9
votes
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How to increase gravity / decrease amount of water in my wort, and extract the same amount of sugars?
Your high efficiency is due to using a lot more water than you need, washing every last bit of sugar out of the mash. Ultimately, you want to collect less wort. This will result in a lower efficiency. ...
- 10.1k
4
votes
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About reusing spent grain
I use second runnings / Parti-Gyle as often as I can. But as my primary mash efficiency rises theres less and less usefulness in the parti-gyle. As for me using the grains, it's compost or given away ...
- 18.5k
4
votes
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Poor mash efficiency - help please
Forget about the mash timer. A mash is done when there's no more starch.
The finer the grain crush, the more mash efficiency you will get. Up until it's so fine that it gets stuck. Finding that ...
- 18.5k
4
votes
Poor mash efficiency - help please
Water chemistry, particularly mash pH, can have a large effect on efficiency. My first step would be to check the pH of the mash and make sure you're in the 5.2-5.8 range (ideally closer to the low ...
- 998
3
votes
How can i stop losing so much water during brew
There are two stages you are "loosing" water, and each have different mechanism:
Mash and sparge
Boil
Let's talk them one at a time.
Mash & Sparge loses
There are two reasons for that. First ...
- 3,718
3
votes
Accepted
Besides sparge water, what other water do all-grain brewers add in (and why)?
Total water in your kettle is typically Mash liquor + sparge liquor - grain absorption, which you've essentially stated.
I can't speak for this calculator, but for the purpose of simple all-grain ...
- 1,773
3
votes
Batch sparging: let the grain bed run dry or not?
We sparge because we're interested in dissolving more of the sugars from the grain into solution. There are some physical principles when dissolving, like:
A more concentrated sugar solution ...
- 151
3
votes
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Swapped sparge by mash water quantities
1.5 gallon batch?
You should fine. The higher grain to water ratio may result in a slightly high pH but you should still be well in the range for enzymes to do their work.
- 18.5k
3
votes
Accepted
How can i stop losing so much water during brew
Losses of water in the brewing process are common. There are some that are unavoidable and some that are controllable to a point.
1. Absorption by Grain: Your dry grain will absorb water at a rate of ...
- 608
2
votes
About reusing spent grain
IMO, the best use of spent grain is for food.
I made an amazing bran cake from the spent grain from a red ale. Not only are the grains. Spent grain has residual sugars that add a sweetness that ...
- 150
2
votes
About reusing spent grain
Wow! That is economical brewing - but possibly too economical. There may be some colour and flavour left in the roast grains but there should be very little starch, malto-dextrins or sugars left in ...
- 5,631
2
votes
Big beer extract impact?
I would avoid option 3. You've already got plenty of Munich in the recipe, and it would likely alter the flavor too much. If you do go this way be sure to use your lightest Munich as the higher ...
- 933
2
votes
How can i stop losing so much water during brew
I have two very rough guesses.
First, are there any points where you are boiling uncovered where you could change and cover the pot?
Second, your boiler is 52l? Given how large that is I expect you'...
- 933
2
votes
Accepted
How to detect channeling when fly sparging?
The bad news is that you can't detect channeling while you are fly sparging... but you can see it afterwards. This works best in darker beers.
After the mash get something to scoop out the spent ...
- 368
2
votes
Should I transfer strike water through a sparging device or more directly?
I don't think you'll notice any difference in beer by throttling back. On my RIMS I get the strike water up to temp in the mash tun first, stop the pump completely, dough in, then restart the pump. ...
1
vote
Accepted
How should I sparge large amount of mash?
First of all, you should never boil your mash before filtering. (1)
Heat water to correct temperature
Add milled grains
Mash for the time needed
Filter and sparge wort
Boil filtered wort
In your ...
- 3,655
1
vote
First time brewing a Porter (BIAB) - Need help!
3.2Ltrs of Strike water & 3.49Litrs of Sparge water appears to be approximately correct for your process. Personally if I were brewing this recipe I might aim for higher volumes closer to 5.4L ...
- 3,417
1
vote
Batch sparging: let the grain bed run dry or not?
I have a similar system. I always take the complete lot of wort from the mash initially, and then during both batch sparges. The whole point of batch-sparging is not needing to maintain the liquor (...
- 2,060
1
vote
Do I need two tanks in a RIMS system
For the mash liquor, you could do the strike-temp heating in the mash tun through the RIMS tube before adding grains, and then RIMS to hold/change temp. The sparge liquor is going to be a problem, ...
- 10.1k
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