to dry for me

I was shocked to find that my mash efficiency was only 64% so I went on a mission to improve.  I did so well that now my brew is to dry for my taste.  I also noticed that what I formerly thought of as just right hop levels were to hoppy for my new mash efficiency. ugh.
I know that adding cara-pils will make my brew more malty but I added 1/2 lb to my 11lbs of grain and it made little if no difference.  Can anyone help me figure out how to keep my mash efficiency up while still having a moderately malty brew?
BTW: My ABV went through the roof too.  I'm going to have to cut  my grain bill.  )

Chas in Reno!

Sounds like good problems to have. 


You can mash at a higher temperature, like 158*F.

You could also chill the yeast when you hit the gravity you want to stop at.

You could try other specialty malts  to get more malt flavor. Carapils is good, but it doesn't really have flavor.

In my research I read that grain has to be well saturated before the mash will work at peak efficiency so I heated my water to about 130dF and added my grain (I also increased the size of my BIAB grain bag).  I let it steep for 20 minutes then slowly heated to 156dF and held for 1 hour.  Could the time it took to heat from 130dF to 156dF mean that the Beta Amylase had plenty of time to mash before I even got to Alpha amylase temperature? 
If I add my Cara-pils to my mash will it mash too and just become more sugar to ferment?
Hmmm.  I do love a puzzle!

Could the time it took to heat from 130dF to 156dF mean that the Beta Amylase had plenty of time to mash before I even got to Alpha amylase temperature? 

Click to expand...

That is a distinct possibility.

Sparging too hot or for too long can extract tannins from the grain husks.  They give an astringent quality that is pleasant in red wine, but not so much in beer. 

Since Beta Amylase starts working at 130dF my initial temp seems ok, once I add cooler grain to my water.  Anything below 130dF shouldn't start any mash activity, only saturation of the grain.  Once the grain is saturated I could zoom up to 156/158dF to by pass the more efficient mashing beta enzyme into the alpha enzyme temperature range.
The big question is how much beta amylase activity do I want and how much alpha amylase will give me the malty brew I like.

This all started as a mash efficiency project so I'd really like to maintain the efficiency but add maltiness maybe with other grains.