grain crush efficiency increase

There are many posts dealing with troubleshooting low efficiency when batch sparging. My last couple batches crushed by one of the reputable online vendors here ended up with OG being a little low, with an efficiency in the 70's which is lower than what I was usually getting. I was very frustrated and was reading around the board for possible explainations.

Yesterday I got some grain from a local brewery and crushed it there with a barley crusher, brewed with it today and had almost a 20% efficiency increase--I wish I would have known cause I would have upped the hop schedule--but I am nonetheless thrilled to know that it was not my technique and that grain crush can make that big of a difference--can't wait to get my own BC.

Here is the recipe, ended up with OG 1.066 do any of you think this will be out of balance now? Was going for a rye pale but will probably have greater ABV now.


LBS OZ
8 0 American Two-row Pale info 37 1
18% 2 0 Rye Malt info 29 4
5% 0 8 Crystal 80L info 33 80
5% 0 8 Carafoam i

Mashed @ 152 for 60 min.

First wort 60+ mins 0.25 Columbus
Boil 60 mins 0.75 Zeus l
30 mins 0.5 Centennial
Boil 15 mins 0.25 Centennial
Boil 5 mins 0.25 Centennial

RJSkypala said:

.....OG being a little low, with an efficiency in the 70's which is lower than what I was usually getting..... brewed with it today and had almost a 20% efficiency increase.

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Do you mean that you have been getting around 90% efficiency on a regular basis? Please do tell how you have accomplished this feat.

assuming that your equipment and technique do not change, but your crush source does, the crush will be your variable. Some reputable hbstores set their crush for efficiency in the 70's to reduce stuck sparges and many people including me, are happy in the 70's.
If you really want to repeat your process, you need to get your own mill, or find a store w/ a mill that you are happy with the setting of their mill.

>90% efficiency?

Are you sure your volumes were right?

Other than that, if it really is true, then rock on.

A barley crusher is definitely next on my list of things to get.

What do you mean by volumes? I ended up with 5 gallons according to the brew bucket, not the most accurate measurement but probably not off by any significant amount.

I dont know if that was 90%, but for example I brewed the BeeCave Brewery Haus Ale with the pre-crushed grain yesterday and I only ended up with an OG of 1.054 for 5 gallons, which isn't terrible but it got me questioning where the points were being lost.

RJSkypala said:

A barley crusher is definitely next on my list of things to get.

What do you mean by volumes? I ended up with 5 gallons according to the brew bucket, not the most accurate measurement but probably not off by any significant amount.

I dont know if that was 90%, but for example I brewed the BeeCave Brewery Haus Ale with the pre-crushed grain yesterday and I only ended up with an OG of 1.054 for 5 gallons, which isn't terrible but it got me questioning where the points were being lost.

Click to expand...

I mean how much volume did you get total. Do you count liquid both left over in the boil kettle and in the fermenter? The problem with efficiency is that being off by 0.5 gallons (say 0.5 gallons is left in the BK after you hit 5 gallons in the bucket), can make a difference of 10% efficiency, depending on the ratios...

I'm not doubting your high efficiency, I was just wondering if there was any reason you are hitting so ungodly high...