Ok, I'll come right out and admit I didn't check the grain I got from the store to see if it was crushed correctly. I have never done that and it has never been an issue.
Today's brew session is over, but I highly suspect the grain was not crushed. For starters, everything with the mash (temps, water volume, etc), went correctly, but the gravity out of it was half of what I was expecting! I can understand inefficiencies of a system and I know mine has them, but not like this.
I checked the grains I had dumped and noticed what looked like water stuffed grains of rice. I'm thinking that's what I wanted in my wort!
The other thing I got was that the mash absorbed a lot more water than usual. Beersmith had indicated almost 4 gallons for around 11 pounds of grains, but the grain caked up like I've never seen before and I only got like 1.5 gallons out of the first drain (before the sparge). It was like I didn't put enough water. But I went back and counted the empty containers of distilled water and I had 3 empty and one about 1/2 full.
So, my questions are, if the grain is not crushed, or is improperly crushed, the yield will be super low, correct? And does the grain absorb more water?
And if the above is the case, what the heck is in the wort? Can I expect it to have sugars to ferment? Or am I going to be trying to ferment other crap?
Finally, to get the gravity to a decent level, I had to boil the wort for a lot longer than normal (twice the time) and my blonde turned into a red head. Nothing wrong with the latter, but I wanted the former.
Today's brew session is over, but I highly suspect the grain was not crushed. For starters, everything with the mash (temps, water volume, etc), went correctly, but the gravity out of it was half of what I was expecting! I can understand inefficiencies of a system and I know mine has them, but not like this.
I checked the grains I had dumped and noticed what looked like water stuffed grains of rice. I'm thinking that's what I wanted in my wort!
The other thing I got was that the mash absorbed a lot more water than usual. Beersmith had indicated almost 4 gallons for around 11 pounds of grains, but the grain caked up like I've never seen before and I only got like 1.5 gallons out of the first drain (before the sparge). It was like I didn't put enough water. But I went back and counted the empty containers of distilled water and I had 3 empty and one about 1/2 full.
So, my questions are, if the grain is not crushed, or is improperly crushed, the yield will be super low, correct? And does the grain absorb more water?
And if the above is the case, what the heck is in the wort? Can I expect it to have sugars to ferment? Or am I going to be trying to ferment other crap?
Finally, to get the gravity to a decent level, I had to boil the wort for a lot longer than normal (twice the time) and my blonde turned into a red head. Nothing wrong with the latter, but I wanted the former.