How can I improve my mash efficiency?

I do BIAB and I was having some major mash efficiency problems. Turned out the ph for my mash wasn't low enough and I had to start treating the water. (i've only done one batch since i figured that out but my efficiency jumped 13% and I had full conversion based on an iodine test in an hour instead of the usual 3). Brew cipher saved me on it. I was about ready to quit brewing.

 

Two things;
1) Mash efficiency is not brewhouse efficiency
2) More better would be a picture of your crush
3) Wear shoes

 

Check your thermometer calibration. Crush is very important. Then the pH should be in the 5.2-5-6 range, water adjustments may be required.

High efficiency does not always equal good tasting beer.

 

I tried an iodine test and found I wasn't getting conversion. It was what made me start investigating the water because i knew my temps were right. Iodine is cheap from walgreens. It's a pretty simple thing to do

 

Worthless.

 

^ Yep.

 

RO water without appropriate acid and/or salt additions won't get your pH into the proper range for most styles.

 

how do you calculate the % efficiency? (OG-FG/OG)X100?

 

I have the same mashtun. I'm betting on a combination of water chemistry and grain crush.

 

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/low-pre-boil-gravity-ph-issue.372719/

I think I had the same issue with my previous beer.

 

With RO water you need to add minerals since almost everything is stripped out of the water.

Ditch the 5.2 Stabilizer, you definitely don't need it with RO water. And it doesn't work for "normal" water.

Here is a place to start reading https://sites.google.com/site/brunwater/water-knowledge
and another http://howtobrew.com/book/section-3...h-ph/using-salts-for-brewing-water-adjustment

You are going to want a water calculator, there is a link on the brunwater page or you can use Brew Cipher from @VikeMan which does everything you need in a recipe calculator.

 

BrewCipher links: Google Drive or DropBox.

 

No - ^ that is % attenuation (apparent).

% efficiency is a measure of how much of the theoretical maximum yield one extracts from a given grain bill.

Mash efficiency relates to pre-boil gravity (i.e. what percentage of the *available* sugar did you extract), while brewhouse efficiency is more a measure of the volume and post-boil gravity of the wort that actually makes it into your fermentor.

 

My money is on the crush.

Homebrew stores often keep the gap set on the 'wide' side so people (newer all-grain brewers in particular) don't come back complaining about problems with slow runoff or stuck sparges (wider gap = more intact grain husk = faster runoff, at the expense of reduced conversion/extraction). Besides, low efficiency means (worst case) their customers are buying more grain! It's win-win for them.

If you start crushing your own, you can experiment to find a more optimal setting for your system. My efficiency was similar to yours before I bought my own mill. Now it's pretty consistently 81%. If I miss that mark? It's a good indication that I need to check & reset the gap on the mill!

 

Never assume a homebrew store provides a crush that produces 75-80% mash efficiency. Even if they said so. They LIE !!

Mash efficiency checklist:

1. perfect grain crush (you crushed it with your own decent quality mill)
2. mash pH is verified to be 5.2-5.6
3. mash temperature is a steady 148-158F for 60-90 minutes
4. stir the mash for 2 minutes
5. stir the sparge for 2 minutes
6. sparge water is 170-180F

Also keep in mind, efficiency is reduced with higher gravity beers. You aren't going to get 80% efficiency with an 10% beer.

 

Do your dark beers have a better mash efficiency than your light beers? If so, your mash PH might be too high. However, if your mash efficiency is close on both light and dark batches then you should first look into the way the grains are crushed.

 

Is the temperature of your (fly? / batch?) sparge water addition or the grain bed?

 

Sparge water temperature before dumping on grain.