to evaporate wort from your boil kettle at a faster rate than keeping the burner off because the temperature will be higher for longer. I'm not sure I'm fully understanding what you're saying though

i guess I was thinking about fly sparging and obviously using sparge water, If sparging in this manner speed is important as fresh water needs time to draw sugars out of the inside of the grist and into solution so that they can be extracted.