[archstanton]

92% conversion efficiency, 91% mash efficiency!

Do you mind sharing you water to grain ratio for your mash?  My mash efficiency was 72% (14 lbs of two row with 1.050 as a pre-boil OG collecting 7.5 gal wort collected) on my last batch and I am trying to decide what to change first, my mill gap (crush looks ok, but I am an all grain noob) or use a thinner mash (been using 1.250 quarts/lb)... I got the calculation from how to brew ( 37 x grain / volume = points; preboil og/ points = mash eff.)  Am I doing this calculation right?  I am batch sparging in a 70 quart cooler with a toliet braid.

I believe Denny means his lauter efficiency was 91%.  Lauter * conversion= extraction efficiency. ~84% in this case.  Denny?

72% is pretty good for a noob.  Crush is where you can usually see a significant increase. A thinner mash could help with conversion, but will pale in comparison to crush. Definitely read through Braukaisers work.

[reverseapachemaster]

I am really jealous. I haven't brewed since mid-July because I am really trying to drink down my supply of homebrew so I can stop brewing beers that I don't drink at their peak. I just started trying to play with harvesting yeast out of my spontaneously fermented beer so I have something brewing-related to do.

[tonyccopeland]

Thanks for all the inputs.  I'll check out the links and keep reading.

[a10t2]

Do you mind sharing you water to grain ratio for your mash?  My mash efficiency was 72% (14 lbs of two row with 1.050 as a pre-boil OG collecting 7.5 gal wort collected) on my last batch and I am trying to decide what to change first

That's a pretty big beer. At 72% you could be getting close to 100% conversion, depending on your lautering scheme. If this is a single batch sparge, you'd max out at ~77%. Thinning out the mash to equalize runnings would only bump that up to ~79%.

http://seanterrill.com/2013/10/05/batch-sparging-calculator/

What was the mash pH? I don't think crush is as big a deal as people make it out to be… Given a long (60 min) rest, any crush that gets all the kernels opened up is going to be serviceable.

[denny]

I believe Denny means his lauter efficiency was 91%.  Lauter * conversion= extraction efficiency. ~84% in this case.  Denny?

72% is pretty good for a noob.  Crush is where you can usually see a significant increase. A thinner mash could help with conversion, but will pale in comparison to crush. Definitely read through Braukaisers work.

I got 92% conversion according to Kai's charts.  After running off my sparge, I got 91% into the kettle.  That would mean my lauter efficiency is something like 99%, I believe.  And I completely agree that crush is the most important thing to look at for efficiency.

[a10t2]

That would mean my lauter efficiency is something like 99%, I believe.

Which isn't possible without a mash press (BIAB and squeezing the bag, at this scale). Without doing that, you have to lose some efficiency to the wort retained by the grist. I think you may have mathed wrong...

[tonyccopeland]

Do you mind sharing you water to grain ratio for your mash?  My mash efficiency was 72% (14 lbs of two row with 1.050 as a pre-boil OG collecting 7.5 gal wort collected) on my last batch and I am trying to decide what to change first

That's a pretty big beer. At 72% you could be getting close to 100% conversion, depending on your lautering scheme. If this is a single batch sparge, you'd max out at ~77%. Thinning out the mash to equalize runnings would only bump that up to ~79%.

http://seanterrill.com/2013/10/05/batch-sparging-calculator/

What was the mash pH? I don't think crush is as big a deal as people make it out to be… Given a long (60 min) rest, any crush that gets all the kernels opened up is going to be serviceable.

The mash pH was estimated by BruNwater to be 5.4 using the Amber balanced profile.  I added 2.7 ml of Iactic acid to the mash water, but didn't take a reading... The beer is styled a little after a Belgian Golden Strong, but I used a locally grown 2 Row my taste buds recognize to hopefully see what wy3787 adds to the mix.

[klickitat jim]

I believe Denny means his lauter efficiency was 91%.  Lauter * conversion= extraction efficiency. ~84% in this case.  Denny?

72% is pretty good for a noob.  Crush is where you can usually see a significant increase. A thinner mash could help with conversion, but will pale in comparison to crush. Definitely read through Braukaisers work.

I got 92% conversion according to Kai's charts.  After running off my sparge, I got 91% into the kettle.  That would mean my lauter efficiency is something like 99%, I believe.  And I completely agree that crush is the most important thing to look at for efficiency.

Are you talking about that quarts per pound/gravity brix chart he has? I've got that hanging in my shop and for the past few brews I use it along with my timer. At an hour I take a refractometer reading. If I'm short I give it another half hour. So far so good, and it really helps me know I'm at ~full conversion. And my starting boil is always within a couple points now. Great chart

[denny]

That would mean my lauter efficiency is something like 99%, I believe.

Which isn't possible without a mash press (BIAB and squeezing the bag, at this scale). Without doing that, you have to lose some efficiency to the wort retained by the grist. I think you may have mathed wrong...

I blame it on Promash...I'll take another look at the info on your site and refigure it manually.  Probably late next week.