Efficiency Issues - Low OG

[ODYSEYY]

Hello!

I'm very new to homebrewing. In fact, I've now only completed two batches, and have yet to taste my first attempt from a bottle.

I am attempting all-grain, skipping right past extract. These are one gallon batches.

My first attempt, I tried mashing in a closed grain sock at around 152 degrees and ended up with an OG of 1.024. I assumed the fact that I used that sock was the reason I achieved such low efficiency.

The second batch, this morning, was the following recipe:

2.5lbs Pilsen
0.2 Crystal 40
0.05 Crystal 120
0.05 Victory

I put this grain in a pot with one gallon of water (8 quarts) at 152F for 45 minutes. At the end of 45 minutes, I strained the grain through a strainer wrapped with a grain sock. I then poured another gallon of water through the grain slowly, mixing some to help the water through. Overall time was around 60 minutes.

After my hop additions and cooling the wort, my OG was only 1.034, much lower than my expected 1.065+.

A couple of notes: I added and subtracted heat during the mash, attempting to stay within temperature. The temperature stayed between 150-160.

Also, by the end, after transferring to my fermentation vessel, I was left with approximately 0.25 gallons of liquid, so I know that I likely could have used less water during sparging.

Any idea why my OG is so low?

Thanks in advance for any and all help!

 

[RM-MN]

Hello!

I'm very new to homebrewing. In fact, I've now only completed two batches, and have yet to taste my first attempt from a bottle.

I am attempting all-grain, skipping right past extract. These are one gallon batches.

My first attempt, I tried mashing in a closed grain sock at around 152 degrees and ended up with an OG of 1.024. I assumed the fact that I used that sock was the reason I achieved such low efficiency.

The second batch, this morning, was the following recipe:

2.5lbs Pilsen
0.2 Crystal 40
0.05 Crystal 120
0.05 Victory

I put this grain in a pot with one gallon of water (8 quarts) at 152F for 45 minutes. At the end of 45 minutes, I strained the grain through a strainer wrapped with a grain sock. I then poured another gallon of water through the grain slowly, mixing some to help the water through. Overall time was around 60 minutes.

After my hop additions and cooling the wort, my OG was only 1.034, much lower than my expected 1.065+.

A couple of notes: I added and subtracted heat during the mash, attempting to stay within temperature. The temperature stayed between 150-160.

Also, by the end, after transferring to my fermentation vessel, I was left with approximately 0.25 gallons of liquid, so I know that I likely could have used less water during sparging.

Any idea why my OG is so low?

Thanks in advance for any and all help!

Sure. The major cause of low efficiency is the milling of the grain. Get your own mill (cheap corona mills work fine) and mill the grain well. If that doesn't get your efficiency up, look at your water chemistry, especially the mash pH.

 

[kh54s10]

Crush of the grain is the first place to look. With a grain sock or strainer bag, make sure all the grain is getting fully soaked by the water before starting the mash timer.

I doubt is would make much of a difference but mash times are usually 60 minutes.

Having too much water (leaving wort in the grain) will lower the gravity some but not likely as much as you have experienced.

Another thought is to check that your hydrometer reads correctly. 1.000 with distilled water at about 60 degrees. If your sample was hot that would also skew the reading.

 

[unionrdr]

I agree with the crush being the main factor here. It seems like the crush from most places isn't that great, leaving a lot of uncrushed kernels. I got the Barley Crusher grain mill & set it on the factory notches of .039" & my OG's went way up. I also started doing the dunk sparge & they went up even more. With dunk sparging in 170F water, I can stir it for 10 minutes or so, then drain & strain into the BK.

 

[stevehardt]

I agree with what others have said-check the crush

 

[turkeydinner]

I know how you feel. I just brewed my 7th batch yesterday, and batches 1-6 were underachievers on efficiency. Batches 5-6 were ground using my newly purchased roller mill, but the efficiencies were still at around 67-70% (#1-4 were 55-65%)
On my 7th batch I set the rollers a bit closer than I had before and did a quick dunk sparge of 6kg of grain in 5 liters of water and I am looking at an efficiency above 80%. I changed nothing about my mash (I am BIAB'ish - no bag, but pour the mash through a bag in the end). So I'd say mill fine and do at least some kind of sparge.

PS! The 7th batch was my first batch I sparged.

Good luck, everything will surely work out

 

[ODYSEYY]

Thanks for all of the tips and thoughts. It appears that the consensus is the crush of the grain. I will focus my energies on that for the next batch and see if I can get an improvement.