I am constantly low in my conversion. my crush is good. I’ve been mashing at 1.5 qts/lb. Will thinning the mash help ? say going 1.5 or 2 qts per lb
Their is some debate on thick vs thin. I myself do 1.5 per pound and my efficiency is usually around 80%… My crush is very fine near stuck and I use rice hulls to make sure I don’t get stuck sparge. Most time if efficiency is low it’s your crush. Another factor is how long are you mashing.
Do you mean efficiency or conversion? There are a number if factors to overall efficiency. You can check your conversion effieincy with this chart…http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?ti … Efficiency . Once yo know your conversion effieincy, you can apply that to your mash effieincy to see of you have problems with conversion r lautering. Once you know your mash efficiency, you can apply that to your brewhouse efficiency to find where any system problems may be.
I’m a novice but I had this problem with two brews and it turned out that my thermometer was about 8-10* off. Just a thought and easy to check with another check digital thermo. I was mashing in the 140’s for temp.
Actually, it is not that easy to check. If you have three thermometers and two of them agree, it is likely that those two are reading correctly. But thermometers, especially digital ones, can be hard to know when they have drifted. One of the big advantages of certified liquid-in-glass lab thermometers is that you know they are accurate when you buy them, and they almost never drift.
+1 on check your thermometer. My MT has a thermowell for the PID controllers temp sensor and a dial thermometer stuck in the side. They always read at least 5° different. I got out my traceable digital thermometer and it exactly agrees with the PID so now I know which one to trust.
