Here we go. I've done close to a dozen AG batches and am very comfortable brewing and am always happy with by beers (except for one but that I think was some weird allergy thing). Anyway, my efficiency is always kinda sucky. I'm always in the low 60% range and have never sniffed 70% except the one time I got 70% with double crushed grain and BIAB. Did my first NEIPA AG this weekend and got a measly 62%.
My homebrew store says their mill is set to 1.040 which may or may not be the main reason I can't hit my numbers. That's really the only thing I can think of because everything else I did went pretty well. I hit my temp & volume numbers right on (based on Beersmith) and the only thing that wasn't perfect was my mash-in cooler temp rest dropped from 152 to 146 after the 60 minute rest. Here is a summary of what I did:
10.5 lbs Rahr Premium Pilsner malt
1.5 Flaked Oats
1.5 Rahr White Wheat Malt
Recipe was from Northern Brewer and it listed an OG of 1.064 (which I think is around 70% for this grain bill).
I mashed with 4.6 gallons of water. After dough-in I was at the 152-153 that the recipe called for and I let it sit for 60 minutes in my 10 gallon round igloo cooler. After 60' I checked the temp and it fell to 146 (lower than expected). Not sure if that would kill efficiency, but guessing no. I vorlauffed a bit until clear and then drained down to about an inch or two from the grain bed before fly sparging for 25 minutes with 170 degree water. First batch of 4 gallons was at 1.071 which seemed good. My preboil amount was to be 7.25 gallons so I continued sparging to collect another 3.25 gallons. That batch came out with a gravity of 1.030 and seemed a bit lower than I would have liked, but I really couldn't control that. So I ended up with my 7.25 gallons at a combined 1.051. The recipe called for an OG of 1.064 which I always thought was post boil, but maybe not? Whether pre or post boil, I was not even close. After my 65 minute boil, my gravity was 1.056. I'm sure the beer will be fine, but I just can't figure out where my problems exist.
So, obviously an easy answer to all of this is grain crush, but outside of that, where could could I be going wrong and how can I get something closer to the minimum 70% that everyone else gets so easily? Does it seem like there is something I did wrong with water volumes or sparging that would cause such low efficiency? It seems if I had stopped short of my 7.25 gallon total (maybe something like 6 gallons), I would have been closer to 70% but obviously I my goal was 7.25 gallons for my system and the boil. Does anything stand out as being horribly wrong? Any ideas are always appreciated.
My homebrew store says their mill is set to 1.040 which may or may not be the main reason I can't hit my numbers. That's really the only thing I can think of because everything else I did went pretty well. I hit my temp & volume numbers right on (based on Beersmith) and the only thing that wasn't perfect was my mash-in cooler temp rest dropped from 152 to 146 after the 60 minute rest. Here is a summary of what I did:
10.5 lbs Rahr Premium Pilsner malt
1.5 Flaked Oats
1.5 Rahr White Wheat Malt
Recipe was from Northern Brewer and it listed an OG of 1.064 (which I think is around 70% for this grain bill).
I mashed with 4.6 gallons of water. After dough-in I was at the 152-153 that the recipe called for and I let it sit for 60 minutes in my 10 gallon round igloo cooler. After 60' I checked the temp and it fell to 146 (lower than expected). Not sure if that would kill efficiency, but guessing no. I vorlauffed a bit until clear and then drained down to about an inch or two from the grain bed before fly sparging for 25 minutes with 170 degree water. First batch of 4 gallons was at 1.071 which seemed good. My preboil amount was to be 7.25 gallons so I continued sparging to collect another 3.25 gallons. That batch came out with a gravity of 1.030 and seemed a bit lower than I would have liked, but I really couldn't control that. So I ended up with my 7.25 gallons at a combined 1.051. The recipe called for an OG of 1.064 which I always thought was post boil, but maybe not? Whether pre or post boil, I was not even close. After my 65 minute boil, my gravity was 1.056. I'm sure the beer will be fine, but I just can't figure out where my problems exist.
So, obviously an easy answer to all of this is grain crush, but outside of that, where could could I be going wrong and how can I get something closer to the minimum 70% that everyone else gets so easily? Does it seem like there is something I did wrong with water volumes or sparging that would cause such low efficiency? It seems if I had stopped short of my 7.25 gallon total (maybe something like 6 gallons), I would have been closer to 70% but obviously I my goal was 7.25 gallons for my system and the boil. Does anything stand out as being horribly wrong? Any ideas are always appreciated.