I've brewed 4 extract kits, and one extract from a recipe. So I'm thinking about moving to all grain. I've been doing a lot of reading on different sites and people keep talking about their efficiency 70%, 80%, etc... How do you calculate it?

I plan to have a pretty simple setup. 30qt aluminum pot for heating strike water, 5gal igloo (round) cooler w/ SS braided hose, and plan on batch sparging into my new brew pot (not yet purchased) 40qt SS.

Also how do you know what temp to heat your strike water to? If I'm batch sparging, how many batches do I do? Do I keep the strike water the same? Does it depend on the grain being used? Am I asking too many questions for one subject?

Any help is appreciated, also if you think I need something else to go all grain, let me know.

Tags: palmer strike temperature, poor batch sparge efficiency, determine homebrew efficiency

So if your from hastings your familiar with the Waldorff. Sam(brewer) is friend of mine so I would recommend talking with him alittle and he is a good source for grain, yeast ect....You could probably get him to do a homebrew demo.

I first thought out a response to your posting and figured it would be to lengthy so i will refer you to a book that i think is the best learning tool available. John Palmers " How to Brew" http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

You are going to find the best answers that you can actually understand with examples. I often go back to this referencing things. The online version has been updated and can be purchased at the web address. But check it out and it will explain the efficiency more effectively than I. Just buy it, you won't regret it.

I would reccommend a 10 gal igloo with a false bottom. This will give you a better grain bed depth and allows you to increase batch sizes if needed or higher gravity brews(efficiency). Just a preference.

Palmer also discusses batch sparging and temps. Also, Promash has a calculate to determine your strike temps. Typically your strike temp is going to result in a constant temp in the mash tun.

The jump to all-grain isn't as bad as it sounds. The water chemistry is propable you main concern. Good luck

Wow small world. Yes, I'm familiar with Waldorf and have been thinking about asking someone down there if I could get some homebrewing tips. But I figured I'd just be bothering him. I'd be very interested in a homebrew session with a pro. Or even from an experianced homebrewer. I've been waiting for Siciliano's Market (up in GR off Lake Mich Dr)to do a demo, but no date yet.

As far as John Palmers, "How to Brew" I know I should just buy it and probably will. I've read the all grain portion of the online book, but I guess haven't found the efficiency portion.

...how do you know what temp to heat your strike water to?

There is a very good rule of thumb I got from one of my favorite homebrewing books, Dave Miller's Homebrewing Guide. One can easily hit the strike temperature by heating 1 1/3 quarts of water per pound of grain at a temperature of 11 degrees F above your desired strike temperature. This works extremely well.

It assumes that the grain has been doughed in first, that is to say, wetted with a bit of water.

I usually use 1 cup per pound of grain of very hot (~120 F) tap water for my dough in. This tends to give a temperature of about 95-100 F which is a good temperature to pre-heat the mash tun with. It is also in the acid rest temperature range. An acid rest is not really necessary but I figure if I am doughing in anyways it might just as well be one of the useful temperature ranges. Actually my mentor in homebrewing used to use this dough in procedure and I just picked it from him. It works well so I stuck with it.

At any rate, they Dave Miller's method for hitting your strike temperature. I believe you will be impressed how well is actually works.

- Scott

Okay, so when I poor the strike water in for the second time (second batch)... at the same temp, do I let it rest for a while? Or do I start draining right away?

Okay I'm not sure I understand your question so I'll do the best I can.

You dough in the malt with a little water. As I said in my previous posting I use 1 cup per pound.

I close the lid on my mash tun and let it sit while I heat up the water to the strike temperature which is usually the temperature at which you plan to mash at (i.e. ~148-158 F).

Once you add the 1.33 quarts per pound of water at 11 degrees above your desired strike temperature and stirred in well you then wait for the starches to convert to sugars. This usuall takes about an hour or so. Some people check the conversion progress with the iodine test but I don't bother. I wait an hour and then heat the water up for sparging temperatures and go from there.

I hope this answers your question.

- Scott

I understand the dough in process ( 1cup per pound). And I understand heating up the stike water and adding 1.33qt per pound and waiting the hour for all the wonderful goodness to come out of the grains.

So say I have 10lbs of grain. And I end up with around 3 gallons after I let the entire MLT drain into my brew pot. I still need more sweet wort. So do I add the same 1.33qt per pound at the same temp? And also do I need to let it rest for a period of time before I drain into my brew pot? I would like to end up with 6 gal to boil.

This is batch sparging, right?

Maybe I'm all confused.

After you mash additional water is added during the sparge.

Hot water at a temperature of about 168 F is used to rinse the sugars off of the grain and increase the yield and efficiency of your process.

You generally sparge your grain with a quantity of water that is approximately equal to the size batch you are making.

For example, for a 10 gallon batch I generally use a total of about 15 gallons. Approximately, 5 gallons is used for mashing and about 10 gallons is used for the sparge. After the boil you should end up with about 10 gallons of wort.

Sorry I wasn't more clear earlier.

- Scott

bf1001 wrote:Wow small world. Yes, I'm familiar with Waldorf and have been thinking about asking someone down there if I could get some homebrewing tips. But I figured I'd just be bothering him. I'd be very interested in a homebrew session with a pro. Or even from an experianced homebrewer. I've been waiting for Siciliano's Market (up in GR off Lake Mich Dr)to do a demo, but no date yet.

As far as John Palmers, "How to Brew" I know I should just buy it and probably will. I've read the all grain portion of the online book, but I guess haven't found the efficiency portion.

There is a homebrew demo at siciliano's scheduled for June 7th in back. I would call up there and talk to steve to make sure it's still on.