Yo from Philly

[Viejo]

Just getting back into brewing after a 40-year hiatus. Made a lot of bad beer in the early 1970s when there wasn't a lot of information and NO network. So different today. What a great community. Since March I've been on an IPA tear, with four different batches in bottles and one in the fermenter. Just keeping the grain bill the same and messin' with the hops and mash techniques to see what develops.

I'm struggling with some batch sparging issues. I saw a string of posts last weekend that I want to weigh in on, see if I can get some help. For now, back to work!

 

[HopLife]

Keep very specific notes. Reaching higher gravity will inevitably lower the efficiency or increase the volume of wort to be boiled off. Figure out a system so you can reach a reliable efficiency for each volume/gravity of beer.
For me, I do a high efficiency triple sparge on beers under 1.055. Anything above that and I do a low efficiency double batch sparge. I am not willing to boil a big beer for longer than 75 minutes, so I just plan on a crummy efficiency for big beers and I can reduce the boil time accordingly.

I have been working on 'session' IPAs for the past year. LMK if you want a recipe.