15 replies to this topic

[Gumbo Leviathan]

Lately my efficiency has only been about 55%. However it has been repeatable each and every time I brew. I figure I will get around to getting my own grain mill soon as I suspect the LHBS doesnt crush my grain well enough.However today I netted a whopping 42% efficiency. I am not sure what would have changed?I used 7lbs of 2-row and 6lbs of Rye malt with 1/2lb of Crystal 40. Unfortunately when I went to the LHBS I mentally calculated that 13lbs of fermentable grain would put me around 1.06ish and I would want to hop it aggressively. I guess I didnt realize rye isnt as fermentable as barley.I ended up with 1.037 :PBeertools tells me with my usual efficiency this should have been around 1.046, which I guess would be fine except for the 1oz of Magnum I used (60 min), and 2oz Chinook(1oz @ 15min, 1oz @2min).... Oops, overhopped... BUt at 1.037 I dont know if it would be drinkable.I grabbed a pound of light DME I had around for making starters and boiled that in the smallest amount of water I could, and added that to the fermenter. That at least brought me back up to 1.045.Anyone know what might have happened? My process hasnt changed in years and I cant imagine I did anything wrong in particular. Should I have treated the rye any differently? I never used it before.(FWIW, it has no bearing on what is going on up above... but I am using Wyeast 1332 for this)

[MyaCullen]

I dunno if you accounted for rye malts very low yield compared to barley or wheat, that would be culprit #1 in my search

[3rd party JKor]

If I were you I'd either ask your LHBS to double mill the grains or go over them again with a rolling pin when you get home. A normal efficiency of 55% is crazy low, let alone 42%. Is there anything else in your system that you think may be hurting your efficiency?

[MyaCullen]

If I were you I'd either ask your LHBS to double mill the grains or go over them again with a rolling pin when you get home. A normal efficiency of 55% is crazy low, let alone 42%. Is there anything else in your system that you think may be hurting your efficiency?

Not to mention how teeny tiny Rye Malt kernels are, if your LHBS crush was already crap, there is probably a lot of uncrushed rye malt in there

[Recklessdeck]

If I were you I'd either ask your LHBS to double mill the grains or go over them again with a rolling pin when you get home. A normal efficiency of 55% is crazy low, let alone 42%. Is there anything else in your system that you think may be hurting your efficiency?

+1, yeah...more info please: processes, mash tun style, etc. First step could be have your grain double-crushed and see if that makes a difference. If it doesn't, then either you should adjust your technique or maybe your tun has issues. But the sooner you start troubleshooting the sooner you will have an answer.

[Gumbo Leviathan]

Well - when I started brewing all-grain I had efficiencies in the 70-80% range. I guess lately I havent been paying much attention, I just knew if I bought X amount of grain, I would get Y gravity.My process is pretty much this:Buy grains from LHBS and have them mill.On brew day its heat strike water to about 15F above my intended mash temp, mix grains and strike water. Stir like crazy and wait an hour or more...My mash tun is one of those large Coleman coolers with a hose braid.Heat up sparge water (for batch sparge). Run off the first running. Dump in the sparge water, stir like crazy, and wait 5 mins. Add this to the first running, and boil for 60+ minutesI think the idea that since rye grains are smaller, and the LHBS doesnt mill as much as I think it should to begin with is quite plausible.

Edited by noofus, 03 May 2009 - 04:58 PM.

[3rd party JKor]

Do you monitor your mash temp throughout out the mash?

[Gumbo Leviathan]

Do you monitor your mash temp throughout out the mash?

I noticed some variation this time now that I think about it.Usually I heat my strike water to around 168 if I want a mash temp of around 153. This time, when I got to 168 on the strike water and mixed everything together, my mash temp was 165 all around. Why didnt I lose the 15 degrees I normally do?I cooled it down with a few pints of cold water and it held around 156 the whole hour.

[djinkc]

Probably the crush, but every once in a while someone confuses system efficiency with mash efficiency. Just thought I would mention it. I get great mash efficiency most of the time. System, just so so.

[3rd party JKor]

I noticed some variation this time now that I think about it.Usually I heat my strike water to around 168 if I want a mash temp of around 153. This time, when I got to 168 on the strike water and mixed everything together, my mash temp was 165 all around. Why didnt I lose the 15 degrees I normally do?I cooled it down with a few pints of cold water and it held around 156 the whole hour.

Hmmmm, interesting. Were you using the same thermometer to measure the strike water temp and the mash temp?

[DaBearSox]

Let it age for a good while for the hops to mellow out a little...you get a really crisp lawnmower beer...Crush, Mash temps, and amount of water used are probably the culprit...a good thermo reading is really important....i have been noticing that my attenuation on my last 10 or so batches has been pretty high compared to what the yeast descriptions tell me, and they are being fermented in a temp controlled mini fridge. So I finally went out and got myself a traceable thermometer so I know my readings will be dead on.

[MyaCullen]

I noticed some variation this time now that I think about it.Usually I heat my strike water to around 168 if I want a mash temp of around 153. This time, when I got to 168 on the strike water and mixed everything together, my mash temp was 165 all around. Why didnt I lose the 15 degrees I normally do?I cooled it down with a few pints of cold water and it held around 156 the whole hour.

wow, thats, weird, never had that happen, like JK said, was that with the same thermo?

[Gumbo Leviathan]

Hmmmm, interesting. Were you using the same thermometer to measure the strike water temp and the mash temp?

Same thermometer.

[Gumbo Leviathan]

Let it age for a good while for the hops to mellow out a little...you get a really crisp lawnmower beer...Crush, Mash temps, and amount of water used are probably the culprit...a good thermo reading is really important....i have been noticing that my attenuation on my last 10 or so batches has been pretty high compared to what the yeast descriptions tell me, and they are being fermented in a temp controlled mini fridge. So I finally went out and got myself a traceable thermometer so I know my readings will be dead on.

Yea, I have 2 full kegs of beer on tap already. This one wont be getting into the kegerator until probably mid to end of July...Along with a BoPils I have in my lagering fridge, I will have some good hot-weather beer available.I am just glad I was able to rescue this one with the lb of DME I had in my stash of beer ingredients. 1.045 will make it a good lawnmower beer instead of a very bitter near beer

[Stout_fan]

You gotta get ProMash or other.On ounce of planning ... etc.I'll bet on the crush also being a problem. What did it look like?Denaturing the enzymes with a 165°F mash wouldn't change the OG, just the FG.And the joy of a mild is you can drink them and your body will metabolize the alcohol just as fast.

[Gumbo Leviathan]

Well if I had just used beertools first it would have worked. Promash Mac compatible?