O.G. Problems, help me figure this S%$# out

How's your crush? Milling yourself at home or milling at the lhbs? What's your pre-boil gravity like? Your water addition at the end is throwing me off, but I would guess it's your crush.

 

That's likely the problem. Sounds like your mash efficiency problem is a result of the LHBS mill settings. The mill settings are probably not fine enough (too course a crush).

Three potential fixes:

1) Buy your own mill
2) Account for the lower efficiency and use more grain
3) Ask the shop to mill finer for you

Some of the more experienced folks will probably weigh in here. Maybe they spot something I don't.

 

It sounds like you are basically fly sparging as opposed to batch sparging. Am I correct?

If you are fly sparging, you setup will not work. A single SS braid is not meant to be used for a fly sparging setup. The reason being that the wort will always take the path of least resistance to drain. Since you only have a single small outlet in the center bottom of your tun the wort will tend to make channels towards the center and completely miss the perimeter of the mash tun. This causes all the rich sugars in the perimeter to be completely missed and left behind while sparging.

If you want to keep your setup you must switch to batch sparging, if you want to keep with fly sparging then you must make a more complex drain manifold or switch to a false bottom.

If you are currently batch sparging then I'm just talking out of my ass and have no idea what's wrong.

 

Interesting, I didn't interpret his process as fly sparging. Not saying you are wrong, but what made you think that? The fact that he recircs the 2 gallons of sparge 3 separate times? If it were a continuous recirc, I guess you'd be right. If it is three separate recirc's, I'd liken that more to batch sparging.

I'm curious about the recircs either way.

 

I'm wondering if this is hurting or helping. I honestly don't know.

 

Are you talking about doing a vorlauf before you sparge? Or are you recirculating all of your wort? Please slow down and describe your process step by step.

 

Are you batch sparging or fly sparging? With batch sparging you actually want to disturb the grainbed by stirring it before vorlaufing. This is what draws a large amount of the sugars out of the grain and into wort.

 

With your process, the single braid in the middle will not be sufficient to pull all of the sugars from the perimeter of the mash tun, which is what is leading you to a 10-20 point shortage in OG. You either need to change your process or your equipment to match your process.

 

Okay. That wouldn't hurt your mash efficiency (assuming you stir the grain bed when you first add the sparge water). But it's also not necessary.

Re-reading your original post, your major problem is not sparging with enough water. Less water means less dilution, which means the wort you're leaving behind in the grain bed (due to absorption) has a lot of sugars in it. The idea behind sparging is to rinse/dilute most of the sugars out, but you are leaving a lot in the mash tun.

Edit: you should look up 'batch sparging' and 'fly sparging.' You're not really doing either. You ought to be batch sparging with that equipment.

 

Do a batch sparge that results in enough wort for a full boil. Boil outdoors with propane, or add a second brewpot and split the wort between two pots on your stovetop.

 

In my reading he is doing a modified "no-sparge", is he not? It sounds like he never drains his first runnings before the 2 gallon addition & re-circulation...

OP, you should drain your tun, then refill it with the sparge water for maximal efficiency.

 

I guess I'd call it a 'no sparge' with a massive vorlauf. But with 5.75 gallons of water total, efficiency is doomed no matter what.

 

I get my grain from a LHBS too, and I'm reliant on their crush. No idea whether it's optimal or not, but it works. I had a similar efficiency problem as you. The "cure" was to adjust my efficiency percentages in beersmith II. After I did that, I started being within a point or two of my OG expectations (instead of consistently low by 10 points or so). Yes, this requires buying a slightly higher quantity of grain, but so be it. Grain is cheep and I want my beer to come out as expected.

 

OP, the problem here is that you are just "kinda" doing several things. Now I mean this to be constructive so don't get your feelings hurt but, your process sucks.

Listen to those who said you should go with a Batch Sparge. It's easy, and will work great given the system it sounds like you have. Your mash tun sounds similar to what Denny Conn uses and he is an advocate of the Batch Sparge as well. I do it, most of the time, and never have a problem nailing my target numbers.

You only have a 6 gallon kettle. Not ideal but not a huge deal. You can use more than one pot to hit your total boil volume but the tricky part comes with knowing the boiloff rate for each kettle. Speaking of that, are you using any software to predict your target numbers? I use beersmith because the math involved to do it long hand is over my head. Yes I'm serious. It's only like 25 bucks and if you take the time to properly add in your equipment and process you should have no problem, for the most part.

Yes as someone said, the crush can affect your efficiency but I don't worry abou that. It won't cause the sort of change you described.

Use tin foil with holes poked in it with a fork laid on top of your grain bed for when you vorlauf. Makes it easy.
So again not to be mean but after 3 years, it not your system, it's you. You need to learn your system. You need to be consistent. You need to learn if the steps of your brew day are correct or not.
Brew again with a nice simple recipe with predicable target gravities for your system and stick to a strict regimen of a tried and true method, and I am sure you will be just fine.