30% efficiency?!

[spiffcow]

So I tried an experimental 1 gallon batch today with 2.5 lb 2-row, 2 ounces Victory, and 4 ounces sugar. I mashed at 152* for 1 hour in a muslin bag inside the brew pot, then slowly poured 1/2 gallon 175* water over the bag to sparge for a boil volume of 1.5 gallons.

After boil, I transferred to the 1 gallon fermenter and measured only 1.040 OG (adjusted for temp)... wtf?!

I'm thinking it might be the grain.. The LHBS has been pretty crappy lately. I noticed a fair number of kernels that were not crushed at all. They also happened to short me on my hops (bought 1 ounce of Columbus, got home and measured only .75 ounces).

 

[barrooze]

Were there any doughballs? That could cut down on your efficiency. Plugging that into BS, I get an estimated OG of 1.080. Is that what you were expecting?

 

[spiffcow]

Yeah, something along those lines... Expected OG was 1.076. This was really disappointing. The only up-side is that I only made 1 gallon.

 

[Dogphish]

uncrushed grain is a sure sign that you local homebrew store is screwing you, be it intentional or a total accident.

you shouldn't expect 80% efficiency without a well constructed mash tun and sparge/laudering equipment, but 30% is unacceptable.

 

[douglasbarbin]

Did you stir the mash? Also, ideally, you want your sparge water to be a greater volume than your mash water. Regardless, if you mashed 2.5 gallons of grain with 1 gallon water, you are @ 1.6 qts. per pound of grain, well over the "recommended" ratio of 1.25 qts. per pound. Meaning your efficiency should probably be pretty high, even if you didn't stir all that much. I'm going to blame this one on your LHBS and its crush. Also, if you do a single infusion mash with undermodified grains, you will get a very low efficiency. So crappy grains + bad crush = 30% efficiency.

 

[kappclark]

Did you stir the mash? Also, ideally, you want your sparge water to be a greater volume than your mash water. Regardless, if you mashed 2.5 gallons of grain with 1 gallon water, you are @ 1.6 qts. per pound of grain, well over the "recommended" ratio of 1.25 qts. per pound. Meaning your efficiency should probably be pretty high, even if you didn't stir all that much. I'm going to blame this one on your LHBS and its crush. Also, if you do a single infusion mash with undermodified grains, you will get a very low efficiency. So crappy grains + bad crush = 30% efficiency.

I have been getting efficiencies in the high 50's (and consistently)...I am shopping for a new mill...I get NO doughballs at all in the mash ...I am going to order crushed grains from an online supplier to see how efficiency changes.