First AG and Low Efficiency

[Aubie Stout]

Well......


I ran with Biermuncher's Blonde today. To help out, I downloaded Beersmith. I was impressed that I hit all my target numbers: mash temp stayed 150 for 75mins, boil volume was right at 8 gals, and I boiled down to 5.5 gals right at 60 mins.


I was a little discouraged when I took a hydrometer reading (my first attempt). It came back with an OG of 1.030. The target OG was 1.047 according to Beersmith. Efficiency rating of 48%.


My LHBS crushed the grain for me. I'm using a 48qt rectangular cooler for my MLT w/ a CPVC manifold. Mash was 150 F for 75mins. Sparge 1.75 gals of 168 F water. Sparge again with 3.5 gals of 168 F water.


Any ideas on why it's so low? I wanted a lawnmower beer and I guess I'm getting one now!

 

[FlyingHorse]

Sparge water could be hotter...you want the grain bed up to ~170, which means boiling water for your first addition, and probably ~180 or so for your second...

 

[BrianP]

There are probably a few factors. As you brew more batches and try different things you should get better efficiency.

For me, the crush was a big factor. My LHBS crush wasn't as good as what I get now from my Barley Crusher. I went from 60 to 80% by crushing my own with the factory settings on the BC. It was a good investment plus it makes brewing more convenient if you have bulk grains handy.

Your mash pH could be a factor too, however I'm not sure how big. I use 5.2 in my mashes to keep the pH at or around 5.2, which helps conversion. It's a powder that you add to your mash when adding the strike water (I'm no chemist - I think it's a buffer or something). AHS and the other on-line places carry it.

+1 on the hotter sparge - that may help rinse out more of the sugars.

There are lots more tips in the sticky, and this is probably one of the most popular questions in the AG section - I know I posted this one myself.

Good luck with your brewing, and welcome to the AG club.

 

[TwoHeadsBrewing]

One mistake I made on my first AG was I failed to convert my gravity reading considering the temperature. I took the gravity reading right before the end of the boil and cooled it down, but it was still about 100F when I measured. Most hydrometers are calibrated for 60F or 68F. If you took a reading at something other than these temps, you'll need to convert that reading.

 

[davesrose]

I am letting my first two all grains age as I type this. I thought I'd try to be somewhat easy on myself and tried getting an all grain kit from Northern Brewer. Well now that I've learned more about it, they seem to measure out an amount that's roughly equivalent to 70% effeciency. Wouldn't know it from their directions though, because they just state a mash temp of 153 degrees for 60 mins, and then a temp of 170 for 10 mins. I've got a stainless false bottom, and found that if I was 3 degrees hotter then the calculated strike temperature....that would get my mash temp right at 153 (and I've just been doing 1.25 per pound).

Even though I had a couple of mistakes with my first brew (hadn't tightened the fittings well enough, and ran out of sparge water while trying to do a fly sparge)......I wound up getting a gravity reading well above the recipe's. Probably the two things that led to it was that I did crush my own grains and I really was a stickler about getting the temps right. That and I've gotten the brew bite enough that I went ahead and bought stuff for a fly sparge setup I'm going to try aiming for good effeciencies so that I can try the exact recipes in Charlie Papazian's "Microbrewed Adventures": which figures 85% effeciency.

 

[wedge421]

Live and learn my friend.

 

[ajf]

When did you take the gravity, and at what temperature? As TwoHeadsBrewing said, taking a gravity reading at anything other than 60 F needs a temperature compensation, and in my experience, temperature compensation does not compensate correctly at temperatures much above 100 F. Also, if you took the gravity after the sparge, and before the boil, without stirring really well first, you could be taking the gravity of the final runnings rather than the whole wort. This will be much less than the true gravity. The same could be true for taking the gravity after pitching a starter, and without mixing sufficiently.

-a.

 

[teu1003]

Ditto on twoheads -- perhaps you measured gravity at too high a temp.

But for the future: get yourself a refractometer. Gravity readings at the end of the boil shouldn't be a surprise. Take pre-boil and "during-boil" readings and you'll know where you are going to end up. If you have an efficiency disaster, you can always add dme (always keep a bag available for just such situations) and get a beer close to what you planned for.

Good luck

 

[Bobby_M]

Did you stir well after each batch sparge infusion? Yes on the hotter sparge, 180F at least. Break the sparge into two half infusions. Read www.suebob.com/brew/allgrain.htm

 

[Aubie Stout]

The temp was the mistake.....


I remeasured after taking yall's advice. The OG @ 60 F is roughly 1.045. I didn't miss my target by too much after all.


Thanks. This place is great!