• Welcome to the new forum! We upgraded our forum software with a host of new boards, capabilities and features. It is also more secure.
    Jump in and join the conversation! You can learn more about the upgrade and new features here.

Mash Efficiency

x3la

Brewer
Joined
Feb 15, 2020
Messages
45
Reaction score
0
I just hit ~ 50% mash efficiency with a Batch Sparge on a 5 Gallon batch, significantly lower than normal.

2 elements have changed since my last brew:

1) new grain mill
2) larger grain bill

The mash Tun is 12 Gallons (northern brewer cooler).

My assumption is that I didn't mill the grains finely enough, I have adjusted the gap between the rollers for the next brew.

My other thought is that the Tun itself is large. Is there a possibility that the initial Mash in volume was not sufficient enough for this larger grain bill in order to emerse the grains sufficiently and therefore achieve an efficient conversion? Is there a setting to increase mash in volume for Batch sparge?

 
If you want to increase your initial infusion volume, then you can go to the mash tab in the recipe.  Click on the first step in the dialog box where it lists the brew steps and then click 'edit step'.  A box will pop up which will allow you to set the step parameters.  You can either click directly on the box for 'water to add' and enter in a new value or it is better to click on 'water/grain ratio and set this value to something higher.  The recommended minimum water/grain ratio is 1.25 qts/lb for good conversion.  You can go up as high as you like but watch to make sure you do not exceed the value for 'water needed' which can be found on the design tab. 

Generally, if you want to maximize the extraction from a batch sparge, you should set the water for the infusion to make your runnings from your initial draining equal to the volume of your batch sparge.  This is really not as hard as you might think.  Take the water volume required from the design page and subtract the value for 'grain absorption' which is found on the mash tab.  Divide this result by 2 and add back in your grain absorption value.  Enter that sum as 'water to add' in your initial mash step and click 'OK'. 

To save this mash profile to use in other recipes, click on the disk icon next to the mash profile at the top of the mash tab.

I would suggest that you first correct your milling before you make multiple changes.  Otherwise you really will not know which change improved your final result the most and which can be tweaked to improve it more.

 
Grain mill roller gap adjustment resulted in 86% mash efficiency on the next batch - much better!
 
Back
Top