Loosing it

Well a couple problems with the cereal killer probably was the issue. The stationary roller was getting stuck and affecting the crush. Took me a bit getting it crushed but finally got the mash done and got a good extraction that matched my calculations. Anyway took the apperatice apart and gave it a good cleaning. I guess next brew day will tell. Its probably crushed close to 1k lbs of grain ive had it probably 8 yrs maybe the rollers get worn down. The bearings seamed fine

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Necroing this topic looking for ideas. Last week I brewed Lakefront Bridge Burner kit from our hosts. Target was 1.093 and I ended up with 1.074 for 64% efficiency when I typically run 75-80 pretty consistently. I hadn’t brewed since November so I figured my mill must be off again, although the crush looked great and normal for what my mill runs. Today, I brewed a Nugget Nectar clone that I do every year. I did NOT change my mill even though I thought about it and nailed 80% efficiency. I can update this once I get my tilt set up later tonight with the actual OG, but preboil was right on the money at 1.060. Both batches mashed right around 1.3 qt/lb, both target mash temps were 152. Anything else I should check?

:beers:
Rad

One thing I think people don’t pay enough attention to- the actual weight of the grains received. Often you buy a pound of malt and just assume it’s a pound. I measure mine before crushing them and have found some a few ounces over and some a few ounces under.
So, if you purchase a kit that come prepared it still takes someone to measure the grain to bag it. Is it possible that mistakes happen? You know it! I could see someone trying to bust out some kits to be shipped missing out on a pound of base malt.
If your kit comes in separate bags for grains I would recommend weighing them out. If they come in one big bag you can measure them but you won’t know what’s light.

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I’ll run off into another thought/idea… it’s been cold… Cold helps to settle out stuff in the water…
RA has changed, thus, the pH has gone lower… better extraction…
That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:
Sneezles61

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My efficiency drags when I have bigger, heavier grain bills. That’s something that has been fairly consistent, probably because of the whole primitive brew in a bag set up.I remember @dannyboy58 used to squeeze the bag to battle this but it becomes less effective with BIG beers. Yours is likely more efficient than mine.

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I guess that’s what I get for assuming eh? For the Nugget Nectar, I ordered 10 lbs of pilsner for the base and measured out half a lb and dumped the rest of the bag into my mill hopper. I’ve never bothered to measure the 1 lb bags either, just figured they should be accurate. It is definitely easier to weigh out separate grains rather than the big bag that comes as part of a kit, I’ll keep that in mind.

Also, the grain bill on Bridge burner is 17.5 lbs and Nugget Nectar is only 13 lbs. It sucks having lost all my brewing notes when my old app died not being able to go back and check relative to the last time I brewed this.

:beers:
Rad

Well I was able to narrow it down to the worn out rollers on my mill but i was consistently getting low readings. Your problem seems to be different since it looks like a one off so it is harder to identify but like mentioned above it probably was a mistake made someplace. I remember having problems with my digital thermometer readings also. Glad you got it back

I agree that this could also be an issue. Efficiency can really take a hit on higher OG beers due to requiring more strike water and less sparge water. You can:

  1. account for the lower efficiency in the recipe
  2. mash a little thicker than usual to maintain a little more sparge water
  3. use DME to hit your gravity
  4. boil longer to hit your gravity. Note that this will result in more caramelization

Edited to fix a spelling mistake and to add- I will usually account for it in the recipe AND mash a little thicker to save some sparge water.

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Actually what improved my efficiency in BIAB was the sparge. I basically just replaced a cooler with my kettle and bag for mashing traditional ratios of grist/water, then I 'd pull the bag and sparge to get my preboil volume.

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