Consistently low OG/SG

[Acaciadrian]

Hey all the last 5 brews or so I am consistently coming In a good .009 to .012 below my target (about 62% efficiency). My equipment and methods have stayed the same and I have even played with the grain mill settings at my LHBS. Mash temps are holding consistent in the tun and I have done both a batch and fly sparge with no change. My grain to water ratio is always in that 1 to 1.25/1.5 range. In the past I would always seem to overshoot my SG so that’s why I am confused? Any ideas on why it would drop so much?

Brew on!

 

[IslandLizard]

First and foremost it's usually the crush. Crushing finer yields higher efficiency. On a 2-roller mill a gap of 0.034" (~credit card's thickness) should give you 80% mash efficiency or better (I get 82-86%). If there's a lot of small kernel grain in there, like wheat malt, crush those separately at 0.028". You can even go a tad narrower when batch sparging and even more so when BIAB.

Did your water change? If your mash pH is way off, conversion will suffer. Do you use mash water calculator such as Bru'n water?

If you're using BeerSmith double check your mash efficiency and equipment profile so it isn't set at 90+% for some reason. That would explain your 15% shortage.

 

[Acaciadrian]

On a 2-roller mill a gap of 0.034" (~credit card's thickness) should give you 80% mash efficiency or better (I get 82-86%). If there's a lot of small kernel grain in there, like wheat malt, crush those separately at 0.028". You can even go a tad narrower when batch sparging and even more so when BIAB.

I never even thought of the fact that all of these recipes (except one)have had a large percent of the grist made up of Wheat Malt! That could definitely be playing a huge part in it! Water has been the same and I do use Bru’n and BeerSmith but I’ll make sure that everything is calibrated correctly. Thank you so much for the suggestions!

Brew on!

 

[day_trippr]

Good call by @IslandLizard, I run my mill at .030" for barley and .025" for wheat because otherwise the wheat extract goes to heck...

Cheers!