ghpeel
Well-Known Member
Hi all, I really respect you experienced guys here and I want to ask your opinion......
I have been doing a partial-mash almost-all grain process for several batches in a row and have had really REALLY high efficiencies (just did one today that's like 90-something maybe?), so much so that I am worried that either my methods of calculating them are wrong, or that I am doing something that will negatively impact my beer (although 3 of my 5 batches like this are tasting good).
My method revolves around 7 to 7.5 lbs of grain. Mostly the base grain plus flavoring grains. I add to this 1-3 lbs of dry extract or sugars (panela, sucrose, etc), depending on the recipe and the final gravity that I need.
To mash, I pour my 7.25 lbs of grain into a paint strainer, put it in a cooler and then mash in with 13 quarts of water, at usually 166F or so, to hit my starting temp. I use 5.2 stabalizer, and stir the mash every so often. After 60 min I pull the grain bag out, let it drain for a sec, then dump that first wort into my kettle. This grain to water ration equals about 1.8 qts / lb. Its sort of in between traditional mashing and BIAB.
I put my drained grain bag back into the cooler and sparge with 12-13 qts 176-180F water, which brings that grain mass back up to 170F or so (I think this is were my efficiency really goes up). I stir that thing real good for a bit, and after 10 min I pull the bag out and dump that wort into the kettle too.
So my efficiency with this is usually 82% but today I did everything as normal and ended up with maybe 91%??? Here was the recipe for my Duvel-like ale:
In the mash
7.25 american pilsner
1 lb Dry malt extract (yes, in the mash)
4 tablets Beano (do they affect efficiency?)
In the kettle (last 10 min or so)
2 lbs table sugar (Yeah!)
Jamil Zanisheff(sp?). advises to re-mash your extract with your base grains when doing a partial mash that you want to get really low final gravity on. Weird huh! He's the most award winning home brewer active today and actually uses 3-F'in POUNDS of table sugar in his 6 gallon batches of Golden Ale.
So I was shooting for a gravity of 1.069 - 1.070 and instead I hit 1.077!
I weighted out the sugar, and I am also very sure that the brew store guy gave me exactly 7.25 lbs of pilsner, so my question is this: what is causing this efficiency to be this high?? Am I measuring it wrong or something??
I have been brewing for almost 2 years now, and when I started, I used kits exclusively. I would always measure the beer's gravity, and my gravities (since I was using all extract recipes) would match the exact gravity that the kit advertised, so I know how to take a reading (65 degrees, adjust if hotter or colder, spin to dislodge bubbles, etc).
So if my efficiency is this high, am I "over-sparging"? In light of all the awesome Brew-In-A-Bag stuff, I don't think so, as they mash with ratios like 3qts/lb and such.
I've done 5 batches (including my 90%er today), and all have been 80% eff and up, except for one that i missed my 'mash out' temp by about 6 degrees. That one was about 70% and so I think that 170F mashout is really a key here.
Any advice or comments would be awesome ... thanks!
I have been doing a partial-mash almost-all grain process for several batches in a row and have had really REALLY high efficiencies (just did one today that's like 90-something maybe?), so much so that I am worried that either my methods of calculating them are wrong, or that I am doing something that will negatively impact my beer (although 3 of my 5 batches like this are tasting good).
My method revolves around 7 to 7.5 lbs of grain. Mostly the base grain plus flavoring grains. I add to this 1-3 lbs of dry extract or sugars (panela, sucrose, etc), depending on the recipe and the final gravity that I need.
To mash, I pour my 7.25 lbs of grain into a paint strainer, put it in a cooler and then mash in with 13 quarts of water, at usually 166F or so, to hit my starting temp. I use 5.2 stabalizer, and stir the mash every so often. After 60 min I pull the grain bag out, let it drain for a sec, then dump that first wort into my kettle. This grain to water ration equals about 1.8 qts / lb. Its sort of in between traditional mashing and BIAB.
I put my drained grain bag back into the cooler and sparge with 12-13 qts 176-180F water, which brings that grain mass back up to 170F or so (I think this is were my efficiency really goes up). I stir that thing real good for a bit, and after 10 min I pull the bag out and dump that wort into the kettle too.
So my efficiency with this is usually 82% but today I did everything as normal and ended up with maybe 91%??? Here was the recipe for my Duvel-like ale:
In the mash
7.25 american pilsner
1 lb Dry malt extract (yes, in the mash)
4 tablets Beano (do they affect efficiency?)
In the kettle (last 10 min or so)
2 lbs table sugar (Yeah!)
Jamil Zanisheff(sp?). advises to re-mash your extract with your base grains when doing a partial mash that you want to get really low final gravity on. Weird huh! He's the most award winning home brewer active today and actually uses 3-F'in POUNDS of table sugar in his 6 gallon batches of Golden Ale.
So I was shooting for a gravity of 1.069 - 1.070 and instead I hit 1.077!
I weighted out the sugar, and I am also very sure that the brew store guy gave me exactly 7.25 lbs of pilsner, so my question is this: what is causing this efficiency to be this high?? Am I measuring it wrong or something??
I have been brewing for almost 2 years now, and when I started, I used kits exclusively. I would always measure the beer's gravity, and my gravities (since I was using all extract recipes) would match the exact gravity that the kit advertised, so I know how to take a reading (65 degrees, adjust if hotter or colder, spin to dislodge bubbles, etc).
So if my efficiency is this high, am I "over-sparging"? In light of all the awesome Brew-In-A-Bag stuff, I don't think so, as they mash with ratios like 3qts/lb and such.
I've done 5 batches (including my 90%er today), and all have been 80% eff and up, except for one that i missed my 'mash out' temp by about 6 degrees. That one was about 70% and so I think that 170F mashout is really a key here.
Any advice or comments would be awesome ... thanks!