Move to Rig and Efficiency Tanks

[splobucket]

I get all emotional about this topic over at my blog post. Here however, it will stay technical.

I've been all grain brewing for some time now. My original setup was a SS HLT and a Rubbermaid MT (see photo attached).

Well, I upgraded...

I was getting 80% efficiency on my Rubbermaid mash tun. Ever since I moved to R2-DBREW I've been getting a constant 50%. I dont get it. Process-wise nothing has changed. I'm hitting my temps, I'm sparging the same way. I've also tried eliminating the mash out, I've tried batch sparging as well. Sparging slow, sparging fast. Higher temps, lower temps. I can't get it to change.

My process is such. I fill up my mash tun with water. I fill up my HLT with water. I have a pump that continuously circulates the mash water through some piping. When it needs heat, the mash gets sent through a coil immersed in the HLT water. When it doesn't need heat, it bypasses. But it never stops circulating. I did this on my old setup, and I do this on my new setup.

80% down to 50%. I don't get it. Any help? I have attached a copy of my Beersmith Hardware profile for analysis, my Beersmith recipe, and a PDF of the recipe.

Please help.

View attachment Recipe.pdf

View attachment R2-DBREW.bsmx

View attachment SH2B V2.bsmx

 

[grathan]

Maybe you forgot to add some crystal malt?

Did you calibrate the new thermometers?

 

[splobucket]

I actually did end up forgetting some malt, but this is the adjusted recipe... still very low %.

I did double check the thermometers and they're all reading within a couple of degrees of actual temp.

 

[ChuckO]

You have a different MLT, possibly there is residual sugar in the grains due to channeling during the fly sparge?

Try an experiment:
1) Measure the SG of the final runnings.
2) Put the spent grain in a bag and squeeze it dry.
3) Measure the SG of the wort drained from the bag.

I'll bet that you have changed your manifold/false bottom setup and left quite a bit of the sugars in the grain.

 

[splobucket]

Technically all I changed was the vessel. I still use a stainless mesh false bottom and a blichmann autosparge. How often do I stir my mash to prevent the channeling? Maybe I have to try to compact my mash during sparge?

 

[grathan]

I'm not too familiar with rigs or rims, but does the HLT remain fired up during the mash or does it maintain a certain temperature? My thought here was that possibly the liquid in the coils was getting denatured by high temps while it doesn't circulate.

 

[ChuckO]

I'm using a RIMS system, not HERMS, so I have my wort circulating all of the time and turn the heat on/off as required. Once I stir like crazy to get the dough in finished I don't do any further stirring. I let the wort circulation do it all for me. This gently sets the grain bed and gets the wort very clear before I start the sparge. You don't want to compact the mash if you are doing a fly sparge.

You might try a batch sparge to see if that improves efficiency.

 

[splobucket]

I have tried batch sparging and have not noticed an improvement.

I tried probing the mash again in a few different locations and I may be 5 to 8 degrees higher than I think I am. I dont think that should make too much of a difference if I'm mashing at 148, but it's worth a shot.

I also tried using different water. The one thing that changed is that now I used filtered water. I thought maybe the charcoal filter pulled my pH out of the proper range. No change.

 

[grathan]

Certainly channeling could be a factor. Does the false-bottom fit the vessel the same as the old one? What about dead space beneath the false bottom, is it similar?

 

[splobucket]

Technically no. I use the same false bottom, but originally it sucked off the top of the dome and to a spigot in the side of the keg. I've plugged that original opening and now I have the spigot below the false bottom, directly on the bottom of the keg.