Struggling With Efficiency Lately... 8 Year Brewer

[benbradford]

So I have been brewing with all grean for about 8 years. I have had problems with effecieny before like I assume most have. I got most of my techniques under control years ago, but lately have struggled with unexpected low efficiency.

Take a look at this and see if you can pin point what is going on.

I brew in keggles and use one for mash tun and one for brew kettle.

I did a 10 gallon batch and batch sparged yesterday.

Started with 5.5 gallons of 167 degree water to hit 144 for 45 minutes over 31 lbs of grain.

Second addition was 3 gallons at 178 to hit 154 for 15.

Third addition was 2.5 at 205 to hit 64 for 15.

Finally addition was 2.5 at 188 to hit 168 for 10 minutes.

I batch sparged the remaining 2.2 gallons at 168.

I know the mash schedule is a little strange but I was following the brewing info given by boulevard's head brewer on Tank 7. This is the 4th generation I have made and the beer is fantastic.

I came in at a perfect volume of pre boil at 11.4 gallons but my gravity was low by 11 points at 1.052 instead of 1.063

The grain was crushed by brewmasterswarehouse and I beleive they generally reach the mid 70's with their crush.

I have modified these techniques in many ways including crushing my own grain and extended fly sparging and have continued to achieve results of low 60's efficiency. Fortunately I usually aim for 62 lately and keep some dme on hand to correct.

Any ideas on what I am missing?

 

[rlonardo]

What temperature are you measuring your preboil gravity at? And are you using a hydrometer or refractometer? Is your post boil gravity coming in just as off?

 

[benbradford]

Sample chilled to 65. Multiple hydrometers, numbers consistent throughout.

Thanks!

 

[Mike_kever_kombi]

If volumes and temp were right on, and you were using a 3rd party crush, I would examine mash PH. Just because "they" were getting mid 70s eff, does not mean you will, just way too many variables. Temp, water:grain ratio, mash wAter PH, as well as sparge water PH all play a big role in brewhouse efficiency.

 

[benbradford]

Used 85% ro water treated with calcium chloride and measured ph of mash at 5.2... Good water to grain ratio.

 

[stpug]

In this particular batch, that's a super minimal amount of sparge water to rinse the remaining sugars. I would put this batch closer to a "no sparge" batch than regular batch sparge, and "no sparge" generally achieves lower efficiencies (in the 60s). But there ARE a lot of variable at play here. Luckily, you can control most of them fairly easily.

What are your thoughts on what's keeping your efficiency low? Do you have any ideas?

 

[benbradford]

Hmm... Maybe I have gotten a little equipment happy and gotten a little messed up on the basics. Now that I think of it, I may be circulating the mash and putting the running s back through. I probably need to just run the first gallon or so over the top to run clear and then set my sparge to be a larger quantity to do a good rinse. Sometimes my mash schedules and equipment make me over think things. Suppose I should k.i.s.s.

Something to think on...

 

[hottpeper13]

The thicker the mash the higher the efficiency. You have keggles ,why would you add water to raise mash temp? Put the flame to it, and use more sparge water.

 

[w0732400]

31 lbs seems like a lot of grain for a keggle. I use a rubber coated imperial keg that is 13.2 gallons and there is a spreadsheet floating around that says the max that I can mash in it is 29 lbs of grain. Your keggle is 15.5 gallons so I wouldn't imagine you could put any more than 35 after you add the proper water to grain ratio. I would definitely say cut down on the water additions and use more sparge water.


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