Original Gravity off

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CrapulencePants

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I've done four all grain batches now and the original gravity of three of them has been off by quite a lot. I had some problems hitting temps on the first batch or two but I think I have is under control now. The last batch I did my temps were dead on.

I'll use the most recent as an example because it's been pretty typical.

10 lb Pale Malt
1 oz Sorachi Ace (60 min)
1 oz Sorachi Ace (15 min)
whirlfloc
Nottingham Yeast

Mash 12.5 qt @ 154 F
Sparge with two batches 3 gal @ 170 F
about 7 gal pre-boil.

Beersmith says my OG should be 1.055 but I got 1.044 @ 77 F

The other batches that were off were off by about the same. What am I doing wrong?
 
What is your brewhouse efficiency set to?

First thing I would do is lower it as appropriate. There is a tool in Beersmith to calculate your actual efficiency, if you just click on the button that says "Brewhouse Efficiency" in the recipe page for each of your batches, that will help you dial in an appropriate number to put in the little box.

Then I would start looking into common places where people lose efficiency in AG. Such as the crush (many homebrew stores do not provide a good crush), not collecting all the runnings when sparging (it takes a LOT longer than most newbies think), etc.
 
Did you hit your preboil gravity? What was the volume after the boil?
 
What is your brewhouse efficiency set to?

First thing I would do is lower it as appropriate. There is a tool in Beersmith to calculate your actual efficiency, if you just click on the button that says "Brewhouse Efficiency" in the recipe page for each of your batches, that will help you dial in an appropriate number to put in the little box.

Then I would start looking into common places where people lose efficiency in AG. Such as the crush (many homebrew stores do not provide a good crush), not collecting all the runnings when sparging (it takes a LOT longer than most newbies think), etc.

Sounds like your eff. is pretty consistant. You just have to find out what it is....Just like weirdboy says. Also, did you hit your final volume each time? Too much wort at the end of the boil will mean a lower OG.
 
Beersmith was set to the default 75% Brewhouse efficiency. I plugged in my numbers and it's more like 60%. I just need to work on getting my efficiency up? How do you do that? Or is 60% not bad?

Yeah, my final volumes are ok. A little off in the beginning but I'm starting to figure out my equipment now.
 

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