Mash Efficiency

[tjc27]

Well as a rookie I'm reaching out. My mash efficiency is quite low, around 65% consistently. I find my last runnings are quite high, maybe 1.030 still when I'm at kettle full. I thought maybe i was running off the sparge too slow but i spent and hour and a half running it off today (1.5 bbl system) to no avail. Thoughts? I feel like the crush looks good and the pH is right on. I have tried both batch and fly sparging with no significant difference.

Key points:

I have only brewed about 8 batches on this system

Final runnings high (1.030)

Ph good

Crush looks good

65% efficiency

[mswebb]

An idea of your recipe including grain and water volumes would be helpful. What about your mash temperature? What's your sparge temperature? Do you do a mash-out temperature bump? How have the beers finished (OG and FG)?

[gitchegumee]

Sparge more.....

Sounds like a water balance issue. What is your grist/water ratio in the mash? Should be ~0.3 Stiffen your mash and sparge more for lighter PRO.

[tjc27]

An idea of your recipe including grain and water volumes would be helpful. What about your mash temperature? What's your sparge temperature? Do you do a mash-out temperature bump? How have the beers finished (OG and FG)?

I have found this for almost all recipes. Typically I do a ratio of 1 lb grain to 1.5 qt of water. So with 100 pounds of grain or so i would have 40 gallons of mash water. Then i would sparge with about 30 gallons to reach about 55 gallons pre-boil.

Mash temp around 148 to 152 typically and I sparge with 170 F water give or take a couple degrees. The beers have finished around where I want them but the OG is low most of the time.


The idea of more sparge water makes sense. I will look at that.

[a10t2]

How are your first runnings gravities? It could be that conversion is incomplete when you start the lauter - low efficiency would support that. At 1.5 qt/lb your first runnings should be ~20°P.

[tjc27]

How are your first runnings gravities? It could be that conversion is incomplete when you start the lauter - low efficiency would support that. At 1.5 qt/lb your first runnings should be ~20°P.

That might be something to look at, I'm usually around 18P first runnings

[panadero]

As said above, try less mash water - I generally go 1 barrel per 100 pounds.
David

[jerrybromley]

Sparge time and temp

We have a similar problem as tjc27 on a 3 barrel Bubba's system. Our next batch we will double our sparge time. We will also increase our sparge water temp. We have been using a herms coil in our HLT at 160 degrees and sparge at that temp. We will be moving our sparge water temp to 175 to improve extraction. Our beers all taste good just not hitting our numbers. Any other recommendations will be helpful. I will report back as to our results

[beermkr]

I agree. Less water to mash in with. My normal number is 1.25gts per pound but when I do a higher gravity beer I will lower that. My general rule of thumb is to sparge with AT LEAST the same amount of water that I mashed in with. i.e. if I mashed in with 100 gallons then sparge needs to be at least 100 gallons.

I also run off for 2 hours on my 10bbl system. That is excessive for a smaller system like you have but you should be hitting at least an hour I think.

[Brandjes]

Check your crush with a # 14 sieve. 65% course on top and 35% fines in the pan. Also last running at 30 seams like your leaving a lot behind


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[ponysaurusbrew]

I had a bubba system, and you will notice that the geometry of those mash tuns is almost exactly the opposite of all purpose-made vessels. My 15-barrel tun is barely any taller than my 3bbl bubba tun, but has 15 times the surface area to lauter over. These are all good tips and may help, but the bubba system is not a great tool for job. I say this not to make you feel bad, but to let you know it might not be all your fault

[jerrybromley]

Increased efficientcy

Sorry it took awhile to get back... We increased our sparge time and water temp as posted earlier and began hitting our predicted gravities . I believe this was the answer for our system .

[jerrybromley]

Thanks

I had a bubba system, and you will notice that the geometry of those mash tuns is almost exactly the opposite of all purpose-made vessels. My 15-barrel tun is barely any taller than my 3bbl bubba tun, but has 15 times the surface area to lauter over. These are all good tips and may help, but the bubba system is not a great tool for job. I say this not to make you feel bad, but to let you know it might not be all your fault

Thanks for your input....I know that Bubba's system is not the ideal. (We are using more grain than we would with a more advanced system.) It's nice to know others have had a similar experience to ours. That being said I was having problems with consistency in efficiency . The changes I made have gotten us back to the predictability we all need.

[claponsie]

Thanks for your input....I know that Bubba's system is not the ideal. (We are using more grain than we would with a more advanced system.) It's nice to know others have had a similar experience to ours. That being said I was having problems with consistency in efficiency . The changes I made have gotten us back to the predictability we all need.

Resurrecting this thread. Has your experience with this mash tun changed at all? We are using a Bubba's Barrels system now and I am working on our mash efficiency. I am getting between 60 and 70 depending on recipe with properly adjusted brewing water and mash pH. Typically we're reaching low 60s on higher gravity wort and high 60s for lower gravity wort. Just curious what you are typically hitting now and if you've had any luck getting a consistently higher efficiency. Thanks.

I'm guessing the geometry of the tank (height to diameter ratio) makes it less than ideal for high efficiency. It's not a purpose built tank and its price point reflects that. Overall, I'm happy with it.