Missed my OG............again

Second time in a row I had horrible efficiency and I'm trying to trouble shoot the problem. My efficency was 60.3%. The Recipe was as follows:

12lbs Pilsner Malt

Thats it. This was going to be my first lager so I kept it simple. Here is my Equipment and Process.

I use a 60 Qt. Igloo Cube with a copper manifold in the bottom. Here is my Mash Schedule

Mash: 4.25 Gal @ 150 for 60 Min. The tun lost 1 degree over the hour.

Batch Sparge 1: 3 Gallons @ 168 for 10 Min (168 was the grist temp)

Batch Sparge 2: 3 Gallons @ 168 for 10 Min ( Same as above)

I took as much liquid as needed after the second sparge to hit my boil volume (7 Gal)

Also, I thought that Temp might be a problem with my last batch so I bought a new thermometer and calibrated it before I started.

90 Min boil to get down to 5.5 Gal

Here are the Stats:

Pre Boil Gravity at 60 F 1.040
Post Boil Gravity at 60 F 1.050


The beer smelled great and will probably be a good finished product, but I feel like I am wasting a lot of grain and I'm not going to get the product I was going for.

The only things I can think of are the crush I got was not good or my water is off. I got the last two batches from a new LHBS. The batch I did prior to this I got 74% effeciency and that was from a different LHBS. Also, My water is well water and fairly hard. Do you think it could have effected my conversion efficiency?

Or is there a flaw in my process?

I actually prefer to brew with hard water depending on the style. I do a lot of english beers, so it's perfect for me. Anyways...if your waters okay to drink, then it's fine for brewing. I don't even bother messing with my water chemistry unless I'm trying to perfect a style or clone something.

Your efficiency is probably crush. If you haven't changed anything other than your LHBS, I'd narrow it down to that.

You and SC are probably right that the crush is the difference. You didn't mention it, but are you stirring well at mash in and when you add you sparge water?

Well, you can ask all the questions you like about why your eff. is what it is. The problem is no one can help you, only speculate... until you answer a question for us...

What was your conv. eff?

What was your lauter eff?

Without those 2 numbers, who really knows where the process needs refinement?

I stirred during mash and both sparges. OK, I'm going to sound like a real Noobie when I say this (probably because I am), but what is the best way to calculate conversion eff. and what is the best way to calculate Lauter eff.

Check this site out. Three's some big words in there, but he explains all the technical stuff really well.

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Understanding_Efficiency

There's a whole metric ton of info on there if you want to put the time in to read it. It'll definitely help you brew better beer.

Grizly,
I just read that wiki. What a great article. So If I understood everything correctly. I should mash and then take a sample of my first runnings and compare it to my maximum FW gravity to find out what my conversion efficency is, which should be near 100%. Then I figure out my Lauter Efficiency from my sparge. So in essence if everything is correct (crush, temp, ph....etc.) The biggest item affecting efficiency is how efficiently you can rinse your grains.

That's what I understood it to be, too. The crush is really important, too. Do a search for malt conditioning, too. Here and on Kaiser's wiki, too. It's basically just moistening the husks on the grain so you get larger pieces of husk. It helps with the lautering and prevents stuck sparges from what I hear. I have yet to try it myself, I've got a little while before I can brew again.