Newbie mash efficiency problems... HELP!!!

[Fil]

Cheers Mook.. still not a bad price compared to the coleman extreme range of boxes, they also claim keeping ice solid for 7days..

Ashley in my vast experience of 2 coldboxes, both lids came appart as 2 shell parts that snapped together, and can take a bit of coaxing to initialy seperate.

the reason for opening is to check how it is configured inside one of mine had mouldings which in efect created cells so pouring in a granular insulator or pumping in expanding foam would not have been a successfull filling solution only filling the cell the hole opened into. the other was just a void

 

[Ashley]

I will have a look see and findbout... fingers crossed :pray:

 

[Ashley]

i cant see a way to removed the inner panel on the lid unfortunately.

i now have a thermapen and got accurate temp readings. i lose a lot more than a couple of degrees. i lose 6c in 90 minutes.

i poured 2 kettle loads of boiling water in to heat it up, and i can see steam coming out from the gap between the lid and the tun

does anyone else get this?

 

[Fil]

Ok perhaps the duvet mod isnt OTT after all a 6C drop is worthy of concern.

when making coldbox tuns from doner boxes that fall into a budget box category folk have separated the inner and outer shels of the main box to find minimal insulation of thin polystyrene sheets not even filling the void.

it might be worth dismantling yours to investigate this as its simple to improve the insulation.. adding closed cell foam (£shop camping mats) reflective tin foil or mylar, bubblewrap, rockwool, etc

if you could take a photo of the lid and box perhaps folk with similar boxes can advise on the safe splitting.. tho generally removing any handles finding a seam and working a small screwdriver in and then along generally does the trick not being too forcefull
tho i guess some lids could be blow molded and be in one piece?? again pics would help clarify.. if blow molded its an open void and can be esily pour filled through a hole.. :)


underletting the tun (Filling from the drain valve) with the strike liquor makes doughing in a lot less work and therefore quicker meaning less temp loss durring the process?

what are your strike mash and end of mash temps looking like ?

 

[Ashley]

Well, i pitch strike water at 76c, and added like 500ml of cold water after doughing in to get the temperature to 66.1c. after 90 minute mash i was getting a reading on the thermapen of 60.2c.

This is the mash tun i have...

http://www.thebrewshop.com/contents/media/l_deluxe_mash_tun.jpg

In terms of underletting... i have never heard of this before... would i put the grain in and then fill with water from the valve?

 

[Fil]

looks like an igloo 45l coldbox based tun, afaik the igloo boxes are considered higher quality boxes so should have pretty good insulation built in. most things ive read about them has been very positive..

before anything else i would consider a polite email to the seller, its new kit and you think it should be performing better, 6C loss iss too much, you could link to the posts here as evidence. Best outcome would be a better performing replacement and going by the grain you have used in month 1 of ag brewing it might be worth a supplier keeping you happy

 

[Ashley]

Many thanks buddy. Advice is much appreciated. I will call them tomorrow. Thank you once again 😉

 

[Ashley]

I've just tried the timothy taylor clone i made. Its a bit watery and only 3.6% instead of the 4% it should have been. Due to mash problems as mentioned do you think?

 

[MyQul]

I've just tried the timothy taylor clone i made. Its a bit watery and only 3.6% instead of the 4% it should have been. Due to mash problems as mentioned do you think?

I'm definately not an expert on the science of mashing but as a maxi-biab-er my mashes can be extremely thick (am mashing a Fullers London Porter as I type this and I can hardly move the mash paddle to stir it) so I have to do two sparges and make sure they are thorough else I miss my OG target by several points.

Don't know whether mash thickness has anything to do with you not hitting your ABV% target but it's something to think about?

 

[Ashley]

Sorry for the extreme lateness of this but the homebrew store/shop sent me a replacement cool box (minus tap and fittings) plus a free mash kit and new thermometer (which I won't use because I own a thermapen) but f*cling fair play to them although they were sceptical they read the thread and sent no questions asked!!!

 

[Smileysmiles]

I had a problem where I tried to be clever and built my mash stand on a slight angle. Got about 68% efficiency later decided to do level and got 80%. I built a copper element in my mash tun to circulate water 5c higher temp from the hlt using an stc1000

 

[mirsultankhan]

I had a problem where I tried to be clever and built my mash stand on a slight angle. Got about 68% efficiency later decided to do level and got 80%. I built a copper element in my mash tun to circulate water 5c higher temp from the hlt using an stc1000

an amazing idea!