having trouble with brewhouse efficiency

[carlsonderek]

hello all
I"m sure there are a million other threads on this already, but i'm having issues achieving my usual efficiency numbers. for about the past year, give or take one 5.5 gallon batch per month i have been taking my PRE-boil gravities so that i can plug it into my efficiency calculator. for almost a year straight i was hitting 70-75% efficiency (always batch sparge). my past two beers the pre-boil gravities have been really low, equally out to only 50 or 60% efficiency. i have not gotten any new equipment, i have not changed any single piece of my process, i'm even brewing two of the same batches as last year so i have recorded what my numbers were last time. the only thing i can think of that could affect it would be the level of crush my grains get shipped to me with. any idea on things i should be checking? any help would be great!

 

[titansvol]

I was having the same issue, ordered a grain mill and hit 83% on my first batch.

 

[carlsonderek]

Ugh I have been thinking about that as I know crush/crack quality plays a big part. Thanks for nudging me and my wallet closer to this option;-)


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[scubaj]

I would say the two most likely problems are the mill you are using, or thorough incorporation of your grain in the strike water. Do you do a mashout? Have you attempted fly-sparging?

 

[carlsonderek]

I have mashed out before but not for this, only cause I didn't do it last time I brewed this Belgian and I was trying to exactly repeat my steps. I don't have a mill I order it crushed, and I have not done fly sparging because I know you need to be more attentive to mash pH and I don't have a good grasp on water management and treatment yet.

I'm more concerned with why did my efficiency drop so much if I did not change anything. As I said before the only thing I'm not in control of is the level of grain crush.


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