efficiency problems

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NorthSide

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i now have 5 all-grain beers that i've brewed, and the first 3 were pretty much spot on where i wanted my gravities to be. but the last 2 have been way off. the only thing i remember switching in the process is my sink water filter. i used a brita filter on the first 3 batches, and switched to a pur filter for the last 2. my thermometer reads exactly 212 degrees when in boiling water, so i don't think that is the problem. i brewed last night mashed at 149 degrees, and after 90 minutes it only dropped to 148. the SG was supposed to be 1.071 and it ended up being 1.058. any ideas? could it be the pur water filter screwing up my water?
thanks
 
i have a false bottom in a ten gallon cooler. and i fly sparge with 170 degree water.
 
Bummer can't help you. I had the exact same problem after 3 or 4 batches using the braid. They all went away when I swapped it out for a manifold. The braid was flimsy and I always worried about it floating up into the grain bed. That obviously isn't your problem.

You didn't by any chance start using 5.2 did you? That stuff messed up my eff. a couple of times.
 
i crush my grains at the homebrew store. i also failed to mention that the last two beers that brewed used some german pilsner, vienna, and munich malt. i did my normal single infusion mash and now i'm wondering if i should've done a step mash with these less modified grains...
 
i did my normal single infusion mash and now i'm wondering if i should've done a step mash with these less modified grains...

I can't think of any way a water filter could effect things, and step mashing is not going to effect efficiency on modern malts. Which efficiency are you talking about anyway, mash eff. or brew house eff? How do you control your volume? Maybe your mash was fine, you just made more beer.
 
my volume came out pretty much on target, maybe a little bit more than i expected, but for my gravity reading to be off by that much, and only on the last 2 beers i brewed. it's puzzling to me. i think i'll buy a digital thermometer for mashing and see if i can get back on track.
 
I have a 10 gallon round cooler with a false bottom. My efficiency with fly sparging was horrible...about 65%. Problem was, I was never concerned about efficiency for several years.

Recently I listened to some batch spargers and took a leap of faith hoping to increase my efficiency. I've gone from 60 and 65% to 75 and 80% immediately by batch sparging.

That's my .02....

Try batch sparging one time with your setup and see if your efficiency doesn't increase like mine did.
 

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