warra48
I've drunk all my homebrew and I'm still worried.
I've never understood why brewers let their mash sit for 10 minutes after adding water and before draining. Just what is this supposed to do?
I'm hamstrung by a relatively small mash tun of only 25 litres. I use a manifold, designed on the principles outlined in Palmer's How to Brew. Works fine for me. I add a mashout to bring my mashtun up to capacity, stir, immediately vorlauf and run off slowly so as not to set the mash and have it stick. It takes probably about 30 minutes or longer to drain the first runnings. I add my 90C sparge water to fill the mashtun to capacity, stir, and immediately vorlauf and run off slowly. I then need to sparge with a further 5 to 6 litres to collect 31 to 32 litres pre-boil. All up my draining/sparging process takes an hour or longer, but once each step is underway I can leave it be and do other things.
I have no difficulty in achieving 90%+ mash efficiency this way.
I use a MillMaster, set at a gap between 1 and 1.1 mm (depends on where the rollers are when I measure it!). I think it gives me a very good crush at this gap.
I'm convinced a quick run-off is part of the answer the the OP's problem, as are some others in this thread.
I'm hamstrung by a relatively small mash tun of only 25 litres. I use a manifold, designed on the principles outlined in Palmer's How to Brew. Works fine for me. I add a mashout to bring my mashtun up to capacity, stir, immediately vorlauf and run off slowly so as not to set the mash and have it stick. It takes probably about 30 minutes or longer to drain the first runnings. I add my 90C sparge water to fill the mashtun to capacity, stir, and immediately vorlauf and run off slowly. I then need to sparge with a further 5 to 6 litres to collect 31 to 32 litres pre-boil. All up my draining/sparging process takes an hour or longer, but once each step is underway I can leave it be and do other things.
I have no difficulty in achieving 90%+ mash efficiency this way.
I use a MillMaster, set at a gap between 1 and 1.1 mm (depends on where the rollers are when I measure it!). I think it gives me a very good crush at this gap.
I'm convinced a quick run-off is part of the answer the the OP's problem, as are some others in this thread.