nathan_madness
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Has anyone else found that when your efficiency gets up around 95% you don't get very good malt flavours?
If you BIAB and crush to flour, it's possibleslash22000 said:Nope, because nobody gets efficiency around 95%.
nathan_madness said:Well I consistently get between 93-96% so it's possible.
If you add 1-3% in error of SG, volumes etc then it's probably in the 90's and diluted like a boss...Chunkious said:Are you hitting your OG?
Is your eff based off volume into your FV only?
Ah, ok. I'm not a BIAB-er, so someone please chime in and dispute or reinforce as required...nathan_madness said:Yes, I hit my OG and sometimes over by a point or two. My batch size is always 25L and I have never had much less than that.
The efficiency is calculated by BeerSmith. My current brewing method is recirc BIAB with a 13L sparge using the a slightly modified Hochkurz step mash.
I would definitely say that by the time you accumulate volume and SG error the actual efficiency is probably in the low 90's.mckenry said:How are you measuring your numbers? Refrac or hydrometer? Checked them against water and a known SG solution?
I thought my efficiency was getting better, by 10% no less, due to a few tweaks, crush gap, underletting etc, but my refrac had moved 5 points!! Eff was really still 75%.
My mash efficiency is however, close to 90% - you're not reading that are you?
Yes definitely! Have been reducing the amount of sparge water by taking 9L (for a double batch) from the sparge water volume in my HLT and transferring this directly to the kettle. This reduces my sparge volume by 9L (from an average of 33L down to 24L), all targets remain the same, less astringency, more maltiness. I'm still working on upping less dextrinous malts such as crystal etc to improve this. Spent years on working toward maximum fermentability and dry beers. No my mash efficiency is in the 90's I need to work on increasing malt profile.nathan_madness said:Has anyone else found that when your efficiency gets up around 95% you don't get very good malt flavours?
Just to clarify, I still prepare the same volume of sparge water but use 9L less of it for sparging, the 9L goes straight to the kettle. Here's how it goes for a double batch using around 9Kg of grain. I prepare 64L of water (filter and adjust PH) in the HLT and heat to mash temp, say 66°C. Drain 30L from HLT to the mash tun and add the grist, give a stir and close up. Start recirculating (HERMS) and during the sacch rest heat the remaining water in the HLT to 77°C for sparging. While ramping to Mash Out temp I drain 9L from the HLT to the kettle leaving 25L for sparging.nathan_madness said:I will try and use half the amount of sparge water next brew and see what happens. Worst case if I don't hit targets because of the percentage drop I can easily add a little DME to bump up the numbers.
I am currently planning a 3v system that should help control all these things better. BIAB is just to difficult to replicate brew after brew.
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