Struggling with efficiency

[danestead]

Oh and if you arent aware of the difference in mash/brewhouse efficiency ill explain simply.

Mash: I get basically 25L post boil volume. I measure the Sg of this and use 25L as the volume.
Brewhouse: Basically the mash efficiency but minus the losses of wort in your system ie losses to trub, chiller etc. With a 25L post boil volume i lose 3L to trub and 1L to shrinkage in cooling = 21L. To get brewhouse efficiency Id use 21L in the efficiency calculation in comparison to 25L which is why brewhouse efficiency is always lower.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Mash & brew are different.

Mash is what you get from the mash tun into your kettle before boiling.

Brewhouse is what you get into the fermenter ready for yeast pitching. This includes kettle evaporation, shrinkage ( which is a constant value ) and trub losses ( break material, hop material etc )

 

[Online Brewing Supplies]

Are you talking mash efficiency or brewhouse efficiency? I get 82% mash efficiency on the braumeister 20L fairly consistency however if that was converted to brewhluse efficiency itd be much much lower. 70% at a guess.

I only ever quote brew house as its the wort into fermenter that counts to me.
Nev

 

[a1149913]

Wow, thanks for all the replies guys!

I guess in hind sight 72% isn't too bad. I just figured the norm was 80+%.

To answer a few questions:
i mash for 60 mins with a 10 min rise to mash out (75.6C).
I try to sparge over 20-30 mins
I use a false bottom.
I might have to pay more attention to my volumes and think about getting a proper sight glass.

Here are some pics that might also also help! I'm also going to brew again tomorrow if you guys want any more info/pics

 

[wynnum1]

Is there any flavor after 72% efficiency or just sugar does the spent grain have any flavor and if you where running a brewery and was feeding the spent grain to your live stock leaving a little extra nutrient would be a bonus..

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

There is a little bit of flavour and some sweetness...but not much. You can barely taste it.

You could eventually rinse all the sugar out, but it takes lots of sparging and it just isnt worth it.

Some breweries actually press the mash to squeez out the remaining liquid.