Thu Oct 18, 2012 12:30 pm
A little more info. I just started brewing again after a few years off, and the first 2 batches are thinner and lacking the malt flavor that should be there. I am leaning toward the fact that I may have been pulling weak runnings into both beers. I have always got around 84% mash effeciency and run my mill at a gap setting of 0.045". My boil off rate is 10% per hour and I usually mash at 157 deg with a healthy dose of specialties. However, I never had a good way of pulling last running samples, and assumed it was fine until I saw the number in the ordinary bitter I brewed as stated in the OP.
Anyway, I was listening to the milling episode of Brew Strong and Tasty was mentioning when he started getting a finer crush he started getting 84% effeciency, and he said he saw the same issues with body? I would never have thought crush would effect body, but wouldn't argue with the idea either. But do you guys think it would be better for me to open up my mill and add some malt, or leave the gap setting and just add more malt to get my last runnings gravity up?
