How to adjust recipes for efficiency?

I'm planning to brew a couple of recipes found on this site (Edwort's Haus Pale Ale and Beirmuncher's Centennial Blonde). My first AG batch had an efficiency of ~65%. Both of these recipes are set up for 70-75%.

Should I just up the 2-row so that I end up with the same OG, or do I need to mess with the specialty grains as well? My guess is that changing the 2-row should be fine since it won't mess with the ratios too much, but if I need to worry about measuring out the specialty grains more accurately I will.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance,
Jeff

I always adjust all the grains. My thinking on this is that if you get 65% efficiency it is on all of the grains, not just the base malt. If you adjust only the base malt it isn't going to have the same profile.

Yeah, I just add more base grains and the beer comes out fine.

So that's a yes and a no. I guess the ones that I was talking about were the 1/2 lb items in a 10 lb grain bill. Trying to up things and change it to .6 lbs could be a pain. I'll just buy extra and try to keep the ratio the same where possible. I guess it also depends on how they measure and crush grains at the place I'm going to (first time there).

How about trying to improve your efficiency rather than using more grain? Perhaps grind your grain a bit finer? Or maybe your mash temp was off? Hate to see you spend 10%-15% more per recipe.

The % of grains you use in a recipe is what gives you that certain taste. So if you had 80% 2row and 20% Crystal, try to keep those percentages when scaling down.

On the other hand, that small of an adjustment prolly wont matter that much

I'd love to improve my efficiency, but I'm still learning. Last weekend was my first AG batch (This weekend will be 2nd AG and 5th overall), and I came out about 10% low on my OG. I'm going to work on perfecting the process and see what happens this weekend.

I can't really control the crush, since I'm buying it pre-crushed. The first batch was from AHS, this second one is coming from a local brew store. The mash temp was right where it should be (152F), so I don't think that was the problem. I suspect I may know where some of the issues came from. I guess we'll see this weekend how this one turns out.

I managed to up everything by 10%. The brew shop didn't mind doing 0.55 lb of crystal 10, 2.2 of vienna malt, and 8.8 of 2-row. Worst case I'll end up with a bit stronger beer.

Thanks for the advice.