Hi all -
New to the Beersmith forums... I have seen a few questions on here regarding brew efficiency and thought I would provide some information on what I have learned so far - although keep in mind I am a newbie to all grain brewing - only my 9th batch so far.
First, I use a very basic setup for my brewing - I have one 9 gallon brew pot and 2 coolers (one 10 gallon round igloo cooler for mash tun and one 48 quart cooler for hot liquid tank).
First lesson learned was not to use a Stainless steel hose (plumbing line) as the mash tun filter/false bottom. Pay the money and get a real false bottom for your cooler - especially if you are fly sparging.
Second and most important if you are fly sparging you will need to use very hot water if you are not mashing out. I have found that I need 185-190 degree water to fly sparge with to get the grain in the mash tun up to temp (168-170) I found that when I used this very hot water my effeciency increased dramatically - 10-15%. Also, keep in mind that if you are using a cooler like me for a hot liquid tank you will lose a lot of heat when adding your hot liquid to the cooler. I found that using my 48 quart cooler that I would lose nearly 15 degrees in temp when transferring the hot water from the boil pot to the cooler. So boiling water at 212 degrees in the pot would quickly turn into 190 degree water in the cooler. I think this is probably one of the single biggest lessons learned so far for me and was not something I saw or read a lot about before brewing. Keep in mind my initial fear was getting the mash too hot and having issues with tannins etc... but keep in mind if you have 150-154 degree mash it will take quite a bit of hot water to get that grain bed to 168...
Now for my question -- I recently brewed a Double IPA that had about a 16-17 lb grain bill. What I found was that when fly sparging I noticed that with my thermometer about mid way into the grain that it was not getting up to the 168 degree temp. I am wondering if with larger grain bills if I would be better off just performing a batch sparge to ensure getting the mash up to temp (168) vs. fly sparging so that the sugars get into the wort. My efficiency wasn't terrible as I got to 73% but it wasn't my normal 76-80% that I have been seeing lately. I am just wondering with larger grain bills if fly sparging may not be the best alternative vs batch spargin?? Any thoughts or lessons learned in this area???
Thanks --- Joe
New to the Beersmith forums... I have seen a few questions on here regarding brew efficiency and thought I would provide some information on what I have learned so far - although keep in mind I am a newbie to all grain brewing - only my 9th batch so far.
First, I use a very basic setup for my brewing - I have one 9 gallon brew pot and 2 coolers (one 10 gallon round igloo cooler for mash tun and one 48 quart cooler for hot liquid tank).
First lesson learned was not to use a Stainless steel hose (plumbing line) as the mash tun filter/false bottom. Pay the money and get a real false bottom for your cooler - especially if you are fly sparging.
Second and most important if you are fly sparging you will need to use very hot water if you are not mashing out. I have found that I need 185-190 degree water to fly sparge with to get the grain in the mash tun up to temp (168-170) I found that when I used this very hot water my effeciency increased dramatically - 10-15%. Also, keep in mind that if you are using a cooler like me for a hot liquid tank you will lose a lot of heat when adding your hot liquid to the cooler. I found that using my 48 quart cooler that I would lose nearly 15 degrees in temp when transferring the hot water from the boil pot to the cooler. So boiling water at 212 degrees in the pot would quickly turn into 190 degree water in the cooler. I think this is probably one of the single biggest lessons learned so far for me and was not something I saw or read a lot about before brewing. Keep in mind my initial fear was getting the mash too hot and having issues with tannins etc... but keep in mind if you have 150-154 degree mash it will take quite a bit of hot water to get that grain bed to 168...
Now for my question -- I recently brewed a Double IPA that had about a 16-17 lb grain bill. What I found was that when fly sparging I noticed that with my thermometer about mid way into the grain that it was not getting up to the 168 degree temp. I am wondering if with larger grain bills if I would be better off just performing a batch sparge to ensure getting the mash up to temp (168) vs. fly sparging so that the sugars get into the wort. My efficiency wasn't terrible as I got to 73% but it wasn't my normal 76-80% that I have been seeing lately. I am just wondering with larger grain bills if fly sparging may not be the best alternative vs batch spargin?? Any thoughts or lessons learned in this area???
Thanks --- Joe