hi pumpy,
based on yesterday, the grain crushing has definitely had something to do with my low efficiency (not to mention my frustration). now that seems to be sorted, so it's time to start looking elsewhere, as you've said (a few times!).
In terms of doughing-in, that may be an issue, as all i do at the moment is add maybe 1/3 or 1/2 of the strike water and give the grains a good mix so theres no dry spots, etc. i don't really check the temperature here or leave it for any amount of time. after that i add all the rest of the strike water, mix thoroughly and check temps, etc, then leave for an hour. i can get the starting mash temp pretty well, but after an hour it does drop a bit, maybe 2-3deg. i've usually been doing a 10 min mashout at 75deg by adding a few L of boiling water, then batch sparging, using sparge water that's pretty well at 75deg.
so, any suggestions based on that? probably the main area i can easily improve is douging-in, but i am limited a bit by equipment at the moment - my esky mashtun is 25L, which i now realise is probably a bit small - i can only really do one hot water addition, sometimes none.
anyway, let me know what you think,
cheers,
rob
based on yesterday, the grain crushing has definitely had something to do with my low efficiency (not to mention my frustration). now that seems to be sorted, so it's time to start looking elsewhere, as you've said (a few times!).
In terms of doughing-in, that may be an issue, as all i do at the moment is add maybe 1/3 or 1/2 of the strike water and give the grains a good mix so theres no dry spots, etc. i don't really check the temperature here or leave it for any amount of time. after that i add all the rest of the strike water, mix thoroughly and check temps, etc, then leave for an hour. i can get the starting mash temp pretty well, but after an hour it does drop a bit, maybe 2-3deg. i've usually been doing a 10 min mashout at 75deg by adding a few L of boiling water, then batch sparging, using sparge water that's pretty well at 75deg.
so, any suggestions based on that? probably the main area i can easily improve is douging-in, but i am limited a bit by equipment at the moment - my esky mashtun is 25L, which i now realise is probably a bit small - i can only really do one hot water addition, sometimes none.
anyway, let me know what you think,
cheers,
rob
