Poor efficiency

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JeffNYC

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I just brewed a Belgian Tripel, roughly 14 lbs of grains. My utilization was quite low, like 55%, much lower than my past 5 AG beers. I mashed at a higher temp (158) to give some body. I mashed for about 45 minutes. One thing I noticed is that not all the grains were wet in the middle at the bottom of the mashtun--I didn't stir it enough. Not sure if that is the sole problem here, or if anyone has other thoughts. I'll correct it with another lb of sugar in the secondary--I only used one pound originally so I should be OK.
 
Gravity happens (or not). I say just keep records and see what trend you settle into. Then calculate from there. With grain and so forth as cheap as it is I think 15 % loss is not a big deal. IMHO of course.
 
JeffNYC said:
I just brewed a Belgian Tripel, roughly 14 lbs of grains. My utilization was quite low, like 55%, much lower than my past 5 AG beers.

...I mashed at a higher temp (158) to give some body
...not all the grains were wet in the middle at the bottom of the mashtun

I think those two issues are easily responsible for the inefficiency you experienced.
 
I didn't think a high temp (within the 150-158 range) would impact efficiency, per se, it would just mean that more of the sugars that were converted were unfermentable? :confused:
 
If you get poor efficiency during the mash/sparge, I would suggest that the first thing to do is to determine if it is the mash or sparge that is responsible.
An Iodine test should show if you have any unconverted starches left in the mash (an indication of a mash problem), and taking the gravity of the final runnings from the sparge should indicate if there is a sparging problem. With a good sparge, the final runnings should have a gravity of about 1.010. If noticeably higher than this, your sparge techinque could stand some improvement.

But dry grains in the mash certainly sounds to be a contributing factor.

-a.
 
I batch sparge. Normally I get 65%-68% efficiency, including other beer with modestly high OG. This was the first that I used a slightly higher mash temperature (and a shorter mash time), but it seems that it is simply not having all grain mashed. Live and learn.

I'm looking forward to doing my next beer, a Classic American Pilsner...
 
For what it's worth, I mash a minimum of 90 minutes, even at a higher temp. I just seem to get better results that way...

However, I agree with the others; dry spots are probably the problem. And since you mention these dry spots, I'm wondering how thick your mash is.... I mash at 1 1/3 quarts of water per 1lb of grain- makes for easy stirring, easy temp control, and an enzyme-friendy environment.

g'luck, jp
 
Brewpastor said:
mmmmm, Classic American Pilsner! Are you using 2 or 6 row, and are you using adjunscts (corn)?

Using 10 lbs 6-row and 2 lbs corn, with Liberty hops and Wyeast 2035.
 
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