Crazy efficency ?????????

I have really been struggling to achieve proper efficiency. Always slightly on the low end. have tried to do all the right things. PH stabilizer, doing a mash out, nice slow sparge, even had my LHBS run grain through mill twice. After having the grain run through twice, efficiency improved slightly. I heard that grain company crushes were quite good, so I ordered a bag of 2 row pre crushed......well guess what? That was the ticket.......Just did a 10g batch and figured my OG to be 1.078 with 72% efficiency......OG came in at 1.090..........The crush makes that much difference folks. Problem now is my hop schedule for this batch is a little off.......I'll take it.

Time to consider an adjustable mill.  I like my Barley Crusher and BeerSmith (thanks Brad) has arranged a discount on them.

Fred

Yep - +1 for the BC...

I "tightened" mine up to about 0.32" clearance for barley and 0.24" for wheat and get 90% - 92% effic into my boil kettle routinely...

Sabco Mash Tun with Sabco false bottom - works great

I have a question that probably belongs in this thread. 
The clerk at the LHBS did a double grind because he felt the grains were not cracked sufficently. I gained about 12 points in efficency. Soooo, next batch I requested a double grind with similar result.

Now the question, after 2 weeks in secondary, the beer appears to have very fine grain particals suspended in it. How can I "settle the dust" so to speak?  I like the the efficency gain, but don't like the dust.
I did do several recirculations and it appeared clear going into the boil pot.
I using the trusty 5 gal igloo with a loop of braid for a Mash/Lauter Tun.

Many, many past batches have been made without this problem but at a lower efficency?

Any suggestions?  I really don't have the room to store grain & buy a BC.

Congrats on the eff gain   Crush is more important that most folks think - I remember being really intimiated when I first started; I assumed that everything that I purchased was in "perfect" condition   Perfect crush, fresh grain, fresh/viable yeast, fresh hops...  Ahh, the days of ignorance...

I use whirlfloc as a help; perhaps you could give that a try...

The grain husks are usually pretty big (relative to yeast) and should fall out of solution pretty quickly - I'd guess that what you're seeing is something other than grain husks.

Brew Strong

Pirate Point Brewer said:

............after 2 weeks in secondary, the beer appears to have very fine grain particals suspended in it. How can I "settle the dust" so to speak?  I like the the efficency gain, but don't like the dust.
I did do several recirculations and it appeared clear going into the boil pot.

Click to expand...

Agreed this sounds more like yeast in suspension.  What yeast strain, and is it a good or poor flocculating yeast?  Some strains drop like rocks and others float around like feathers. 

The batch was a very simple Blonde Ale. OG was 1.048. SG when racked into secondary was 1.010.
The yeast was Safale 04. I understand the concern about purchased items. The yeast packet use by date is March 2011.  I have used Safeale 04 many times in the past. I usually repitch 4 or 5 times. This, however was the first use. It was rehydrated rather than being put in a starter. SOP for each first use.

I did use Irish Moss. I added 1 tbs for the last 15 min. of the boil. This is SOP for all batches.
We've been busier than expected this holiday so far. I hope to bottle tomorrow, but the beer in the secondary still appears to have very fine particles suspended. I understand about the yeast, but have never noticed this dusty appearence in any previous batches. Perhaps we'll know more tomorrow.  The batch smells great. The SG sample when racking to secondary tasted great, it just looked dusty in the hydrometer jar.