low OG

[sputnam]

My last 20 or so batches have been super close to dead on for OG. I brewed 2 today and they were off .009 and .012 points. I didn't change anything in my process. I'm starting to think the process by which they were milled changed. I bought a third batch at the same time that I will be doing next weekend. If that one is off that much, do you think that would be a fair assumption?

How will this affect my beer? I assume it will will still be good but maybe not quite as intended????

 

[Kingbogart]

There are multiple things that can cause efficiency to fluctuate. Process, which you're saying hasn't changed is one. Milling has an obvious effect. Size of the beer. When I'm doing a beer under 9lbs I regularly hit around 90-93%. As the grain bill goes up, efficiency has a tendency to drop. Without specifics on your system, it's hard to say if that's your problem, but personally anything over 15lbs for a 5 gallon batch will drop me to about 75% efficiency unless I adjust my boil times to leave me with more sparge water. If could also be the ingredients in your bill, I find I get about 5% lower efficiency when using higher amounts of wheat.

As you said, I would expect your beer to be good, but potentially have a different balance. Lower OG means less alcohol and could lead to a more hopped profile. Higher perceived IBU's. It might not be noticeable, but it might.

 

[stevehardt]

How was the crush?

 

[sputnam]

How was the crush?

purchased....the crush was my first suspect. I bought 3 batches and brewed 2 and both OG's were way off. I'm no old timer by any means but I have been getting my numbers and none of my equipment changed. I will be brewing the third batch this saturday. If I still get bad readings I'll definitely blame the LHBS. But, I'm also getting a grain mill soon. If it comes before saturday, I'll probably mill that batch myself.

Also, I am not experienced enough to know what milled grain needs to look like.