Low OG for All-Grain batch

[CaptainAugee]

Hi all, my first post. Unfortunately, I'm having trouble after switching to all-grain brewing.

I tried the Bee Cave Kolsch recipe earlier today, but my OG was way low. Here's the rundown.

7 pounds 2-row Pils Malt
2.5 pounds Wheat Malt

I mashed for 60 min at 152 degrees Fahrenheit, then sparged with 170 degree water.

Boiled 60 minutes, hopped the wort as directed, cooled.

OG Reading: 1.032

The recipe calls for 1.052 OG. I'm wondering if I'm doing something completely wrong or if my LHBS isn't doing a good crush on my grain. If the latter is the case, should I mash for longer next time to ensure a better yield?

If you guys have any advice to give for future brew sessions, it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[nanofreak]

What exactly was your process in your mash and sparge. Temps, times at temps, rate of drain (how long in general to drain your mash and sparge, how long did you hold at 170 before draining, etc).

 

[Hopheader]

Yep, fill in more info Augee--and perhaps list what you had for a final volume.

Just guessing, I'll wager you drained and sparged quite quickly. And had a full volume amount (did you perhaps have any 'leftover'? ie: did you fill your primary to 'the line' or whatever you use and have extra liquid?).

 

[Blender]

Your grain crush could definately have something to do with low yeild. Mashing longer won't make that big of a difference. Are you batch sparging?
It should look something close to this >>

 

[CaptainAugee]

After the 60 minutes were up, I recirculated then drained my wort into my kettle. After most of the liquid was gone I added my sparge water, roughly 3-3.5 gallons around 170 degrees, stirred and let sit for a minute or two. I then drained the rest into my kettle.

As for "leftovers", I spilled some when transferring to the carboy, but that would have been less than half a gallon.

 

[Tombstone0]

After the 60 minutes were up, I recirculated then drained my wort into my kettle. After most of the liquid was gone I added my sparge water, roughly 3-3.5 gallons around 170 degrees, stirred and let sit for a minute or two. I then drained the rest into my kettle.

As for "leftovers", I spilled some when transferring to the carboy, but that would have been less than half a gallon.

I'd recommend batch sparging twice, that improved my efficiency quite a bit. Just sparge with half of your sparge water, drain and then the other half. Also, if you're sparging with 170* water your grain will not actually hit that temp. I use Brew Pal on my iPhone and it calculates the temperatures for each sparge automatically, I'm sure any brewing software would do that for you.

 

[CaptainAugee]

Thanks for all the help, I got my efficiency above 70% by following all your advice.