What Is Your Usual Effiency?

[Sammus]

batch or fly I dont care.

I got 70 once, 75 once, and all my others seem to be about 50-55% :angry: I can't figure it out. just want to know if others are in my boat...

 

[Hutch]

75% every time - Batch sparge, 36 Ltr Keep Cold mash tun with stainless false bottom.

 

[Sammus]

Ive got a converted keg with a stainless false bottom. Just tried batch sparging again (Everyone else seems to go alright with it) and I ended up with 23L of 1.072 from 11Kg of grain :angry: my lowest yet (51%) batch sparge in the past has at least got me to the high 60s. I'm almost certain it's nothing to do with crush. I'm just being unco somehow... I even do super huge sparges to try and rinse that little extra bit of sugar out then boil it all down over 120min and it still doesnt help... so frustrating!

 

[newguy]

When I used to brew 10 gallon batches in two coolers (5 gallons in each), I'd get 70% pretty much every time. Now that I have a HERMS, I get 85%.

I presently employ a kind of odd procedure involving two batch sparges. I dough in with my strike water, mash at whatever temperatures/times I want, then bring the lot up to mash out (approx 77C). I then drain that wort into my kettle. When that runoff is complete, I infuse my lauter water and then recirculate until the works hits mash out again. Then I stop recirculating and drain that.

When I mashed in the coolers, I'd dough in with my strike water, then add boiling water to get up to mash out. I'd then immediately add a little water @77C to the mash tun, and drain the entire works at once. Just a big batch sparge really.

It's important no matter what sparge technique you use (batch or fly) to either really mix the grain and water well (through recirculation) or gently rake/stir the top 30 - 40% of the grain bed to destroy channels. Another really important step is to not rush the procedure. High extraction also requires time - drain slowly - 1 litre every 60 - 90 seconds or so.

 

[brendanos]

I was pushing mid to high 70's for a while, when I was sparging until I reached full preboil volume, but have since been sparging less (and topping up with fresh water) in search of better beer. Low-mid 60's are now common, with the occasional 50 something.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Sammus,

Are you measuring your extract efficiency or your total system eff??

ie; are you talking about what gets from your mash tun to your kettle OR what actually gets into your fermentor?

It can make a significant difference to the figures. But then again, that 11kg of grain makes it look like you are talking about extract eff.

BTW, I'm @ 78% for batch sparge brews and 80-90% for BIAB (extract efficiency)

Thirsty

 

[Ross]

I batch & get 85% brewhouse efficiency on a standard 5% brew. This increases to low 90's on a mid strength & drops accordingly on my high alc brews.
Basically 5kg of grain gives me 26L of 5% beer after the boil.

Cheers Ross

 

[user 1153]

You left out the "don't care" option.
My recipes give me between 20 and 22 litres of wort from around 5.5kg of grain that an FG of between 5 and 6 percent. That's all I bother with, I never scrutinise my efficiency.

 

[Cortez The Killer]

Never gone below 75%

Usually sits between 75-80%

Batch sparge

Cheers

 

[tangent]

I'm happy because i don't care (no button for that option though)
I honestly wouldn't have a clue what efficiency i'm getting

 

[Fents]

i got about 40litres of 1.052 of wort from 10kgs grain on the weeknd, no idea what that equates too.

 

[AndrewQLD]

I batch sparge and was cosistently getting 70%, I have just recently changed my malt supplier from Powells to Cryer and I am now getting (from my last 2 brews) 83%, mind you I am also continuously recirculating through my herms as well now.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[mfdes]

Batch sparge ~ 75% efficiency. Used to fly sparge by hand. It was a pain to have to be there continually scooping water into the lauter tun, so I went to batch sparging.
My efficiency dropped about 2-3% only.

I think there are several variables that influence efficiency other than batch vs. fly. Grind and design of mash / lauter tun (deadspace) as well as wort lost to trub/hops play a big part.

My efficiency is always higher with pellets than whole hops. Is this usual?

MFS

 

[Lukes]

I batch sparge and was cosistently getting 70%, I have just recently changed my malt supplier from Powells to Cryer and I am now getting (from my last 2 brews) 83%, mind you I am also continuously recirculating through my herms as well now.

Cheers
Andrew

Andrew,
do you think it's the malt change or the extra control over the mash?
BTW: I could never get Powells on 70% and I tried everything apart from cracking every corn by hand..

Luke

 

[ozpowell]

Fly sparge, 36L cylinder cooler with copper slotted manifold - never lower than 70% and as high as 75%.

FYI - Talking with Brennan from Burleigh Brewing couple of weeks back - he hits 94% with his 50HL setup.

Cheers,
Michael

 

[yardy]

I consistently get mid to high 80's, batch sparge.

A lot of the credit, imo, goes to my ' T Piece ' Mani which is here.

Cheers

 

[tim_mortensen]

Infusion and Batch Sparging, normally 70-75%. Using Maris Otter I can get up to 80-85%.

However, brewed a HefeWeizen on Saturday and gave decoction a go. Had planned for a double decoction, but ended up being a 5 - step decoction as I kept going under my temperature steps.

Was aiming for 1052, but got 1070 from 5.3kg grain, a 96% efficiency!

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

On my big setup (75l boiler) the comparative volume of my dunk sparge is lower than on my small setup (20l boiler). This is reflected in the extraction efficiencies of each which I use as part of my process because I am brewing to gravities and IBUs as opposed to volumes and spend some of my brewday playing with the numbers. (I hope that doesn't read as though I am being rude.)

It's high 70s for the big boiler and mid-high 80s in the small boiler, depending (as Ross points out) on what I'm brewing.

I reckon I lose a total of 1-1.5 litres to trub, yeast and my own dickheadery across the whole process, which would bring both those numbers down to less impressive brewhouse efficiencies.

 

[Steve]

No idea on my efficiency. No desire to learn how to work it out. Producing bloody nice beer. Im happy.
Cheers
Steve

 

[tangent]

exactly Steve :beer: