I always get low OG

[ninjai]

If its not my water (I don't do anything special to it like adding chemicals like some brewers do) it must be something I'm doing. Last night I brewed my 6th or so all grain batch. I get my mash water to 161F, as beersmith tells me in my recipe, I then pour it into my cooler mash tun. I let it sit for 1 hour. I check the temperature about 10 minutes in and hit 152F, where my recipe says 150F. Usually I get 149 or so. So I let it mash for an hour, then I spattered with water at 175-180F, let it sit for 10 minutes, drain it, and repeat one more time. After this I get my worth boiling, do my usual hop additions, then cool it with my worth chiller to 20C. I took my gravity reading after draining the sort from my kettle to my fermenter. The target is 1.056, I got 1.403.

So what, gives?

 

[j1laskey]

Are you using a mill to crush your grains?

 

[ninjai]

My lhbs crushes them with theirs. My buddy gets his crushed there too and hasn't had the same problem.

 

[Bobby_M]

Talk a little bit more about the volumes of water you're using for each step. What does "spattered with water" mean? I assume you mean adding sparge water. Are you stirring that water into the grain really well each time? If not, that's what gives.

 

[ninjai]

Uhh yeah I mean sparge. Autocorrect on cell phones isn't always good lol.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure I stir them alot. I pour the grain into the water and usually give a couple stirs around with the mash water, but not usually when I sparge. Does the stirring really make that big of a difference? How much should I be stirring?

Edit: in an hour ortwo I can post the recipe

 

[Yooper]

Uhh yeah I mean sparge. Autocorrect on cell phones isn't always good lol.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure I stir them alot. I pour the grain into the water and usually give a couple stirs around with the mash water, but not usually when I sparge. Does the stirring really make that big of a difference? How much should I be stirring?

Edit: in an hour ortwo I can post the recipe

Stir like it's your job!!!!!!

When you start, since you're losing a couple of degrees, make sure you preheat your MLT (I assume it's a cooler). I only lose one degree in an hour. Preheat it with 180 degree water and either let it drop to your strike temp, or pour it out and add your strike water. Then stir like it's your job, and take the temperature in several different places. If it's different in different places, stir more. Once it's equalized, cover it and walk away.

After an hour, drain the MLT. Pour in 1/2 of the sparge water, stir like it owes you money, vorlauf and drain. Repeat.

That should help your efficiency a lot!

About volumes- plan on 1.25-1.5 quarts of water per pound of grain in the mash. Then sparge to get you to your pre-boil volume.

 

[ninjai]

Thanks guys, I'll stir much better when I brew again tonight!

 

[Patirck]

Another trick someone told me when I had some low efficiency problems:

Take your time adding the grains to the mash water - gently sprinkle while you stir the top of the mash water back and forth (not in a circle). This helps get every last grain soaked with water completely. Stirring in a circle can create a whirlpool that simply puts un-soaked grains in a pile at the bottom of the mlt.

Doing this seems to help a bit. At the local brew club where this is a club brewery setup (pretty nice 1bbl system), they have a grain sprinkler think with a upside down plastic water jug with the bottom cut off that feeds to an auger like thing - this does the job of sprinkling the grains very gently into the mash water.

 

[ninjai]

Thanks Patrick, I'll do this as well.

 

[scottland]

I struggled with low efficency for the longest time. I used to get as low as 60%, but now I consistently get 78-84% depending on the OG of the beer. Here are my tips from least important to most:

A. A hot sparge. Often times people sparge too cold. Try to get as close to 170* as you can. I find I often need to use 185-200* sparge water depending on my mash temp, and how big my grain bill is.

B. Accurate mash temps. Pre-heat your mash tun, and stir your dough in VERY well. Take your temp after you've thoroughly stirred the mash.

C. Stir your sparge well! Stir, stir, stir, and stir some more when you sparge. No joke, this makes a HUGE difference.

D. Last, but certainly not least: I found my crush was the biggest factor. With the techniques above, i was able to get 68-70% efficency with my LHBS crush, or Austin HBS crush. Maybe 72% on a brew or two. I bought a barley crusher, first batch 84%.

High gravity beers I get 78%, 1.055 beers or less, I get 82-84%.

Your crush should have ZERO kernels that still look like they are whole. They shouldn't even look 'cracked', they should be CRUSHED. If your crush looks like crap, ask the LHBS to crush it finer. If they won't, find a new LHBS.

 

[malkore]

I too think stirring is a good place to focus, since the grain crush (at least so far) doesn't sound like the main culprit.

You know you've stirred enough if it feels like you're beating the stainless braid to death

 

[JuanMoore]

I struggled with low efficency for the longest time. I used to get as low as 60%, but now I consistently get 78-84% depending on the OG of the beer. Here are my tips from least important to most:

A. A hot sparge. Often times people sparge too cold. Try to get as close to 170* as you can. I find I often need to use 185-200* sparge water depending on my mash temp, and how big my grain bill is.

B. Accurate mash temps. Pre-heat your mash tun, and stir your dough in VERY well. Take your temp after you've thoroughly stirred the mash.

C. Stir your sparge well! Stir, stir, stir, and stir some more when you sparge. No joke, this makes a HUGE difference.

D. Last, but certainly not least: I found my crush was the biggest factor. With the techniques above, i was able to get 68-70% efficency with my LHBS crush, or Austin HBS crush. Maybe 72% on a brew or two. I bought a barley crusher, first batch 84%.

High gravity beers I get 78%, 1.055 beers or less, I get 82-84%.

Your crush should have ZERO kernels that still look like they are whole. They shouldn't even look 'cracked', they should be CRUSHED. If your crush looks like crap, ask the LHBS to crush it finer. If they won't, find a new LHBS.

I completely agree with everything except A. Sparge water temp has virtually zero effect on efficiency for batch spargers. Getting the grain bed to 170 is to lock in the wort profile, not help with efficiency. I usually sparge using the water in the HLT of my HERMS which is usually close to the same temp as the mash, and I get great efficiency. I've even sparged with cold tap water before with zero negative effects (other than it taking longer to reach a boil).

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/cold-water-sparge-110856/

 

[scottland]

I completely agree with everything except A. Sparge water temp has virtually zero effect on efficiency for batch spargers. Getting the grain bed to 170 is to lock in the wort profile, not help with efficiency. I usually sparge using the water in the HLT of my HERMS which is usually close to the same temp as the mash, and I get great efficiency. I've even sparged with cold tap water before with zero negative effects (other than it taking longer to reach a boil).

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/cold-water-sparge-110856/

That's good info, thanks

 

[Northcalais40]

This is all great advice. I would add to it that you may want to check for mash conversion with an iodine test. Others may have consistent results and high efficiency by mashing for a set time, but I find that my mash is not fully converted in an hour a lot of the time. I don't know why, though it may well be the crush I get at the homebrew shop.