Low Efficiency with Munich Dunkel

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gxm

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This was my first brew with all Munich malt. I expected 78% and got 68% after a 95 minute mash. I'm wondering if in the future I need to throw in a few pounds of Pils malt to get more enzymes in the mash. For this batch I threw in some DME to make up the difference.

I've got my process pretty dialed in. I typically know +-2% what my efficiency will be based on grain weight (since I batch sparge less per pound of grain, I get slightly lower efficiency with more grain). I also know that my LHBS crushes a little on the coarse side, but I don't care too much, and they've got a new Barley Crusher Microbrew in the works.
 
A check of the tastybrew calc shows Munich to be around 3 percent lower in the gravity. I don't think it should impact your effeciency by 10 percent.
For me Munich is an expensive speciality grain and I have not gone over using 2 lbs in anything.
% (lbs) Grain Gravity Points Color
50.0 % 5.00 American Two-row Pale 27.7 1.8
50.0 % 5.00 American Munich (Light) 24.8 10.0

I did not think that Vienna or Munich and other specialities had been modified so much that they needed standard grains. But that might explain why a Vienna and Wheat brew I like always has horrible efficiency, maybe I could save a few pennies by going with 3lb 2 row, and 2lb Vienna.
Or maybe you just had a fluke brew, but best of luck.
 
I did a german pils and munich dunkel back to back. Pils was 96% pilsner malt and the dunkel was 98% Munich II. I saw only a 5% drop in efficiency with the dunkel and I too hit consistent numbers for efficiency. I would like to blame the grain but don't know why this would happen.
 
Thanks for the replies.

Reading our wiki- Munich Malt - Home Brewing Wiki
"Diastatic power can vary greatly with this malt depending on the Maltster.
Briess USA in particular, rates their Munich 10 at 30 degrees Lintner."

In comparison, 2-row is 140% and Pils 110%. Next time I'll definitely add maybe 10% of 2-row or Pils.
 
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