Ridiculously low efficiencies, why???

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beergutbrew

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I only have 4 all grain batches "under my belt" and thought I was doing well. By that I mean they all turned out good, tasted well. Until.....I entered all the data I had kept into Beersmith and brew365's ipod software, all my batches had efficiency ratings from 50%-60%. Yeah...I know...sad.

I use a three tier (keggle, gott, keggle). I batched sparge each one, I even added a pound or two of extra grain to each batch. I boil for 90 minutes.

What could be the cause(s) of low efficiency?
 
Just saw flyguy's thread on efficiency....., I'm guessing crush and mis-calculated sparge volume threw me out of whack.

Any other insights or tips would also be appreciated.
 
Just saw flyguy's thread on efficiency....., I'm guessing crush and mis-calculated sparge volume threw me out of whack.

Any other insights or tips would also be appreciated.

Well, that's usually the cause of low efficiencies. Water chemistry plays a role as well, but it's not usually the main cause.

Small changes like hotter sparge water (to get the bed in the 168 range) help, too.
 
Other things that can cause apparently low efficiency are:
Not applying temperature compensation to your hydrometer readings.
Not stirring the wort before taking the hydrometer sample.
These can make a big difference if you take a reading prior to the boil.
Also, have you calibrated your hydrometer? An inaccurate instrument can throw the readings off a bit.

-a.
 
In Beersmith, are you looking at the brewhouse efficiency or the efficiency into the boiler? BobbyM. has a good write up on the differences at his website. I confused the two in Beersmith myself and thought I was getting efficiencies in the 60's, when I was actually in the 70's.
 
I plan on brewing this weekend so last night I checked the calibration on my thermometer and hyrdrometer. The Hyrdometer was off a bit and my thermometers were off 5 degrees. With that, and the advice, this session should be better.
 
Also make sure you are measuring your volumes correctly. I have a 2L Erlenmeyer flask I used to calibrate everything in my brewery so I knew it was as close as I could get it, also calibrate your scale if you are weighing out grain, or weigh what you get from the HBS to make sure their scale is calibrated right.
 
If your problem is looking at the calculations wrong, you could post a recipe and your pre-boil, post-boil, and final specific gravities and some of the smart people here can run the numbers.
 

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