Hi All
I did a brew yesterday and for the first time I calculated the effciency of my mash tun, it came out at 65%.
I'm not too impressed with that myself but was wondering what everyone else gets.
My mash tun is a good size picnic cooler with 4 copper pipes on the bottom.
I used 5kg maris otter and 300g of caramalt. Added 15l of water at 76 degrees and got a strike of around 65/66, left it for an hour and it had hardly dropped at all.
I drew off that water after recycling the first few litres then added 20l at 80 degrees, let it rest for 10 minutes then drew that off.
I ended up with 26l at a gravity of 1.042 after it had cooled (I'm brewing in the evenings after work so I did the boil the next day).
Does anyone have any suggestions to improve this without spending money (brewing budget is bust).
Thanks
Allan
Getting same on similar equipment.
To get higher you can try to crush your grains finer,
mash it for 90 minutes, and split sparging into 2 batches (10l each) or use fly sparging instead.
Maybe you could slow down your extraction? Don't open the tap fully when emptying your mash tun. As Jacob says 2 x 10L sparges.
I read somewhere that you should allow an hour after the mash to get your full wort into your boiler.
I was rushing the sparging stage and it didn't help my efficiencies, I think slowing down helped, and cost nothing.
If I do 2 10l sparges how would that make a difference? I'd be using less water and therefore less likely to get the sugar out.
Perhaps if I spend more time circulating water with the jug it would help, don't fancy standing there for an hour though!
Allan
mine improved dramatically when I split the sparge in 2, just as Jacob suggested.
I get the similar efficiencies for similar equipment, usually 69%. I do two batch batches of 10L usually.
I think the manifold is the main culprit, so other than a finer crush I don't know how to up it.
Mash Tun is the first place I'll upgrade when I get around to it.
So I split the second 20l into 2 10l sparges.
Do I keep the temperature the same? Also, do I still let it rest for 10 minutes with both sparges?
Thanks
Allan
Quote from: Bogwoppit on December 12, 2013, 12:47:48 PM
So I split the second 20l into 2 10l sparges.
Do I keep the temperature the same? Also, do I still let it rest for 10 minutes with both sparges?
Thanks
Allan
Yes & yes
Thanks for the replies guys, I'll give it a go on the next brew.
Allan
south kildare's process
lowest 72% highest 80% this year. 80% was using the MCI stout malt for an ale.
Normally 80-90 minute mash
3 sparges x 5-7 litres to give time for sugar to diffuse into wet grain.
Temp 75c for sparge water.
Taste run off each litre on final sparge.
Stop when nearly no gravity / sweetness and or if any hint of tannins.
Would a RIMS setup help?
Its more expense (probably more than the cost of the mash tun), and it may drop your mash temp more.
Pumping, mixing, paddling (grain movement in general) during 70-90 min mash helps a lot, no matter if its Rims or Brewmaister.
False bottom systems or biab is more efficient than copper manifold.
Also ,efficiency of very thick mashes is never great.
65% is fine. I wouldnt stress. Ive listened to a few podcasts where Jamil (evil twin brewery + author of some books) has said they shoot for 65% in the brewery as they only want the best from the grain. Higher yields extract more of the undesired & you can get a grainy astringency.
Quote from: alealex on December 12, 2013, 08:23:41 PM
Pumping, mixing, paddling (grain movement in general) during 70-90 min mash helps a lot, no matter if its Rims or Brewmaister.
False bottom systems or biab is more efficient than copper manifold.
Also ,efficiency of very thick mashes is never great.
ye hasd a sticky pumpkin ale didnt even get 60%.
% return is based on a lot of variables so agree 65% isnt bad and if u sparge the crap out of it you may get astringincy hence my comment above where I said I do 6 litre sparges x 3 and the third one i taste every litre to see that it still tastes non-astringing.
i was having the same issue, i have incoroporatied a BIAB (just a large nylon bag ) with my copper mamifold, and has added 10%, also i have been checking the ph of the mash and added some calcium sulphate to the mash which has help too. I used to need 5kg of pale malt where are now im down to 3.8kg