My efficiency sucks, can you help?

[bum]

I'm still sitting on around 70 % with no sparge so I have a way to go.

What's wrong with 70%?

 

[JDW81]

From my experience in chasing better efficiency(BIAB) - which has met with only limited success - I got better results from a finer crush than I did from a three hour mash. I'm still sitting on around 70 % with no sparge so I have a way to go.

Why do you want to increase you efficiency? There is nothing wrong with 70%. Hell there is nothing really wrong with 65%. Consistency is far more important than efficiency. If you are consistent then you can be sure your brews are balanced (as far as IBUs:Gravity ratios go). I'd much rather hit a regular and consistent 65%, than float between 80 and 85%. For me, hitting targets is far more important than chasing (in many cases) the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow known as high efficiency.

If you want to aim for 85% then more power to you, but high efficiency isn't necessarily the sign of a good brewer and won't guarantee you will make a good beer.

Let me just don my flame suit before I continue.

I think there are quite a few brewers who over-inflate their efficiency numbers in the interest of competing in the pissing competition that is the efficiency race.

Grain is cheap, so chuck in a extra few hundred grams to get your numbers up and concentrate on making good beer.

My 2c and more than happy to cop abuse from those who believe high efficiency is essential to making excellent beer.

JD.

 

[431neb]

Bum / JDW, I guess I bought into the pissing contest. From my reading (here)I figured it was a bit low.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

A proper crush is essentiall for improved eff. I aim for about 20-30% flour and no whole grains but try to keep the husk in tact.

 

[Phillo]

3V or BIAB Stu?

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

3v.......but I cant see why it would make a difference between the two....but I have never BIAB...

 

[Phillo]

3v.......but I cant see why it would make a difference between the two....but I have never BIAB...

Because the holes in a mesh bag are a wee bit smaller than holes in a manifold or falsie AFAIK, so most BIABers use a finer crush.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Hole size should have minimal effect on efficiency when it comes to crush...regardless of which method if you go to fine or to much flour you will end up with a stuck sparge....or drain in the case of BIAB

 

[Donske]

Hole size should have minimal effect on efficiency when it comes to crush...regardless of which method if you go to fine or to much flour you will end up with a stuck sparge....or drain in the case of BIAB

I went for a really fine crush on the brew I did on the weekend (BIAB with craftbrewer bag) and had the best drainage I've managed from the bloody thing, my efficiency still sucked but the time it took to drain wasn't unfuckingbearable like normal.

Just my 2 cents, I'm at the point where I'm just going to work with the 60% efficiancy I'm getting and get over it, pulling my bloody hair out trying to get anywhere near 70%.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Inteteresting....how fine was it...one mans fine is anothermans medium. Husks also help..the more intact the better.

A good tip is to wet your grain lightly before milling. this allows the husk to soften and remain intact but still allowing the hard endosperm to be crushed.You only need about 150ml to 5kg of grain.

 

[Donske]

Inteteresting....how fine was it...one mans fine is anothermans medium. Husks also help..the more intact the better.

A good tip is to wet your grain lightly before milling. this allows the husk to soften and remain intact but still allowing the hard endosperm to be crushed.You only need about 150ml to 5kg of grain.

Fairly fine, I'd say at least 30% flour and husks shredded, not on purpose, just kind of worked out that way using a mates home made mill.

Going to get my own mill soon I think so I can perfectly control my crush and remove another variable from my brewing.

I like the idea of wetting the grain before crushing, is there any methodoligy involved like leaving to soften up or merely throw some water over the grain bill and then mill?

 

[bum]

You don't need to be terribly concerned with the quality of husks with BIAB. You don't use a grain bed in that method so you can cope with much higher levels of flour.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

You have to stir the water through...basically put your grain in a bucket tip in the water then stick your hand in and stir so all the grains get damp. You dont need much water...less than a cup. Too much water will soften the grain. Let it sit for 5-10mins.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

You don't need to be terribly concerned with the quality of husks with BIAB. You don't use a grain bed in that method so you can cope with much higher levels of flour.

True. But it wont hurt either. Would be interesting to see the diff with BIAB. I know with mash tuns it does help

 

[bum]

When you pull the bag out all the wort basically run out around the outside(ish). There's no real concept of lautering with BIAB. I mean some guys set up all these pumps and stuff so they're setting up a grainbed but it is all undone when they pull the bag out.

 

[r055c0]

So I followed Ross' advice with a brew over the weekend and found a couple of things I'll need to adjust for.

• My mash temp was 4C lower than I expected, looks like although I calculated for the change between the grain and the water I hadn't allowed for the temperature of the mash tun itself.
• My prowess as a Microsoft Excel Wurzurd has been called into question as I completely stuffed up a calculation and didn't allow for grain soaking up water in the mash, meaning I fell 6L short of my target. The good news about this part is if I had added the extra water I would have nailed my volume so the rest of the calculations seem sound.

I was happy with the rest of my results, mash tun only dropped 0.5C over the course of a 2 hour mash (yep, I was chatting with mates and forgot, drinking may have been involved), my gravity came out close to what I had been looking for and the overall process was pretty smooth. Looking forward to doing it again with the adjusted temps and volumes.

 

[mash head]

Good work.

 

[Dunkelbrau]

Why do you want to increase you efficiency? There is nothing wrong with 70%. Hell there is nothing really wrong with 65%. Consistency is far more important than efficiency. If you are consistent then you can be sure your brews are balanced (as far as IBUs:Gravity ratios go). I'd much rather hit a regular and consistent 65%, than float between 80 and 85%. For me, hitting targets is far more important than chasing (in many cases) the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow known as high efficiency.

If you want to aim for 85% then more power to you, but high efficiency isn't necessarily the sign of a good brewer and won't guarantee you will make a good beer.

Let me just don my flame suit before I continue.

I think there are quite a few brewers who over-inflate their efficiency numbers in the interest of competing in the pissing competition that is the efficiency race.

Grain is cheap, so chuck in a extra few hundred grams to get your numbers up and concentrate on making good beer.

My 2c and more than happy to cop abuse from those who believe high efficiency is essential to making excellent beer.

JD.

As a New-ish AG brewer, I've come in with 57.5% efficiency, I'm not saying that its everything, but if I CAN make some small changes to my gear/process to make my brewing that slight bit more economical, I think it's a good idea to try, especially if it helps be more consistant. Without knowledge we are at the mercy of the day, if we brew with the same methods, we will be getting the same results.

I think knowing where you sit with efficiency is important, especially for accurate recipe formulation.

 

[MCHammo]

As a New-ish AG brewer, I've come in with 57.5% efficiency, I'm not saying that its everything, but if I CAN make some small changes to my gear/process to make my brewing that slight bit more economical, I think it's a good idea to try, especially if it helps be more consistant. Without knowledge we are at the mercy of the day, if we brew with the same methods, we will be getting the same results.

I think knowing where you sit with efficiency is important, especially for accurate recipe formulation.

+1.

I know my first brew was a bit of a mess. Just worked out that I got 48% efficiency... Improved a few things (mainly temperature wise) for the second brew and came out at about 59%. I know I've got a way to go yet experience wise, but... onwards and upwards. It's nice to know a few of these little tips to try and get a bit more consistency and extract.

 

[Aydos]

Are people talking mash eff or into fermenter eff? Those figures are pretty low for mash eff but if your achieving 70% into the fermenter then you would he achieving around 80% mash eff. That by no means is a bad effort.

How do you add your grains to the mashtun?