Pilsner malt efficiency

Today I brewed my first Pilsner. First time adjusting mash water profile and pH. Mash pH was 5.4.

Everything went well except the usual efficiency was not met. I was expecting to get 82% brewhouse and 88%-/+mash eff. 1.048 OG was expected and what I got was 1.036-/+(71%brewhouse.) I decided to add some sucrose and DME to bump it up to 1.044 OG.

The LHBS crushed the grain even though it was asked that they not do it. I have a grain mill that's set and results have been consistent the last five brews.

Can the crush have that much of an affect on mash eff.? Or could it have been the Pilsner malt? I didn't use a Protein rest. 152F was the sacc rest.

Thank for any input.

 

I think the crush is a lot more likely to be the issue. Poor crush is one of the most common causes of poor efficiency.

 

I agree. If you get consistent efficiency with your crush and a decreased efficiency with someone else's crush, then there's your answer says I.
With modern pilsner malt, a protein rest is not necessary.(I suppose if you used some old-fashioned floor malted malt that might be different)

 

Thank you both for your responses🏻

 

Why did you accept/purchase the grain if it was milled when you specified otherwise?
Why not have them redo the order correctly?

 

Well, I assumed since I told them just before he went back to get it that he wouldn't mill it. So my mistake was not checking before I left. I live an hour from the store so going back wasn't an option. I didn't think their crush would be that much different from mine so I didn't run it through mine. Lesson learned.

 

I had the same problem yesterday. Almost the exact same results. Does any one know a good setting for crushing grain?

 

The optimum setting for grain crush is a gap that will mill the grain fine enough for the best conversion but not fine enough to produce a stuck sparge. Each system and set up will be different.

For my system, that optimum gap is the width of a COSTCO card and then backed off a touch for malted barley.

 

I wonder what the difference would have been if you had run their crushed grain through your mill. Would it have been too fine?

 

That's what I was afraid of. Probably would've been ok but stuck sparges was not something I didn't want to deal with, just in case.