Help diagnose a problem

OK, I need a little help. My last two all grain beers have been way off on their original gravities. I have been all grain brewing for a long time and I have never missed my target gravity by more than 2-5 gravity points. I've done five or so batches since December that have all been perfect, and all of a sudden the last two batches have been off by 8-10 points . As far as I can tell, I have not varied my technique at all, although I have been shooting for 5.5 gallons instead of 5 but have been accounting for the difference in my recipes. I have two new thermometers to maintain mash.

I am beginning to think it is my grain. the only two things in common these beers have is they came from the same bulk order. I always order pre-crushed and it looks to me like the base malt is very poorly crushed (lots of whole grains). Sadly, I did not notice this until after I started mashing this past weekend.

Would this account for a low gravity of this magnitude? This is an entirely new problem to me.

Thanks in advance.

Jeff

I have limited experience ( 5 batches) but the quality of your crush certainly can affect efficiency. I have read a lot of threads where people have the same problem you describe and when they got a better crush efficiency went up considerably. I personally have seen the difference in the 2 shops I use for grains. I'm getting a crusher very soon.

jeffg said:

Would this account for a low gravity of this magnitude? This is an entirely new problem to me.

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Certainly, it is the crush affecting the efficiency.

Crushing to the correct size is very important. There should be very few if any whole grains in pre-crushed barley. Time to get out the rolling pin.

I can't believe I did not notice it on the first go around. Looks like I will be going back to Williams for my crushed grain, or buying a mill.

Would light duty in a food processor work? I only have one batch left and it's about 10 lbs of grain.

jeffg said:

Would light duty in a food processor work? I only have one batch left and it's about 10 lbs of grain.

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NOOOOOOO ! ! ! ! You only want the grains cracked so your mash water can get to the endosperm and dissolve the starches. Just pull the trigger and buy yourself a mill. Thats when the fun really starts!!! You can experiment with different crush sizes and see what it does. My wonderful little woman got me a grain mill for Christmas, so now I can bulk order grains and store them for when I need them. I mill my grains fresh as my strike water is heating and according to my friends (who don't brew) I'm ruining them from buying "store bought" beer !

I'm not saying that milling my own grains is responsible for all the quality, but I really believe that it is responsible for aiding in the quality of my finished beers.

whip said:

NOOOOOOO ! ! ! ! You only want the grains cracked so your mash water can get to the endosperm and dissolve the starches. Just pull the trigger and buy yourself a mill. Thats when the fun really starts!!! You can experiment with different crush sizes and see what it does. My wonderful little woman got me a grain mill for Christmas, so now I can bulk order grains and store them for when I need them. I mill my grains fresh as my strike water is heating and according to my friends (who don't brew) I'm ruining them from buying "store bought" beer !

I'm not saying that milling my own grains is responsible for all the quality, but I really believe that it is responsible for aiding in the quality of my finished beers.

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Do you realize you just answered a question asked in 2006????