Grain crush - low efficiency

Yo! I brewed my 2nd AG beer this weekend (Pale Ale) and was super bummed with our efficiency. OG was 1.027 - well short of the 1.049 target. After reading how important grain crush is I think this was most likely the issue. I notice the grains seemed to be more together then previous brews but the hulls were cracked so I figured it was okay. How should they look after being properly crushed?

Here's the recipe/process

9 lbs 2-row pale
.375bs caramel 60L
.3125 Biscuit Malt

Mashed 153 degrees for 60 min with 3.3 gallons.
Batch Sparge 168 degrees for 10 min with 4.5 gallons.
6.5 gallons pre-boil - 5 gallons post.

How does that look?

I appreciate any tips!
Chris

First off, if you crush at the store it's never a bad idea to run it through the mill twice IMO. That will likely increase the quality of your crush. Secondly, are those your notes from your session or your target temps and volumes? Obviously if your actual numbers were different you could have a difference but you were at about 40% efficiency.

How did this stack up to your 1st brew? Did you have similar problems?

And also (and this is just like, my opinion man) if it's not to far along I personally would boil up some dry malt extract and dump it in there to at least bring the ABV up a bit. That for me is pretty light even for a light session beer.

Yeah I'm going to pay a lot more attention to my grains in the future. Those were my targets but I was only a couple degrees over on my mash and right on for the sparge. First AG brew was an Apricot Blonde and it turned out great! Much better efficiency on that one.

We brewed on Saturday afternoon - how soon we I need to add the extra DME? The beer is in my buddy's basement because my house gets too hot in the summer. Might not be able to do it for a couple days.

I might add some DME tomorrow or Weds. How much should I add?

I use this link to determine how much DME to add when I come up short http://www.ahomebrewlog.com/gravity_adjustment/

Cool - thanks man!

How often did you stir your mash? what did you use to measure your gravities with? Even with a poor grain crush, 40% seems low. Seems to me the problem is multiple things - not just one thing.

texasbrewer73 said:

How often did you stir your mash? what did you use to measure your gravities with? Even with a poor grain crush, 40% seems low. Seems to me the problem is multiple things - not just one thing.

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I agree. Could be dough-balls, could be lack of stirring before each vorlauf, could be error with scale used to weigh grain.

I wouldn't blame the crush for efficiency problems. The anecdotal echo chamber holds that crush is critical to extract yield, but there's no evidence to back it up, other than anecdotal: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/any-real-science-effect-crush-extract-yield-326573/

Pilgarlic said:

I wouldn't blame the crush for efficiency problems. The anecdotal echo chamber holds that crush is critical to extract yield, but there's no evidence to back it up, other than anecdotal: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/any-real-science-effect-crush-extract-yield-326573/

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Anecdotal as it may be, I've had two brews where I later noticed some uncracked grains (or very slightly cracked but mostly in-tact) and those were by far the worst efficiencies I've suffered.

tre9er said:

Anecdotal as it may be, I've had two brews where I later noticed some uncracked grains (or very slightly cracked but mostly in-tact) and those were by far the worst efficiencies I've suffered.

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Well, yes. The grains have to be crushed. Coarse or fine matters almost not at all, so long as they're broken and they reach gelatinization temps.

Pilgarlic said:

Well, yes. The grains have to be crushed. Coarse or fine matters almost not at all, so long as they're broken and they reach gelatinization temps.

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That seems to be the problem with HBS crush though, usually. People will find that there are some uncracked or mostly-whole grains. I feel like giving the water as much access to the endosperm as possible (and allowing for the liquid to easily leave the kernel, rather than through a slight crack) yields more sugars in solution.

I stirred once at the beginning of the mash and before each sparge. These are all great tips and I can't wait to brew again soon so I can practice more.

Would you guys add some DME to bring the abv up or should I let it ride? We brewed on Sat. and I would add the DME tonight.

I would definitely add DME. Boil it for 10 minutes, cool down to temp of fermenting beer, then carefully add it to the fermenter trying to to make any splashes, etc. Rack it with siphon to bottom of FV if possible.

I just got back from my HBS and they admitted to having "issues" with their grain mill. Now I know what to look for so hopefully this won't happen again - it'll be something else

I'm going to add a couple lbs of DME tonight.
Thanks again for your help!

tre9er said:

I agree. Could be dough-balls, could be lack of stirring before each vorlauf, could be error with scale used to weigh grain.

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The dough-ball hypothesis is a good one considering it was so low. Make sure you stir the heck out of your mash right away and I've found it's easier to avoid dough-balls if you pour the grain into the water not the other way around.

Not that this would make up for the problem but you should also make sure your thermometer is accurate by sticking it in some ice water and always make sure you try and read your hydrometer at 60* or else use a online calculator to do a temperature correction.

cmybeer said:

The dough-ball hypothesis is a good one considering it was so low. Make sure you stir the heck out of your mash right away and I've found it's easier to avoid dough-balls if you pour the grain into the water not the other way around.

Not that this would make up for the problem but you should also make sure your thermometer is accurate by sticking it in some ice water and always make sure you try and read your hydrometer at 60* or else use a online calculator to do a temperature correction.

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Add grain very slowly WHILE stirring feverishly the entire time. Sift the grain in, should take several minutes to dough in completely.

Thanks guys! I've learned so much in the last couple days, I need to brew again soon before I forget!