Vienna as a Base malt

Do you guys plan for lower efficiency when/if you use Vienna as a base?

My last two batches have had a Vienna base and efficiency has suffered quite a bit.

Thanks

I've never had to make any allowances for vienna malt.

I'm starting to think it's the crush. I wonder if my LHBS changed the setting on their mill. These last two batches didn't look to milled as well as they usually are. I just figured Vienna might be a little tougher to crush or something.

Not in my experience. I've had good results with vienna (and Munich) as base malts with no decrease in efficiency.

Might be worth asking them if they've changed the crush. Explain that your efficiency has dropped the last couple batches, it may not just be you having the problem and they'd probably appreciate the feedback.

After thinking a little more about today's brew, I did mash thicker than a I normally,1.25qts/lb as opposed 2qts/lb. Trying to see if it will give me stronger malt profile. And I didn't use my 5.2 Stabilizer, but I checked my mash pH and it was right about 5.2 without it, so I didn't see a need to use. I suppose those two things could explain the low efficiency. I don't know though, I missed my OG by 11 points and got 65% eff, I'm usually around 78-80%. It'll be beer either way, I just don't like missing by this much.

I've never experienced a decrease even when I did a Vienna SMaSH.

Best thing to do is see if you can reset all the variables and go back to your regular routine with the only difference being the crush from the LHBS. If you still get that large efficiency drop that's probably the culprit.

If you're relying on the Vienna to convert something else, or doing a short mash, that could explain a reduction in efficiency. Vienna can convert itself given time, but won't have enough diastase to convert much else.

-a.

ajf said:

If you're relying on the Vienna to convert something else, or doing a short mash, that could explain a reduction in efficiency. Vienna can convert itself given time, but won't have enough diastase to convert much else.

-a.

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Interesting, so I did a 60 minute mash at 153*.

8.75 lbs of Vienna
.5lb 40L
.5lb Wheat

Seems like that should be long enough to get the conversion I need, Right?

I think what ajf was getting at was that the diastatic power of the Vienna isn't very high. So the Vienna will convert itself, but not the crystal. So if you were expecting 15 points out of the crystal, you might have only gotten 6. That would explain part of the 11 points.

jescholler said:

I think what ajf was getting at was that the diastatic power of the Vienna isn't very high. So the Vienna will convert itself, but not the crystal. So if you were expecting 15 points out of the crystal, you might have only gotten 6. That would explain part of the 11 points.

Click to expand...

Makes sense.

I was counting on only about 6 points from the Crystal and Wheat.Maybe next time I'll use 4lbs of Vienna and Make up the rest in 2 row.

I dunno, Briess Vienna has 130ºL DP, same as their Pilsner.

jescholler said:

So the Vienna will convert itself, but not the crystal. So if you were expecting 15 points out of the crystal, you might have only gotten 6. That would explain part of the 11 points.

Click to expand...

Actually crystal malt is already converted. As anyone who does extract brewing and steeps crystal malt will know, it doesn't even need to be mashed.

So I checked with my LHBS the other day and their crush setting hasn't changed. But she wasn't surprised that I had lower efficiency with all that Vienna. She said I would need to add some enzymes or just do 50/50 with two row.

Maybe next time I'll go with a thinner mash, and mash for 90 minutes.

I would bump up the water:grist for sure, but I wouldn't bother with a 90 minute mash. Putting 5.2 back in might help out as well depending on your water chemistry. Vienna definitely doesn't need an equal amount of 2-row to convert though.