Crjush is always the #1 factor in efficiency. Did you crush it yourself?
Your volume problems are puzzling. Did you tip the cooler to be sure all the wort got drained?[/quote]
No I did not crush it myself I got it from NB pre-crushed. I’ve been eyeballing the captain crush but $280 is a hefty price tag. Of course if i keep getting crappy efficiency, it may pay for itself eventually.
I did not tip the cooler and it wasn’t till i cleaned out the mashtun that i realized that there was quite a bit of deadspace under the bazooka screen. This still doesn’t explain the loss of volume from sparge because that same volume would have been there after my first runnings.[/quote]
NB is somewhat notorious for undercrushing. I can kinda understand that. They want to make sure no one has any problems so the go for a “lowest common denominator” crush.
As to the volumes, I think it’s a case of learning your system. At one point I had a similar issue of not getting out what I thought I put in. I eventually found that I was making a measurement error. That my or may not be your case, but you should just keep brewing and learning.
Crjush is always the #1 factor in efficiency. Did you crush it yourself?
Your volume problems are puzzling. Did you tip the cooler to be sure all the wort got drained?[/quote]
No I did not crush it myself I got it from NB pre-crushed. I’ve been eyeballing the captain crush but $280 is a hefty price tag. Of course if i keep getting crappy efficiency, it may pay for itself eventually.
I did not tip the cooler and it wasn’t till i cleaned out the mashtun that i realized that there was quite a bit of deadspace under the bazooka screen. This still doesn’t explain the loss of volume from sparge because that same volume would have been there after my first runnings.[/quote]
$100 shipped! I have one and am very happy with it.
Watched the video, did some research, and pulled the trigger. I can buy three of these for the price of the captain crush [/quote]
Congrats! I can’t speak to the longevity, but I’ve brewed maybe 8-10 beers so far and couldn’t be happier. Shoot… even if it lasts only a few years, which I doubt, it was only $100. Like you said, captain crush is almost 3x that price.
I don’t think any mill is going to last a lifetime. I’ve had my Barley Crusher going on 8 years, it’s been a great mill but it’s starting to have issues. I’m going to look into refurbishing it, if it’s too much money I’ll likely buy one of those Cereal Killers, at that price you could afford to buy one every 5 years.
thats not a horrible efficiency. If your constantly getting that that is good.
Since this is the first AG you will have to see how other pan out.
Are you talking brewhouse efficiency, or mash efficiency?
SOme of your stuff is conflicting so you will need to work out your system and its losses and such and get exact measurements, a little bit off here and there can throw off efficiency.
If you want to be precise about dialing in your crush, you may want to consider purchasing a feeler gauge as well, so you can adjust the rollers to your liking and not just eyeball it or use a credit card.
JSP adjustable here for 15 years. I share it with another guy and we’ve run I don’t know how many thousands of lb. of grain through it. Still going strong.
Or just brew and adjust it. That’s what I did and I haven’t changed it in over 12 years. Learn what a good crush for you looks like. That’s all you need.
2:1 is fine and will actually increase efficiency over a lower ratio.[/quote]
I’ve been wondering about that for years. Pretty much all authors of homebrewing books will tell you to shoot for around 1+1/3 qts. of water per lb. of grain, but if you look at any recipe from actual breweries, you’ll see that they use a much higher proportion of water in the grist. I’ve recently purchased a new mash tun/brew kettle that’s got plenty of room for a mash with a high water/grain ratio, so on your recommendation, I’ll try mashing with a higher proportion of water the next time I brew, hopefully tomorrow. I’ll report on the results.
Those low water to grain ratios are just a creation of brewers with undersized equipment. When they’ve had poor conversion, which is a big part of what is happening here, a lot a brewers have benefited from going up toward 2 qt/# to help conversion.
I would consider 63% a very low mash efficiency. Virtually the only way you can get that low is to only convert about 70% of the starch, unless it is a really large grain bill. Not bad for a first try, mine was about the same or worse, but you’ll get it much higher once you optimize your mash. 20-25% higher is quite possible.
Crush is the biggest variable to conversion. Thinning the mash can help, as can running an alpha rest up near 158-162F, as others have mentioned, especially if you can’t improve your crush. pH can be a factor if you have lousy water, which can be a real problem in the center of the US. However, it looks like you have decent water, so your pH might not be ideal but I doubt you have a high enough pH to dramatically affect the mash.
My JSP adjustable is made to have one end smaller than the other. The thinking is that it simulates a multi roller mill. Whether it actually does or not doesn’t matter to me. I get a great crush from it.
