Need some help identifying effciency issues

[joelrapp]

So I am in need of some extra brain power to figure out what is going on with my efficiency and why it isn't anywhere close to what I should be getting. You can see all of my equipment at http://terrytownbrews.blogspot.com/2011/02/my-brew-day-equipment.html. I'm not sure if my designs are wrong in my mash tun or what. I am able to mash for 60 minutes and only lose about 3 degrees if that. So I don't think I have a major heat loss issue. I am working a fly sparge and usually try to make it last about 60 minutes, though it is a little hard to get it dialed in exact. I am getting great tasting results, just a piss poor efficiency, in the range of 62-70%. I am hoping to get to at least 75-80%.

 

[BigB]

My first thought would be the crush of your grains. If you crush your own, tighten up the gap a little. If you are buying from the LHBS, ask them to tighten the setting a little if they have the capability.

 

[DrawTap88]

For the most part you have the same equipment as I do (maybe not exact matches, but I think you can catch my drift). The first thing that will help you gain efficiency is the crush on your grain. I gained about 5% by getting a barley crusher and not using the mill at the LHBS (some here theorize that the store opens the gap too much so you'll buy more grain, myself included). The other thing that might be effecting your efficiency is if your sparge water is loosing to much heat over the course of your 60 min sparge. Hope that helps.

Cool blog too. That stout sounds awesome.

 

[SickTransitMundus]

How's your grain grind? Do you use the mill at the homebrew shop or your own? If it's the shop's mill, it's probably set to give a coarser grind and thus lower efficiencies.

Hah, triple post with the same idea.

 

[joelrapp]

I crush my own grains, built to spec out of aircraft grade materials, I have some connections there. I've tried tightening it up but I tend to over tighten. I've stopped buying from grains from lhbs too expensive even with factoring in shipping. Hopefully I can brew again sometime soon, a 6 week old baby doesn't leave too much time for brewing. I'll start by trying to tighten up the gap a little. What have you guys used to measure and what do you tend to set it at?

 

[williamnave]

Congrats on the new addition! Kids are awesome, and when they get older they make great brew-day helpers

There's probably a lot of truth to the finer-crush points a lot of people made. I'd definitely try that.

I personally, and just yesterday, made an 11-point efficiency jump by diving into water chemistry and Ph issues. I've been under the guidance of some older/wiser brewers, but I'll be happy to help if you want to look into it.

Download this if you want to toy with it.

https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/

The guy who built this spreadsheet is very responsive to emails and will help. By the way, when it comes to math and science I'm not exactly gifted, but this makes it easy!

 

[williamnave]

Whoa.....I just went back and read your original post.....3 degrees over 60 minutes mash temp loss???....anyone who knows better feel free to chime in, but that sounds huge to me.

I mash in a Coleman Xtreme, and lose about half a degree over 60 minutes. Yesterday mashed in @ 153.8F, read temp of 153.2F after 60 minutes.

If it's sunny out, I'll put the tun in direct sun. If it's cold, we have a special constructed foam insulation cube that gets wrapped around the tun

 

[SickTransitMundus]

A quick and dirty way to get a better crush is to grind the grain twice. I did this out of laziness before I dug out my spark plug gapper and tightened up my barley crusher. I went from 70% to 80% efficiency immediately.

 

[BigB]

To measure your gap, use feeler guages between the rollers. I set mine at .045 and get excellent efficiency... However, when it comes to wheat I tighten the gap to .039 due to wheat malt kernals being smaller.

EDIT: As far as 3 degrees over 60 minutes, I wouldn't consider that a factor. It might affect body a tiny bit, but shouldn't affect overall conversion. I've had some in the winter time drop by 3 degrees and haven't had any ill effects.

 

[joelrapp]

I personally, and just yesterday, made an 11-point efficiency jump by diving into water chemistry and Ph issues. I've been under the guidance of some older/wiser brewers, but I'll be happy to help if you want to look into it.

Download this if you want to toy with it.

https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/

The guy who built this spreadsheet is very responsive to emails and will help. By the way, when it comes to math and science I'm not exactly gifted, but this makes it easy!

I've thought about this....I need to talk to Martin, he's a fellow member of a homebrew club I am in but I haven't met him at a meeting yet.

 

[williamnave]

It seems crazy that you wouldn't talk to him, but I can't point fingers......

I was in a brew club with Denny Conn for two months before I realized he might be able to help DOH!!

Defintely speak to him.....like Isaid, my knowledge is pretty limited, but I'm happy with the results so far

 

[joelrapp]

It seems crazy that you wouldn't talk to him, but I can't point fingers......

I was in a brew club with Denny Conn for two months before I realized he might be able to help DOH!!

Defintely speak to him.....like Isaid, my knowledge is pretty limited, but I'm happy with the results so far

I did swap some emails with him and he posted a water profile on homebrewtalk, just haven't been at a meeting with him yet.

 

[joelrapp]

So I'm killing some time and thought I'd return to give an update on my efficiency issues. I've moved to a 3 Keg single tier set up, and I've been working on refining my set up. My most resent brew I was able to achieve 82% efficiency with the help of an improved crush. I'd been trying out ph 5.2 and that helped some, had settled in around 75%, 82 was a joy to reach, want to try to get to 85% now.