what's happened?

[bramswell]

just done my last brew yesterday and somethings not right and can't figure it out.
i usually get 70%-75% efficiency and the wort if pretty clear from the boiler

but on this brew i only got 60% eff and quite a bit of trub in the FV

this was the recipe (15lt brew length)

3.26kg pale
130gm crystal

25 gm fuggles 90 min
50 gm fuggles 15 min + wirlfloc
30 gm fuggles steep 20 min

expected og 1051 but only got 1040 and after 12 hours in the fv about 3/4 in of trub

the only thing i can think off is it was the last of my pale (had to borrow 1 kg from a friend) and maybe it was a little powdery

would this have the effect that i am experiencing

BTW the brewday went smoothly, seemed to have ironed out the kinks

[boingy]

Daft question: did you get exactly 15 litres in the FV?

[bramswell]

Daft question: did you get exactly 15 litres in the FV?

yes all target were hit
worked out from the batch sparg cal
22lt into the boiler 15.5lt into the FV
so only half lt more but woudn't think that would have a dramatic impact on the efficiency

[boingy]

The half litre will only make a couple of points difference. Not sure what went wrong then. It will still make a decent beer.

[Jim]

Quite likely to the pale malt, I would have thought. It does vary and the kg you borrowed may have not have been the best stuff(?).

[bramswell]

Quite likely to the pale malt, I would have thought. It does vary and the kg you borrowed may have not have been the best stuff(?).

thats what i was thinking, it was the bottom of the sack and all previous brews have been fine, the grain i borrowed did look like it was milled slightly finer

[buzzrtbi]

I think Jim is spot on. if your mash tun did not filter out the fine flour (usually found at the bottom of the sack) it will end up in the FV. What were your first runnings like? did you return them? what filter are you using in your Mash Tun?

[bramswell]

I think Jim is spot on. if your mash tun did not filter out the fine flour (usually found at the bottom of the sack) it will end up in the FV. What were your first runnings like? did you return them? what filter are you using in your Mash Tun?

it is a false bottom, plastic plate type, i did return the first runnings, usually i only have to do about 3 or 4 jugs to get rid of the husks and larger bits but this time i had to do it a few more times, and after that it was still quite cloudy/floury
it must be down to slack malt being the last of the sack