So I batch sparge and have always had a hard time getting good efficiency. I now have an electric HERMS system and can boil extremely hard if I want to. I have been adding an extra pound of base malt to my recipes and collecting about 8 gallons of wort and boiling off about 2.5 gallons in an hour. Since I have been doing this I can get 75 to 80% efficiency. Is there any reason not to boil that hard? For the first time I feel like I can actually follow a recipe and get good results.
Boiling hard for better efficiency
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Wyrmwood
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Efficiency has nothing to do with evaporation rate. Yes, if you evaporate more, you will concentrate the wort more, but that isn't improved efficiency, it's just a higher evaporation rate.
I would say it is because I sparge/ mash with more water to get more sugars into the boil kettle. I used to get seven gallons and boil off 1.5. Now I get more out of the MLT still get the same amount of wort post boil.
mikescooling
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I think your get a better parti-gyle if you boil down 8gallons to 6gallons, nice loooong boil. It helps to use a suckey vent system or at least a fan blowing on the boiling wort.
I have a vent system. I mean I am getting better efficiency by collecting more wort pre boil. In order to do this I need to boil off 2.5 gallons in an hour( which I can). I am just asking if there is any problem with boil that hard. It is still only an hour long.
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You're not getting better efficiency if you use more grain to get a higher post boil gravity.
Even if you parti-gyle with the suckey vent wide open.
Even if you parti-gyle with the suckey vent wide open.
I boil hard, and yes, I feel it gives me better efficiency. Then again, as another poster said, all we are really doing is concentrating more sugar into our wort. But hey, it is a component in my brew day that helps me hit my numbers.
Wyrmwood
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Yeah. I'm no expert, but my understanding of efficiency is gravity for the amount of grains in the mash. For example, 10 lbs of 2 row has the potential to produce a pre boil gravity of 1.054 for 6.6gal, that would boil down to 5.5 gal and leave you with 1.064, if your efficiency was 100%. If I change the boil and get it down to 4 gallons at something much higher than 1.064, that's not greater than 100% 
It's just less wort
It's just less wort 
Nishmaster
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Having a higher boil-off can indeed help with brewhouse efficiency. Because you have the opportunity to use more sparge water, you can extract more sugars. This can be especially helpful with big beers, where you may be already mashing thick just to get a single decent sparge volume and could use a little more.
However, this doesn't effect mash efficiency as much, because there's a finite amount that more sparge water will help. Don't forget that you don't want the sparge pH to get super high either (to avoid tannin extraction and grainy flavors), which means limiting your total sparge water. Definitely stop when your runnings are at 1.010.
However, this doesn't effect mash efficiency as much, because there's a finite amount that more sparge water will help. Don't forget that you don't want the sparge pH to get super high either (to avoid tannin extraction and grainy flavors), which means limiting your total sparge water. Definitely stop when your runnings are at 1.010.
cheez
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Do you crush your own grains? If so, try tightening the gap just a hair. Adding more grain to your mash should up your efficiency (more potential sugars) but not if you are increasing the boil volume you are collecting. They go hand-in-hand. You essentially could be watering it down when collecting too much.
With my electric HERMS and crushing my own grains, I formulate my recipes based on an 80% mash efficiency, I collect around 8 gallons, and I consistently get 88%-90% efficiency.
Try playing around with a few variables and you'll find what works best.
edit: I do a hybrid fly/batch sparge
I don't crush my own grains. I have gotten them from different online suppliers and pretty much get the same results. I think it is pretty much my system. It may possibly be a ph problem as darker beers get higher efficiencies. Before I was able to sparge more and boil harder I would order extra grain and still not get great efficiency. I may look into a grain mill in the future. Unfortunately the electric system set me back a bit and my wife probably wouldn't approve of another purchase at this time. 😀
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