So last night, I finally made the move to all grain. Its so nice to not have to pay for extract! It had to be a 3 gallon batch because I can't boil 6.5 gallons on my little stovetop. Everything went surprisingly smooth, although my efficiency was a little lower than I had hoped at 66%. Anyone have some tips on what might help boost my efficiency?
Awesome! An addictive journey has begun! What is your equipment and process? That info will help others give you their tips. Congrats!
I'm going on batch 15 of all grain and my efficiency (presumably) is about 67%. At least that's the number I have to put into beersmith II to get the actual numbers to match up with the predicted values. Despite slightly low (apparently) efficiency, my beers have still been quite tasty. So no worries, I have other things I am working on right now that are more important. Congrats on your first AG batch!
Without a very accurate number for volume, it is difficult to get an accurate usable number for efficiency. But anything between 65-75 is fine. Tips: correct water ph, correct grain crush, wort pickup in mashtun that doesn't leave a lot in the bottom, enough time, stable temp, base grains with enough enzyme potential
Are you batch, fly, or no sparging? What are you using for a manifold? 70% is sort of the sweet spot. And without an accurate measurement of wort volume, you could be closer than you think. You may be wanting a solution in search of problem. You may just need to SCDPADABYMY (stay calm, don't panic, and drink a beer you made yourself)
One thing that I wish I had known sooner is that unless you have your own grain mill, your efficiency is probably dictated by the crush at your LHBS. In my case, I've done BIAB, mash tun, 1-step mash, 2-step mash, etc. but I always end up at exactly 70%. For a while, I thought that I was doing something wrong seeing all these people with +80% efficiency. But then I started to realize that most of these people probably mill their grains aggressively to hit those numbers. I'd say you need to brew a couple batches and see if that number changes from batch to batch before you start obsessing too much about your technique. When you're starting out, I think it's more important to have consistency. I can use my consistent 70% number to calculate exactly how much grain I need and hit my target OG every time with very little effort. For now, that's more worth while than trying to increase my efficiency.
Thanks for all the tips guys! I am batch sparging in a 10 gallon cooler with a metal braid. I think temp. control is definitely one of the things I need to work on. The mash tun definitely leaves a lot of air space.
