Sonnyjim

Recipes 

Beersmith 2.0. The first time we brewed with this software with all of the proper calculations put in, we were right on the button. It calculates absolutely everything you need to do. Just plug in the recipe and you'll have some answers. Well worth the money my friend.

__________________
"Homer no function beer well without."
- Homer Simpson

Catfish1320

Recipes 

Beersmith is the best $29 I spent since getting back into brewing. Makes me feel like I almost know WTF Im doing..lol. It accounts for everything, and I have hit my #s each of the 3 times I have brewed with it, and those are my first 3 all grain batches.

tennesseean_87

Recipes 

You have a problem using too much sparge water/not boiling off enough. You may also have an efficiency problem (poor crush, perhaps). Fix the boil-off issue by using 1/2 gallon less water.

Have you calculated your efficiencies? Put everything in a recipe calculator and adjust the volume to what you got, then adjust efficiency until you hit the actual, measured SG. Do this for all your brews, then see if your efficiency is consistent. In the future you can adjust that before you make a recipe, so that you'll hit your numbers.

Also, don't feel bad. Unless you spill extract everywhere, it's impossible to miss your numbers with that method. With AG, there are variables, and it takes time to get things consistent. It took a few batches of milling my own grain to get the gap set and my system down, but after a few, I hit 85% pretty consistently (unless using wheat). For the wheat, I'm going to try milling it a bit finer to see if I can hit that same eff for all my batches. Press on!

__________________
#8 Corks in Belgian Bottles Hold Carbonation
Drinking: Graham's Cider, Sour mash Red, Rochefort 8 clone, Yeti Imp Stout clone, Brown Sugar Spiced Cider, Split batch IPA/SBitter, Oatmeal Brown Ale, Belgian Pale Ale, Oatmeal Dry Stout
Bottle conditioning: Graham's Cran-Apple Oaked Cider, Raspberry Apfelwein, Split batch Tripel, Split Batch Pilsener
Fermenter: Graham's Cran-Blue-Pom-Apple Cider
On Deck: Gun Stock Old Ale, BC Haus Pale (half nugget, half columbus), Berliner Weisse

CaptMogul

Recipes 

Get a stick and measure how much wort you need in kettle. I use 13 gal for a 10.5 gal batch less boil off. Not to hard to figure with a stick