What Style Of Mashing Yields The Highest Efficiency?

[sama]

king brown,what is your efficiency you are getting now? If you can get the same results over and over i wouldnt be to concerned with increasing it to much,unless its woefully low. i get 75% or thereabouts, repeatedly.That is good enough i say.I love to tinker with brewing gear as much as the next guy,but redesigning your brewery to gain "a couple of points" as u say? is it worth it? :kooi:

 

[Nick JD]

I think the decoction would be something I could try once I have the HERMS going, but sounds very complicated.

Nah - it's not complicated. This is the only thing you need to get your head around. The rest is as difficult as hardboiling an egg.

decoction volume = total mash volume * (target temp - start temp) / (boil temp - start temp)

Say you want to bring your mash from 62C to 70C using a decoction:

20L x (70C - 62C) / (100C - 62C)

= 4.2L

So 4.2L of grain taken out of your 62C mash and boiled (for as long as you want to change its colour and flavour) and then returned will make your mash 70C.

You can use this process to do any change of temperature to your mash. And it makes your efficiency awesome, and your beer taste pretty damn good. It's fun - give it a try!

 

[Kingbrownbrewing]

Sama, from what I can work out I am around 70-75 percent. I have just heard from others with similar setups of getting 80-85, so I was assuming there was something wrong with my technique.

I have many different things to try now for my next brew, I will keep everyone updated on how I progress.

 

[sama]

Sama, from what I can work out I am around 70-75 percent. I have just heard from others with similar setups of getting 80-85, so I was assuming there was something wrong with my technique.

I have many different things to try now for my next brew, I will keep everyone updated on how I progress.

70-75 is fine mate.Thatll get ya a 10.50 beer for under 5kilo of grain...spare change!

 

[warra48]

Different systems and different approaches will all deliver different results.

In my case, I hand mill my grain, with the gap set at 1.1 mm. I get a little flour, but not much.

I use rainwater, and make water additions based on BS2 for the style I'm brewing.

I stir vigorously at dough in, and again when I add my mash out prior to run off. I batch sparge, and again stir vigorously when I've added the water. My run off and sparge start immediately, I don't wait. I use a small 25m litre cooler, with a home made manifold.

My extraction efficiency is regularly around the mid 90%, and occasionally over 100% (yes, it's possible).

The real key to brewing consistently is to get to a point where you can reliably produce your results within a small parameter. That makes recipe design and hopping schedules easier than having to adjust on the run.

For what it's worth, I've done decoctions, and found no difference in my results. Maybe it works for others. I don't bother these days, as a brew day is long enough as it is.

 

[ticinglese]

guess the main problem is we don't always talk about efficiency in the same way - one man's 75 is another man's 85 depending on how and when you calculate it. and that's before you talk about moisture content of the malt etc.

if you get 70+ and the beer tastes good then who cares

 

[kelbygreen]

ticinglese is right. When I order my recipe on the stores spreadsheet I set it to 81% eff. But when using beersmith I set it at 74% eff and it all seems to work out from there. I guess beersmith work it out on total volume of water??? where HBS works it out on the boil volume and kettle losses.

 

[pcmfisher]

Does anyone add enzymes during the mash to increase efficiency?
Seems to me that if everything else is done right they would be the weakest link in the process??

If you have lots of specialty grains you may also be stretching the job for the enzymes found in the base malt.

No doubt that seasonal differences could vary for enzyme activity in base malts as well

Apologies for heading off topic (slightly relevent)

Why is that??

 

[argon]

i think he's referring to diastatic power

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title...Diastatic_Power

 

[Muscovy_333]

i think he's referring to diastatic power

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title...Diastatic_Power

Yeah, I was referring to diastatic power.

I wont make any more contributons without the research links to support from here on in.

Unless i have a question of course!

I have "over excited forum Noobie syndrome"..just cant help it...

 

[///]

Love all the talk about mash systems ... (mis) information about decoctions vs infusion vs step (single/double/triple) with no reference to what sort of system (combi mash/lauter or mash mixer/lauter or even mash mixer / mash filter systems) folks are using.

Seems process is being confused with system here ...

Scotty