first all grain...fail.

Next time try letting your sparge rest for 30 minutes before draining, that may be a solve the problem.

Regarding your efficiency - it doesn't sound like you're taking into account your volume at 4.25 gallons into the calculation. I'm making the assumption your recipe was for 5 gallons. Without doing the math I'd guess you're well below 70% if you're coming in at 1.044 with 1.056 expected and 3/4 of a gallon short.

 

Well, first of all don't beat yourself up. One of the hardest things about going AG is getting consistent efficiency so you can adjust recipes to your equipment and hit your intended OG. I think most people miss the OG the first time or two: in fact, I usually recommend that new all grainers keep a few pounds of DME on hand the first couple times in order to make adjustments.

The grist you had would normally be enough to get a 1.056 OG, given normal efficiency, but for some reason your efficiency was fairly low. This could be due to a number of factors, including a poor crush, a failure to adequately stir or hydrate the grain, failure to adjust for pH (your grist is pretty light and could probably have used some acidulated malt to bring it into the proper range), some combination of the above, or ... hell, I dunno, but those three are the ones that spring to mind.

 

You most likely assumed you would get 75% efficiency, which is the default in most recipe programs. Now that you've done a test batch, next time assume 68 - 70% efficiency and you should be right on the money.

 

It's not the end of the world. You now have a baseline to work from. Use it for predicting the efficiency of your next batch, and make incremental changes to your process to improve it.

 

@shredder83 , did you use Castle Pilsner Malt?

Cheers!

 

when calculating the water volume to put to boil did you take into account loss due to grain absorption and dead space? I generally try to make my mash and batch sparge water volumes equal, well really close anyway, I know about a gallon and a quarter is my absorption/dead space volume. When the mash is almost complete I bring said volume of water to boil add to mash tun, stir well and let settle and then sparge.

Another question, how often did you stir the mash? that also will play a huge role in rinsing the sugars away, I double stir during the sparge. I also will add my sparge water and let sit for 20-30 minutes.

 

Reading your title I would have thought something disastrous happened.
Wow, maybe I'm not taking this seriously enough.

 

try and try you will get it right, took me about 6 times to get dialed in on AG. I finally learned from watching others...
like on my 50th batch I felt like I was finally getting the hang on things...but I am a perfectionist type.
Engineers we are a tad crazy....

 

More sparge water would have got you up to your planned 5 gallons, and would have increased your mash efficiency, but your OG would have been even lower, unless you boiled longer to get down to 4.25 gallons again. I would check the crush first. pH can affect efficiency, but usually not enough to cause as big a problem as you're seeing. Also, make sure you weren't leaving more wort behind in the mash tun than what was absorbed by the grains (i.e. no puddles/stuck lauter). One last thought... what was your mash temperature and how sure are you of it?

 

152F he posted

 

Dang. Don't know how I missed that.

OP: how did you measure mash temp? Calibrated thermometer? Or was that 152F the recipe/calculated temp?

 

If you brewed with Castle Pilsner Malt I have an explanation for you.

Cheers!