Didn't stir batch sparge :(

I was doing a janet's brown clone as my first legit all-grain batch. I hit 152 degrees exactly, recirculated the wort to run clear at the end of an hour, I drained out my pre boil amount in two drainings as specified by beer Smith. the only thing I can think I did wrong was for got to stir, I was thinking pouring back in the recirculation and second run 170 degree water would be enough. . beer Smith says my efficiency was only 36.6 percent going by the gravity readings before boil and after.

so I guess my question is could not stirring the grain in the mash tun really dropped my efficiency that much?

ScoobyBrew said:

I was doing a janet's brown clone as my first legit all-grain batch. I

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You ok bro? I'm sure it's salvageable.

Lol, my bad, I accidentally hit Send on my phone before I was done typing

ScoobyBrew said:

Lol, my bad, I accidentally hit Send on my phone before I was done typing

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Well, since you didn't get anything from the sparge, the only sugar came out into the mash runnings. Since you then diluted with water (the sparge runnings, which didn't have much sugar at all since it wasn't stirred), the efficiency would have definitely taken a huge hit.

Seems awfully low. I know stirring helps, but I guess I didn't realize it helps that much.

Do you still have the grain? You could try hitting it with more hot water, stirring and draining. It may be somewhat academic at this point because you would have roughly 50% more water than you should. Maybe just get enough hot water to rewet the grains and try to squeeze the wort out of it? I'm kinda grasping at straws. Someone a lot smarter than me will have to suggest a better idea.

Ad sorry about my a-hole comment. I've done the same thing multiple times.

did you check the gallons beersmith is set for? it's not going to be even near that much of a hit. if you brewed 5 gallons, and it's calculating for 10-11 gallons, it's going to give you a false report. in beersmith, click on "New Recipe", and see how many gallons it is calculating for, or go into that 1 and see

unfortunately this was a batch from the other day I just have been racking my brain trying to see what I did wrong. I just double checked my sheet and it is set for the right batch size. (6 gallons) The efficiency was set at 72 percent.

There are similar posts from previous years....pointing to the crush. Maybe that is involved here as well?

What were your numbers (pre and post-boil)?
It's interesting that your efficiency was 36.6, which is half of 72 (or close enough). When I change my batch size to double my efficiency actually doubles...so that can't be it. I would expect some efficiency drop without stirring but not to that degree.
Silly question, but are you sure you used enough grain? Was it crushed? Also, did you use a hydro or refractometer for your gravity readings? Kyle

After some checking on BeerSmith, if you used a hydrometer and didn't let the sample cool before taking the reading that would change your gravity by about 20 points. For example: say you read 1.033 into the kettle at a temperature of 140. That adjusts to 1.049, which (based on one of my recipes) yields an efficiency in the 55% range. I would believe a 10-15% efficiency drop from poor sparging, especially on a first-AG on an untuned system. Or, it could just be a crush issue. Kyle

Oh wow, good info.

The homebrew shop recrushed my grains after noticing I hadn't done it enough. So I hope that's not the issue.

My preboil gravity was suppose to be 1.047, I measured 1.020. And that was straight out of the mash tun still hot. I didn't know it would make that big a difference being hot. Come to mention it my og measured 1.030 when is should have been 1.069, but that measurement was also taken hot.

Hydro's are usually calibrated at 60*F and so theoretically you should always read them at 60*F. However, BeerSmith contains a Hydrometer Adjust tool. Plug in your reading and it's temperature and it'll spit out the actual gravity. Like all instruments, though, the further away from calibrated you get the less accurate your reading will become anyway. So, I plugged in the numbers you just gave and assumed an out-of-tun temperature of 140*F- the result is 1.036 into the kettle. While you're still far short of 1.047, that can be accounted for by a poor crush (maybe) and not stirring a sparge.

Your OG of 1.030 will go up to 1.059 if you read that at 180*F (out of kettle, post boil temp). Since you know your process better than I do and I'm guessing at these temperatures you can do this again on your program of choice. Again, the readings you took were still 'wrong' (1.030 may have actually been 1.028 or 1.032, for example).

Always, always chill your gravity samples before reading from them. I end up rotating measuring cups full of hydro samples in and out of the freezer with about a half-hour lag form sample time to reading time- I don't know my first running gravity until after my second runnings have nearly completed, etc. The solution to this is a refractometer which can measure at-temperature wort.

Check around the forum for photos of crush quality. Next time you go to the LHBS, have them work it until it's satisfactory. I suspect there was at least a somewhat poor crush on this batch. Kyle

Another thought is temperature measurement errors....

Nope I think you are right on Kyle. I didn't realize the temperature adjustment was necessary for gravity readings or made that big a difference on the gravity readings.

The 1.020 was an exact hydrometer reading.

I pulled up brewzor calculator and found a temperature correction app. The reading I took was after adding 170 degree water to the tun and draining. (which is another thing I am unsure of, am I supposed to add water at 170 degrees or get the grain in the mash tun to 170 by adding hotter water)

But I have to assume that the temperature I took the gravity reading at was between 152 and 170. That gave me a corrected reading of between 1.040 and 1.047, which 1.047 was the target.

Great! I'm glad we could help you out. What you're actually measuring is density of the wort (which is why it's called 'gravity'). All else equal, a hotter medium is less dense than a cooler one. Temperature is very important to all aspects of brewing- from mash temp through to ferm. temp, even in data gathering.
jethro mentioned poor mash temps. As long as we're talkin' temperature, are you using a digital or analog/ dial thermometer? Has it been calibrated? Dial therm's are pretty easy to adjust, and it's imperative they be correct. Kyle

Good point, its digital but I didn't calibrate it. Thank you very much for all that valuable info and your time Kyle, cheers!