Ok so i quick run of my process. No matter what i brew, small all grain or partial mash i keep my grain at 6 pounds and my boil volumes at 3 gallons becuase thats the most my small stove can handle. I batch sparge with 1.5 qt/pound which leaves me with 1.5 gallons from first running and 1.5 gallons from sparge. I keep notes on everything and i feel i have come to a good preocess for what i have to work with. Ive done several batches with this process and gotten 70+ efficiency.
I did a 2.5 all grain batch last night and got 55%. Expected OG of 1.063 and got 1.050. I got the 2.5 gallon in fermentor i expected,
Things changed thsi batch
Used briess pale and had it ground by lhbs- instead of rahr 2row crushed and shipped from Nb
Ran all water through filter- used straight tap before
No crystal malts used thsi batch
The brewshops crush look very similar to what NB does, have only been there once not sure how busy they are maybe it was old grain? Any suggestions on such i huge drop in efficiency? Im bummed this turned my IPa into a very bitter pale ale
Edit- Mashed at 152 and only lost a degree or two in the hour
Crush is the most likely culprit. Unless you’re using a sophisticated filter, it’s unlikely to pull out the stuff in your tap water that is needed to reach optimal mash pH.
I would agree with this ^^^. Next time you go to your LHBS, ask for a double crush and see if that helps. Until my LHBS owner got a next crusher, I’d always ask for a double. It helped raise my efficiency.
[quote=“beerme11”]Used briess pale and had it ground by lhbs- instead of rahr 2row crushed and shipped from Nb
Ran all water through filter- used straight tap before
No crystal malts used thsi batch[/quote]You don’t list the entire recipe, but if your grist was base-only with no dark malts, it’s unlikely that you were in the proper pH range for the mash (off on the high side, like 5.8 ). This would lead to a lower conversion.
+1 pH is a crap shoot if you don’t know what your water is like. You can get some idea from how well your hot/cold breaks look. If you’re getting a nice eggdrop soup thing, your pH is good. If the wort is cloudy and stuff isn’t clumping, most likely your pH is high for that particular grist of pale malt.
The grain bill was 6 pounds briess pale and 3 oz amber malt. I have no info on my water yet so i know no one can say if its Ph but in theory Could PH potentially cause that big of a change?
Thanks man guess ill have to send out a water sample and get started with the next chapter of my brewing. Any advice on which water report to get, Ive pretty much hoped i could avoid water chemistry indefinitely so i but i guess its time.
If i either know my water profile or start with a blank slate by buying RO for the most part would software be able to just tell me what to do before the brew. I dont really wanna spend 100 dollars on a Ph meter
2 other questions to consider, though Ph is most likely the culprit, 1. What temp did you take your gravity at? 2. How much liquid was left in the boil kettle?
What other styles have you brewed with this set-up? If you’ve brewed a similar recipe (with little or no speciality malts if that’s true for this IPA recipe) and had good extraction efficiency then I’m not sure the pH answer makes a whole lot of sense. Can’t really know without controlling for crush and/or measuring mash pH to put your finger on it.
What other styles have you brewed with this set-up? If you’ve brewed a similar recipe (with little or no speciality malts if that’s true for this IPA recipe) and had good extraction efficiency then I’m not sure the pH answer makes a whole lot of sense. Can’t really know without controlling for crush and/or measuring mash pH to put your finger on it.[/quote]
I agree. I don’t think it’s the pH, especially if you’ve brewed beers with similar grain profiles and/or colors (as a rough estimate). If you haven’t brewed a beer this light (in color) before, then pH is probably a factor, though I’d still believe it’s not likely the sole culprit.
[quote=“beerme11”]If i either know my water profile or start with a blank slate by buying RO for the most part would software be able to just tell me what to do before the brew. I dont really wanna spend 100 dollars on a Ph meter[/quote]Bru’nwater will get you really close, especially if you’re using quality RO water that’s close to a clean slate.
