ohiobrewtus
Well-Known Member
I normally hit about 75% efficiency with all of my brews and until I can get a BC and do my own I'm happy with the crush that I get from AHS, but the last 3 brews I've done were just weird.
I did an Amber with a TG of 1.060, I missed my target volume so I only had 4.5g into the fermenter causing me to have to top off, but I missed my OG by 13 points - 58%
Then I did an IIPA with a TG of 1.093. Preboil was 1.068 so I added 1 lb. dextrose. I hit my volume but ended up at 1.082 - 66%. I really wanted this one to be higher in alcohol to balance out the 12 oz of hops that were in it so I cooked up .5 gal of 1.080 wort with DME and pitched after 3 days. (Two packets of rehydrated Nottingham dropped this from 1.082 to 1.016 in 36 hours)
Then I did a sweet imperial stout. I took into account the sucktitude of the last 2 mashes and went into beersmith a dropped my estimated efficiency to 65% giving me a TG of 1.072 - 11 points lower than the 1.083 that 75% would have given me.
I decided to mash this one for 75 minutes rather than 60, with no other changes in procedures or equipment. I ended up with a full 6 gallons in the fermenter at 1.090 for 88.66% efficiency.
Could the additional 15 minutes of mash time really have made that much difference? I could see it improving efficiency a bit, but not this much.
It's been driving me crazy as to why the two brews above were so low. I've been through all of my notes and I can't pinpoint anything in particular that would have caused it. Could a poor crush be responsible for most of the deficiency of these two batches?
I did an Amber with a TG of 1.060, I missed my target volume so I only had 4.5g into the fermenter causing me to have to top off, but I missed my OG by 13 points - 58%
Then I did an IIPA with a TG of 1.093. Preboil was 1.068 so I added 1 lb. dextrose. I hit my volume but ended up at 1.082 - 66%. I really wanted this one to be higher in alcohol to balance out the 12 oz of hops that were in it so I cooked up .5 gal of 1.080 wort with DME and pitched after 3 days. (Two packets of rehydrated Nottingham dropped this from 1.082 to 1.016 in 36 hours)
Then I did a sweet imperial stout. I took into account the sucktitude of the last 2 mashes and went into beersmith a dropped my estimated efficiency to 65% giving me a TG of 1.072 - 11 points lower than the 1.083 that 75% would have given me.
I decided to mash this one for 75 minutes rather than 60, with no other changes in procedures or equipment. I ended up with a full 6 gallons in the fermenter at 1.090 for 88.66% efficiency.
Could the additional 15 minutes of mash time really have made that much difference? I could see it improving efficiency a bit, but not this much.
It's been driving me crazy as to why the two brews above were so low. I've been through all of my notes and I can't pinpoint anything in particular that would have caused it. Could a poor crush be responsible for most of the deficiency of these two batches?