Jump in efficiency switching to Brewzilla?

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Walking_Target

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Just finished my first brew day on my new Brewzilla 35L and had a real interesting result from the mash.

My recipe is as follows:

5kg 2 row
100g Melanoidin
100g Carapils
100g Acid malt
500ml rice hulls

22l strike water, 11.5l sparge water, mashed in @65C for a 90 minute mash, sparged by hand over 20-ish minutes

I had an expected pre-boil gravity of 1.44-1.47. what I actually got was 1.57


Anyone else have a 10% or so jump in efficiency when switching to this setup?
 
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Would really have to have detailed descriptions of your new process and your old process to have any idea what might have caused an increase in efficiency. Was your grain crushed by the same supplier, or with the same mill settings if you crush your own? Were there any other changes besides the equipment change?

Brew on :mug:
 
On the Brewzilla 35L, I usually plan for 75% efficiency and usually do a bit better. A couple of times, I've done worse. Grain crush is important but so are water-to-grain ratio & length of mash. My longer mashes usually have higher efficiency.
 
I typically get around 80% but last brew got 84% with a 9lb grain bill in my 35L Brewzilla. I mash in at 5.5 gallon and do a quick sparge with about 1-1.5 gallon. Biggest help for me was removing the fine screen at the bottom, that screen caused me many headaches.
 
Would really have to have detailed descriptions of your new process and your old process to have any idea what might have caused an increase in efficiency. Was your grain crushed by the same supplier, or with the same mill settings if you crush your own? Were there any other changes besides the equipment change?

Brew on :mug:


My old process was standard 3 vessel with fly sparge, slightly lower mash in volume, but made up for with the sparge .

Big change was the new setup with recirc pump.

The recipe and mash schedule are all the same; this is one of my standby recipes for a pretty neutral malt "base". I use it for trying new hops and yeast combos and it generally turns out at 4.9%. after boil this time I have 1.55 - I topped up with water and ran off a bunch of wort, processed it for canned starters.

I'm looking at something like a 10% increase in efficiency, something like mid 80s.
 
My old process was standard 3 vessel with fly sparge, slightly lower mash in volume, but made up for with the sparge .

Big change was the new setup with recirc pump.

The recipe and mash schedule are all the same; this is one of my standby recipes for a pretty neutral malt "base". I use it for trying new hops and yeast combos and it generally turns out at 4.9%. after boil this time I have 1.55 - I topped up with water and ran off a bunch of wort, processed it for canned starters.

I'm looking at something like a 10% increase in efficiency, something like mid 80s.
Probably getting an increase in conversion of starch to sugar (conversion efficiency) due to the continuous recirculation, and maybe the thinner mash. Not likely that you could improve on lauter efficiency over a fly sparge. Mash efficiency = conversion efficiency * lauter efficiency.

Brew on :mug:
 
I almost always exceed the OG projections of More Beer and Northern Brewers by 12-15 points with my Brewzilla. I think that it mostly has to do with the recirculation during the mash. I don't use the overflow tube, and
have a 1/2" bolt to plug the hole. I stir the mash every 15 minutes or so. I also crush my own grains. I've brewed over 30 batches in the 13 months I've owned it and the lowest abv. I've had is 6.6%!
Impressive machine to say the least! I also like the fact that I've shortened my brew day to 4-4 1/2 hours with this setup.
 
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