Epic Saison fail - Mash & Boil

Alright - this was my lowest OG on an all grain to date (7th one, previous partials), and even the OG is ahoo -

This was also my first brew crushing my own grain - I used this from William's:
https://www.williamsbrewing.com/MALTMUNCHER-DUAL-ROLLER-MILL-P4174.aspx

First 3 lbs came out too powdery, so adjusted and the next 7 looked good. Recipe was 9lb Castle Belgian Pilsner, 1lb Belg Wheat. Used RO water w/ 1/2tsp Gypsum and 1/2 CaCl for 3.8g mash, rinsed grains/sparged (RO no additions round 6pH) with additional 4g at 170...brew kit is the Mash & Boil.

Issues/questions to troubleshoot what the hell went wrong (yes I'm having a post-op home brew to chillax).

Refractometer or hydrometer way off??
BrewCipher (thanks btw for some cool free software - is there a password btw on the water tab?) predicted pre-boil 1.042, post boil 1.053. I came out with, per Refractometer, 1.036 pre-boil, and post-boil 1.037. I did calibrate with RO at 68f and was 0 to 001, prior to use. Took a OG reading w/the trusty(?) hydrometer as well prior to pitching, it read 1.030 (never been this low on any brew). Wort in fermenter for post-boil readings was at 70f. Thoughts re~wide difference in refractometer/hydrometer readings.

Grain - Could the really really poor extraction have come from over-crushing the first 3lbs of grains? They looked more powedery than those I crush at the LBS. I thought the next 7lbs looked just right - broken but not pulverized husks...? I suspect this was the big issue.

Other details: Mashed ~148 for 80 minutes (M&B fluctuates 146-154) with about a gallon volauf-ish,. Sparged as above by rinsing grains suspended above wort, with 4-4.5g). I hit target volume of 6g with this approach.

Thoughts where all this went wrong? Honestly I feel like each M&B brew has gotten more perplexingly poor extraction. Could just need a lot more draining, pouring over the top, and stirring a lot during mash...Just want to learn.

This is a Saison so I hit it in the fermenter w/additional 1/2lb DME + 14oz corn sugar boiled and cooled, added to fermenter prior to pitching 1.5L WL565 starter...should be dry! Hopefully not too bitter given target hops (.25oz Magnum bittering, .5oz Tettnang at 30, 2oz Lemondrop at flameout along with 2 bags chamomile) - at least the style is supposed to be dry...

 

Yeah, weird. Readings must be off - used new refractometer off of amazon, looked good in calibration...I did pH test prior to today of my tap and RO (filtered tap) - both samples came out at 6.0 with ColorPhast strips. Crushed right before mashing too...

 

Gotta say, never had reason to doubt my hydrometer before so when that gave me 1.030 in the fermenter I was tripping...(hence the corn sugar and DME). Don't need a strong saison, but a reasonable one.

 

Good tip - I'd rather pulverize the stuff and add rice hulls than miss extraction...

 

Revisited it before replying - I'm having no problems now with the Salt Additions near bottom, must have been trying to mess with the Water Results portion at the time, which shouldn't be messed with . Really enjoying this software as I get the rig settings all dialed in...

 

Well for those messing with mashing in the M&B, all I can say is I switched to tea bagging my grains in 2+ gallons of water post mash/brief rinse, and the shiznits gone to ~80%. Raise a glass to the tea bag, you ugly 10lb pre-wet soggy grain bag!

 

The Rock Bottom Brewers found their efficiency was higher with a coarser, not finer, grind and their rationale makes sense. Confunded!