im having a hard time hitting beersmith estimates past 7% on 10 gallon batches in my rectangular cooler. I have a few inconsistencies in my process that I've never been too sure about 1. am I better off with a thinner mash and a smaller sparge volume or vice versa 2. Should I stir the mash before draining the mash tun or let the grain settle and then drain 3. Would more recirculating help I've always done a fairly short vorlauf 4. I read that once you set the grainbed you can open er up so I've been doing that but with big beers maybe this doesn't apply as much? Thanks for any suggestions. It's my only struggle with brewing 10 gallon batches. Like I said if I brew a 6.5 recipe it's 6.5. But I seem to hit a wall around 8% I should add my gravity is always lower Before and after . So Abv tends to be close to the estimate. I've been meaning to get a new hydrometer
Everyone hits the wall around a 1.080 Beer. Use DME to increase the gravity from there, or do long boils.
You can stir the mash before draining but once the grain has settled and the end of mashing has been reached it´s time to recirculate to clarify the hot wort for about 10-15 minutes.After recirculating you must not stir or break the grain bed, otherwise your recirculating would be in vain. The more steady you can hold the mash temp during clarifying the better efficiency you will get. It is very important how you mill your grains, crushing grains too coarse will lead to poor eff., too fine of a crushing will lead to a stuck mash draining. As hopfenunmaltz said you can add DME and/or sugars to increase gravity.
why don't you tell us your exact process? Are you batch sparging or fly or no sparge? How many vessels? Do you crush your grain yourself?
I found I jumped about 10 percent in efficiency simply taking more time to lauter. Instead of 30 minutes of lautering to the boil kettle, I slowed it down to a trickle, taking about 1 1/4 hour, and my efficiency went way up. Also yes, bigger beers, aim lower.
I lauter till clear then crank open the ball valve wide open. I no sparge so I don't know if that matters.
I This is a way of losing efficiency. http://brulosophy.com/2016/08/29/mash-methods-pt-2-batch-sparge-vs-no-sparge-exbeeriment-results/
Oh I'm aware of the no sparging causes a loss an efficiency but I don't care. I was saying that opening the ball valve all the way after lautering to settle the grain bed should help you get the sugars in suspension to your boil kettle more efficiently.
I recirculate about 4 cups worth of wort after my mash and then about 12 cups into the kettle open up the valve. Once drained I just do a single batch sparge with the rest of my water. All in all I Lauter for 20 to 20 minutes if I had to guess. I'll have to try slowing it down. In reality I don't care about efficiency Too much but I would like to be able to hit 8 or 9% in my current mashtun and I think it's doable. The other thing is I've brewed bigger beers with my friends brew in a bag setup than I'm able to get using a batch sparge.
Fly sparge and slow down your runoff. That should fix your problem. I'd think about an hour instead of 20 minutes, but doubling your sparge time would be a great place to start.
