critique my mash / lauter process

[BeerAg]

As for my gravity increasing during the boil, my gravity post boil only increased to about 1.042 after I added a little water to get up to 5 gallons.

and

Keep in mind that you pulled a sample out of preboil wort that was combined from runnings with different gravities. It may not have been completely mixed. This is a similar mistake made by extract brewers after adding top up water.

Ok, maybe I made a real rookie mistake here: added a little top up water to make 5 gallons, didn't mix well, and acutally had a higher OG than I thought I did. Hard to tell now, the yeasties have already been at work almost 24 hours.

However, the opportunity to post this thread and get feedback from you guys was well worth the angst.

Thanks!

 

[paranode]

I'm kind of in the same boat, I follow the processes that everyone else talks about but my efficiency stays low around 60%. I ordered the pH 5.2 stuff and I think I'll try and run my grains through the LHBS mill twice because it has to be one of those two things...