Low efficiency. Why?

[WaltG]

Ok, First the recipe:

All Grain
5.5 gallons
4.78% Abv
OG 1.047
FG 1.010
46 IBUs
Color 6.8 SRM
Mash 152 for 60 mins

7.5 lbs Pale 2-row 78.9%
1.5 lbs crystal/caramel 15
.75 oz cascade FWH 60 min
2 oz Amarillo gold 5 mins
2 oz centennial hop stand 15 mins
.25 oz cascade hop stand 15 mins

1 us-05 at 67 degrees F for 10 Days

Dry hop in secondary for 4 days with:
1 oz Centennial
1 oz amarillo gold

So mashed at 152 for a little over an hour (sparge water was still heating up). Lost absolutely no temp in the mash. Then fly sparged, kept grain bed temp 165-170 for about an hour.

Came up with a OG of 1.035 or about 54%. What am I doing wrong here. I thought I had my equipment dialed in.

Also a picture of my setup.

I'm sure it'll be beer, just trying to get better at it.

 

[jekeane]

Is there a false bottom or braid / manifold in the bottom of your tun?

What is you grain crush like?

Are your volumes right?

 

[TheBigLebrewsk1]

Cool setup.
Check water PH, it needs to be acidic. But that would not account for a 20% drop in efficiency %. Like the last post said it's probably water volume, or boil off.

 

[WaltG]

Is there a false bottom or braid / manifold in the bottom of your tun?

What is you grain crush like?

Are your volumes right?

Crush is whatever my LHBS is set at.

Went a little high on the grain/water ratio since it was a light grain load.

View attachment 1440292008604.jpg

 

[govner1]

Don't want to seem dense but is the OG of 1.035 pre-boil? How did you measure; refractometer or hydrometer?

 

[Sammy86]

Did you drain the tun before you started your sparge?

Also, keeping the grain temp around 170 for an hour doesn't seem right to me...I don't think you're going to get sugar conversion at those temps for that long of a time

 

[WaltG]

Don't want to seem dense but is the OG of 1.035 pre-boil? How did you measure; refractometer or hydrometer?

Right before I pitched. Refractometer.

 

[WaltG]

Don't want to seem dense but is the OG of 1.035 pre-boil? How did you measure; refractometer or hydrometer?

Right before I pitched. Refractometer.

 

[ba-brewer]

Mine came in low today also, I'm blaming it on El Niño.

I'm thinking about trying fly sparging so I'm curious to see how this ends.

 

[Gavin C]

The biggest improvements will come from 3 things

• Crush finer
  
• Mash Thinner
  
• Exacting control of mash temperature in the first 15 minutes of the mash.

You might find some use from this.

• Efficacy of your sparge

Is also very important (if you sparge)

• Eliminate volume losses

 

[WaltG]

The biggest improvements will come from 3 things

• Crush finer
  
• Mash Thinner
  
• Exacting control of mash temperature in the first 15 minutes of the mash.

You might find some use from this.

• Efficacy of your sparge

Is also very important (if you sparge)

• Eliminate volume losses

My grain/water ratio was around the 1.5 range. When I put the lid on my mash tun it was 152 and 152 when it was done. I might be sparing a bit hot. My grain bed stayed 165-170 the whole time. I did end up adding 1 gallon water. Runnings were getting below 1.010 and was still shy of my target.

 

[Gavin C]

Adding water is going to knock big chunks off your efficiency.

On the mash thickness. I mash at ~3 qts/pound of grain. No sparge brewing.

Thinner mashes are well proven to promote higher efficiencies in a lot of circumstances.

The problem is almost certainly going to be the crush. Get a mill and crush as fine (not so fine as to get a stuck sparge) as you can.

An effective grain mill will set you back ~$99

Also google corona mill. Lots of folks use them. ~$30

To be efficient and consistent you need control over your crush. Having your own mill is a wise investment that will greatly benefit your consistency.

 

[ba-brewer]

I know people check the gravity as a fly sparge progresses but do they also check gravity before starting the sparge?

Seems like it might help determine if the conversion is complete or help identify if there are issues with the mash or the sparge.

 

[WaltG]

I know people check the gravity as a fly sparge progresses but do they also check gravity before starting the sparge?

Seems like it might help determine if the conversion is complete or help identify if there are issues with the mash or the sparge.

I always stop at 1.010 because that's apparently where you start to get tannins.

 

[ba-brewer]

I knew about the tannin thing, even though I batch I try not to do any sparges that would go below 1010 as well. I have a 5gal cooler and quite often do 90min boils so I am usually doing 3 sparges. That is also why I am thinking about trying fly sparging as it take me almost as long anyway.

So did you check gravity before starting your sparge, was it in line with other times or was it lower?

When I come up short on my expected gravities, like today, I do a longer boil to bring the gravity up. I prefer to have less beer of my intended ABV instead of more of a weaker one. Dont have to worry about the hop schedule as much that way too.

 

[funnelweb]

I read nothing about mash pH? Crucial!

LHBS crush use to be pretty coarse hence use more grains.

Alkalinity? Do you treat your water acc. to a water report?

 

[Gavin C]

Mash pH is not nearly as important from an efficiency stand-point.

Very important when it comes to flavor/mouthfeel etc.

If your pH is out of whack but your other mash parameters are all ideal you will still get the most from your system in terms of efficiency. It is quite possible to get very high efficiencies without giving a single thought to mash pH. The majority of brewers seem to do just that.

The big ones

Grain crush

Mash thickness

Appropriate and homogenous temperature of the mash

Effective sparging. (if you sparge)

 

[funnelweb]

Mash pH is not nearly as important from an efficiency stand-point.

Very important when it comes to flavor/mouthfeel etc.

If your pH is out of whack but your other mash parameters are all ideal you will still get the most from your system in terms of efficiency. It is quite possible to get very high efficiencies without giving a single thought to mash pH. The majority of brewers seem to do just that.

The big ones

Grain crush

Mash thickness

Appropriate and homogenous temperature of the mash

Effective sparging. (if you sparge)

I don't disagree in with what you say reg. grain crush etc., but optimizing your pH would also optimize your enzyme activity?

"Improved enzyme activity during the mash, leading to better conversion of starches to sugars"

http://beersmith.com/blog/2015/05/07/mash-ph-and-why-it-matters-for-all-grain-beer-brewing/

(Courtesy og Beersmith.com)

And this quote:

"But pH is something that many brewers do not bother with. By adjusting your pH in the mash you can increase your efficiency 5 to 10%. Without getting too deep into water chemistry, most base malts when mashed with distilled water will have a pH of 5.7 to 5.8, from the natural acidifying action of the malt. But beta amylase likes a ph of 5 to 5.6 and alpha amylase like it a little higher, between 5.3 and 5.8. (Remember, ph readings are always assumed to be at room temperature). So a good general overall mash pH is 5.5"

http://bitterandesters.com/improving-efficiency/

(Courtesy of bitterandesters.com)

And last: http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/adjusting-mash-ph.99621/ #14

(Courtesy og beeradvocate.com)