r/Homebrewing • u/traros22 • 13h ago
I officially need help.
Greetings all,
So I am about 1 year along with my new Anvil Foundry 10.5 after only doing Extract brewing. I have been doing a lot of troubleshooting on this equipment to figure out, but still haven’t figured out why my mash efficiency is so poor. Always heating via 220V with a bag inside the malt pipe (Easier cleaning).
Scotch Ale
8 lbs - Munich 2
4 lbs - Pale
1.25 lbs - various other malts I don’t want to list due to laziness.
1st go: 4 gal strike at 156F for 60 minutes with recirc (~25% open on the tubing) 2 gal sparge at 168F. Pre-boil volume of 4.5 gal at Gravity of 1.032.
2nd go: 6.5 gal strike at 152F for 60 minutes with recirc (33% open on the tubing). No sparge. Mash out for 10 minutes at 170F. Pre-boil volume of 5 gal at gravity of 1.040. I did toss some sparge into the pipe just for shiggles and the wash was 1.041 on the refractometer. So the bulk matched the rest so I think my issue is in the mash part itself.
I have been adjusting the strike water vs sparge vs no-sparge vs mash temperatures for an few recipes, but I am using this particular recipe as my “variable control” to try and fix whatever in my processing is causing me issues.And I cannot get above 50% efficiency for any of my brews (Imperial stout, Hazy IPAs, Farmhoues ale, etc). This is probably my 7th batch and each time I end up with poor efficiency on my mash (Sub 50%).
I know it’s not grain milling as I am the only one in our LHBS that is currently having issues. Can’t tell you what he has it set to, but the guy is good and has told me that is not the droid I am looking for.
I have watched every video that Short circuit has on YouTube and he and i followed every step he did. From what I am reading/seeing, I am doing Almost all the things that people mention in all the forums. My only discrepancy is stirring. I have not stirred the top 3rd ever. Could that really be it? Again, LHBS guy says he never does and my recirc is a fine substitution, but that is the last check box unless someone can point me someplace else. Any and all help would be appreciated.
Thanks all!
2
u/Original_Hopster 13h ago
ok my dude this is my process for the AIO machines as I have also met poor efficiency. mash in and let it rest for 10/15 mins. stir that bad boy up and recirculate for 30. after 30 stir the mash again and recirculate, this improved my efficiency exponentially. might not work for you but it worked for me.
1
u/traros22 12h ago
Can you help me understand why this would work? what is it that made you choose this and what do you think was the reason it helped improve your yield?
2
u/TheDagronPrince 9h ago
There's a great page on anvil efficiency on this sub's wiki, https://old.reddit.com/r/homebrewing/wiki/system-specific/anvil-foundry
I specifically use this guide here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Homebrewing/comments/mwrlfc/recommendations_for_bumping_up_the_efficiency_of/gvjwslw/
Specifically:
If you've got the new malt pipe, no worries, but old malt pipe = use small batch adapter
Don't use a set amount of water. Use 1.25-1.5 qt/lb
Stir vigorously at dough in
Recirculate very, very slowly and without the distribution plate at first.
Stir at 10 minutes in, 20 minutes in, 30 minutes in.
After that 3rd stir, then put on the distribution plate. Continue to recirculate slowly.
Mash out. Recirculation still slow
Finish the mash, sparge at 167-170 with remaining water. Big batch = less sparge water. If you want higher efficiency, sparge with more water but boil longer to hit your intended pre-boil volume.
1
u/vinnielavoie 13h ago
If youvare using osmosis or distilled water you need to add minerals back in. I had the same issue with my biab
1
u/traros22 12h ago
I am just running tap water coming from the city. It’s got high iron, but the chlorine/chloramine content is pretty low. I was planning to start learning the water chemistry side of it once I got a handle on my mashing.
2
u/Paper_Bottle_ 10h ago
This might be part of it, but I doubt it.
On a separate note, any chlorine/chloramine is going to create chlorophenols that will taste medicinal at best or like bandaids at worst. I highly recommmend getting a pack of campden tablets and adding half a crushed tablet to your mash water and sparge water before it touches the grain. It’s easy and cheap and really makes a noticeable difference.
The one issue you may have with using tap water is getting your mash pH into the right range for the enzymes to convert the starches into fermentable sugars. The mash should be between 5.2-5.6 for conversion. If you use tap water with high alkalinity, it will resist the pH drop normally caused by the grain. The grain will naturally pull the pH towards the high 5’s, but may not get you into the right range if the water is resistant to pH change (alkalinity). Most people will add either some acid or acidulated malt to the mash. In my 5 gallon batch’s of light beer, I usually add 2-5ml of lactic acid to the mash and 2-3ml to the sparge. Alternately you could swap 2-5% of your base malt for acid malt.
0
u/vinnielavoie 12h ago
Try switching to osmosis. Even if you don't add minerals I suspect your efficency will go up and have a better flavor.
1
u/Norse_Jersey 10h ago
I brew with a grainfather so this isn’t equipment-specific, but you might be sparging too fast. If you’re taking a pitcher of your sparge water and pouring the whole thing over the mash bed all at once, it will run through too fast and won’t pull as many sugars with it. Make sure your sparge is nice and easy; just a trickle. Don’t let it pool on top of the grain. Making that change really helped with my efficiency.
1
u/chino_brews 9h ago edited 8h ago
Have you reviewed the wiki yet? https://old.reddit.com/r/homebrewing/wiki/system-specific/anvil-foundry. EDIT: Just saw that TheDagronPrince beat me to it. Just look at their comment.
There are multiple posts saved in there that talk about how users improved their mash efficiency.
1
u/WhiskyIsRisky 8h ago
Someone else mentioned periodically pulling your grain basket during the mash for a few seconds to let the low gravity water that's in the dead space around the basket mix with the higher gravity water in the basket.
I just brewed today on my Anvil 10.5 and hit right around 72% brewhouse efficiency. Here's the things I did.
This was a 45 minute mash.
- Crushed grain using rollers set to 0.032 inches
- Added 4 oz of rice hulls to grain bill
- Mashed in with the Anvil recommended water amount for a sparge batch at 160F
- Was very persistent about breaking up my dough balls
- Let it sit for 15 minutes
- Lifted the grain basket partially out of the water for 5-10 seconds.
- Stirred the top 1/3 of the mash
- Let sit for 15 minutes and repeated the lift and stir steps
- Let sit for 10 minutes
- Started a slow recirculation
- Finished the mash, set temperature to 170F for mash out
- Let mash sit at 170F with a slow recirculation
- Lifted the grain basket to drain
- Sparged with 1 gallon of 175F water
After the grain basket was mostly done dripping I put it in a clean 5 gallon plastic bucket to finish while I ramped the wort up to a boil. Any that drained out I put into the wort.
1
u/May5ifth 3h ago
Since you are using a bag, mix that whole thing every 10-15 minutes. I also double crush my grains since the bag keeps everything in so well. Lift the malt pipe when you stir a couple times to mix the side water in.
3
u/jordy231jd 13h ago
Have you taken temperature readings at the top and centre of the mash using a separate thermometer?
Could be a disparity between the kits thermometer reading the wort at the bottom (right near the heating elements) and the temperature deep in the mash.
I have this issue occasionally with large grain bills in my 35L brewzilla which I’ve improved my manually mixing the mash at 10–15 minute intervals throughout.