Home of the BrewNosers

So I've been trying to figure out how to increase my efficiency for a while because it's usually not very good. On a good day I can hit 70%, but usually its closer to 60-65. I don't think it's my crush. I have my own mill and have experimented with getting finer and finer with each batch, until I started to have lautering problems, and there is little change in efficiency.

My procedure is generally to mash with enough grains and water that when I drain I will roughly reach half my pre-boil volume. Then I do a batch sparge to get to my full volume. Doing this I can hit my target OG and volume pretty well all the time. As long as I calculate for 65% efficiency when putting the recipe together.

The thing I notice though is that I always have a ton of good stuff still in my mashtun. I don't usually check the gravity, but just by tasting I can tell that there's lots of good fermentables being wasted.

So what I'm thinking is - say I reduce my grain bill and strike water by about a third and so draining my tun will give me about a third of my pre-boil volume. Then I batch sparge twice to hit the full volume. Do you think I could hit about the same gravity like this? My brain is not very good at wrapping itself around these sorts of calculations.

I guess the only way to know for sure is to try it... unless you smart folks have any ideas?

I'm probably closer to 1/3 mash water, 2/3 sparge (usually over 2 batches), but I don't think I've ever really thought about it that way. I usually aim for ~1.25-1.5 qt/lb mash water/grainbill.

I've squeezed a couple of efficiency points out of letting the mash sit 15 minutes longer (usually while I finish lunch). Also, sometimes when I add the sparge water, I give it a good stir and let it sit for about 5 minutes before vorlauf and draining - I have no idea whether or not it helps.

What do you have for a mash tun Tim? I was doing batch sparging with my rectangular cooler in the Spring/Summer and could hit around 75% doing 1/3 volume for the mash, and then 2x batches of 1/3 each and letting it sit for 15mins. This brought my total sparge time up to an hour, which was too long for my liking...

Now thanks to Wortly's help, I can do fly sparging in about 25mins and hit 75%, 80% and 74% my last 2 batches.

I just use the standard Coleman Cooler set up.

I'll give it a try this weekend and see how it goes.

I'm really not too concerned about the effeciency as long as the beer is good and the grains are cheap, but it's something I'd like to get to the bottom of.

Fly sparging is always going to give you better numbers unless you are doing really high gravity beers. This topic is closely related to the no sparge thread. It's common sense really, if you evenly mix a bunch of water with the grain you'll have a semi-diluted gravity throughout, if you fly sparge you'll end up with basically no wort left atop the bed and far more concentrated wort at the bottom, forcing the wort concentration down and into the kettle. Fly sparging can be a pain in the ass on home setups and you need to be patient to avoid channeling but it's more efficient than batch sparging. Also, lower gravity beers in the 10 - 13 Plato range might be better with batch sparging because you don't risk channeling and the associated leeching with rising PH levels.

I think it's more important for homebrewers to maintain consistency than worring about boosting efficiency a few points.

Having said that, I went from getting 70% using a Porkert mill to 75% using a Barley Crusher.

What are you filtering the grain with? Manifold? braid? I started out with a CPVC manifold and was getting poor efficiency. I replaced it with one of those hot water tank braids and it has helped a bit. There is a fair amount of dead space at the bottom of my tun as well. I don't really rest between sparges, I just see it as rinsing the grains. Are you guys getting better efficiency with a 15 minute wait?

Tony L wrote:I think it's more important for homebrewers to maintain consistency than worring about boosting efficiency a few points.

Having said that, I went from getting 70% using a Porkert mill to 75% using a Barley Crusher.

with your barley crusher did you need to adjust the rollers after you purchased it?

sleepyjamie wrote:

Tony L wrote:I think it's more important for homebrewers to maintain consistency than worring about boosting efficiency a few points.

Having said that, I went from getting 70% using a Porkert mill to 75% using a Barley Crusher.

with your barley crusher did you need to adjust the rollers after you purchased it?

Nope, just used the factory setting it came with. Didn`t see a need to adjust as the crush seemed great as it was. The efficiency just confirmed it.
I just tasted a schwarzbier that I made using that mill for the first time. It was great. I am thinking the Porkert was the cause of astringency
problems I have had with some of my brews. Next years round of competitions will tell if this is true or not.