I'm at a total loss. The last three batches I've brewed have been 10 or more gravity points below my anticipated gravity. I don't understand it. Literally nothing has changed with my system or process. I have a 10 gallon cooler for a mash tun. I did notice that my thermometer was about five degrees off before I brewed today so I re calibrated it, assuming this would fix the problem but I still came in really low. Anyone have any ideas as to why this could be happening? Thanks in advance!
Why has my efficiency plummeted?
- Thread starter Rambleon
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flars
Well-Known Member
Does your grain crush look at all different? I wouldn't trust that thermometer.
flars
Well-Known Member
Assuming you got a acceptable grain crush form all three stores, then something has changed in your process.
How about your water? My tap water varies quite a bit between winter and summer. In the summer, my water is harder and from what I understand, that can make a difference in the pH and thus conversion and extraction rates.
Also, remember you're working with an agricultural product which can vary from harvest to harvest. You may want to check in with the lhbs to see if there are other complainants.
Also, remember you're working with an agricultural product which can vary from harvest to harvest. You may want to check in with the lhbs to see if there are other complainants.
pH won't effect actual extract though (ie OG) but it will affect fermentability. I would suspect crush.
I had a similar problem, my BH Efficiency has always been at 75% but same as you, the last couple were at 65%, I put it down to complacency, with that i started to work a little harder, in terms of walking myself step by step. and wouldn't you know it, yesterdays brew was 85%, A one off, fluke. Yeah probably, but i"ll take it.
DAN
DAN
augiedoggy
Well-Known Member
^^ +1 which Is why I have redundant extra thermometers including analog and digital.
Agreed. I was going from 71% to 68% and thought I may be getting lazy. So my last 3 batches I focused on my stirring, and wouldn't you believe it I had small dough balls in there, so really just payed attention more when stirring and now I am in the 75%+ efficiency.
Same thing has happened to me now. I was at 75-80%...now I'm LUCKY to hit 60% on my beers. This has happened 3 times as well. I crush my grains at .39 gap in monster mill.
I'm starting to wonder if it's my mash time...I used to give it an extra hour or so. Sometimes 2. When I started cutting back, I think that's what started the poor efficiency days.
I'm going to try to give it 3 hrs again and see if that works. If anyone else has additional points, please share them!
I'm starting to wonder if it's my mash time...I used to give it an extra hour or so. Sometimes 2. When I started cutting back, I think that's what started the poor efficiency days.
I'm going to try to give it 3 hrs again and see if that works. If anyone else has additional points, please share them!
3 hour mash???? I haven't heard of anyone doing this... In fact people are experimenting with shorter mash times. As little as 20 minutes, and getting good conversion.
IMO this is not the source.
Not heard of the 20 minute ones. wow. I used to do it just because I had started looking into the "all nighter" as well that has been talked about on the forum in order to "save time". I ended up with 2-3 hour mashes just due to kid's soccer games in the middle of the day or something like that. Always worked out just fine.
However, i'm starting to wonder now, with your comments, if maybe I need to once again reevaluate my crush. I always had it at .44...but thought .39 would help me get more extraction. Maybe it's because I'm getting too much flour and the water doesn't have enough of a sieve to run through...?
I'll up it for my next batch and see how it goes.
However, i'm starting to wonder now, with your comments, if maybe I need to once again reevaluate my crush. I always had it at .44...but thought .39 would help me get more extraction. Maybe it's because I'm getting too much flour and the water doesn't have enough of a sieve to run through...?
I'll up it for my next batch and see how it goes.
Out of curiosity, if people are doing 20 min mashes...how long are their sparges? Maybe that is where I am losing some eff. I was able to get back to 70 on this last one.
People having success with 20 - 30 minute mashes are in general crushing finer (coarse flour), and using higher strike water ratios (1.5 - 2.7 qt/lb). The primary speed up is the fine crush, but the thinner mash helps a little as well.
As a simple (but imperfect) analogy, think about dissolving a jaw breaker (a marble like hard candy for you young folks) in your mouth. Which will dissolve faster, a 1" diameter jaw breaker or a 1/2" diameter one? And will it dissolve faster or slower if your mouth is dry? Just like mashing, the jaw breaker dissolution is controlled by diffusion processes. The shorter the distances over which diffusion has to occur, the faster the processes finish.
If you're doing a traditional fly sparge, or batch sparge in an MLT, then your crush fineness is likely to be limited by requirements to avoid a stuck sparge. Once you are at your lower limit on crush size, and are still not getting complete starch conversion, you need to extend your mash time and/or add more agitation to the mash (which speeds up the diffusion by steepening concentration gradients.) Stuck sparges are pretty much a non-issue when using a bag for lautering, so there is no real limit to how fine you can crush.
Brew on
I would hug you if I could. Dude. Seriously thank you for spelling it out for me. I have a bazooka screen currently and have never had a stuck sparge. I do fly sparge via sparge arm. Throwing my large bag in there is not an issue. Wow. I am going to try this next time with my finer crush again. The thinner mash is an interesting point. I b used to always use 1.33 then dropped to 1.25. Going up a bit isn't out of the question.
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