Efficiency

[Bogwoppit]

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

[Jacob]

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.

[ColMack]

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. 

[Bogwoppit]

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

[Damofto]

mine improved dramatically when I split the sparge in 2, just as Jacob suggested.

[donnchadhc]

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.

[Bogwoppit]

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

[Jacob]

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

[Bogwoppit]

Thanks for the replies guys, I'll give it a go on the next brew.

Allan

[brenmurph]

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.

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

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.

[alealex]

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.

[Hop Bomb]

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.

[brenmurph]

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.

[Covey]

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