Disappointing efficiency

[clib]

I do stovetop biab and I have the Efficiency set to 80%. My gravity is never under target, sometimes over. I'm not sure how this equates to BHE, can't remember, I did look into that in the past.

My grain is ground quite fine. I raise the temperature to about 78 with the bag still in, and stir a lot. I hold back a few litres to do a sparge. I have hardly any losses, virtually the whole kettle goes into the FV. I just lose the sediment when I rack to a bottling bucket.

 

[Nicks90]

I had a thought about my efficiency today, as i started a new brew. I always 'dunk' the bag of grain regularly during the mashing process, but today I simultaneously gave it a good old prod with my trusty long melamine spoon. Do I usually do that? Not always, I think, But the grains did feel a little 'compacted;, and after a few good prods, clouds of milky-looking goodness appeared in the wort.

I'm sure that I'll making certain that I do do this always in future, anyway.

Never mind a gentle prod - Isn't it accepted wisdom half way through the mash to get your spoon in and give it a good stir?

 

[moto748]

I'm just stumbling down the path, Nick. ☺

 

[Covrich]

I'm just stumbling down the path, Nick. ☺

Whilst you do that make sure you get low and really lift the grains off the bottom of your bag.

Helps to spend plenty of time doughing inand stirring it in well

 

[thegrantickle]

My recent experience with this has been that grain crush size makes an unbelievable difference. I don't have a mill (yet), and until recently was buying my grain pretty much entirely from Get Er Brewed. With their grains I was getting 50-55% efficiency, which I think is pretty poor. Recently I ordered some Belgian Pilsner malt from Malt Miller, and selected their 'fine crush' option, which I found to be a good bit finer, and with quite a lot of powder flour (so I added some rice hulls to the grist to avoid a potential stuck mash). Immediately, every batch I have brewed with this malt was 75-80% efficiency - what a massive difference!

I'm not saying this is the case, but if your efficiency is low, then most people would just increase the amount of grain they use... which means you buy more... which means suppliers make more money...

 

[chopps]

If you watch the recent videos from Malt Miller for the electric grainfather mill there's a short section on crush and how it matters depending on what equipment you brew with. On an BIAB system a fine crush is good, but not necessarily better for other methods and equipment.
The malt that I use (from the forum group buy) is crushed by Munton or Crisp directly, rather than a reseller - it's the standard crush as supplied to the breweries, and I get around 80% efficiency on a full volume, no-sparge, brew basket setup with 4 good stirs per hour.

 

[moto748]

Whilst you do that make sure you get low and really lift the grains off the bottom of your bag.

Helps to spend plenty of time doughing inand stirring it in well

Yeah, I probably should make clear that my bag is 'closed', I don't have the facility to stir in the bag during mashing.

 

[moto748]

However, when I reached for the hydrometer this morning, I found I was even a couple of points over the target OG, and target volume was met too, giving me a BHE around the 70% mark. I am more than happy with that.