It was the equipment all along.

The grain mill was not to blame for efficiency problems.  The grist was fine, dusty, and pretty well the grains were cracked open.  This pretty much was a hollow victory since I was still wondering what was going on but at least I know it is not the grain mill.  When I brewed my honey nut brown ale I squeezed the brew bag like the dickens after I sparged and I got 60-some percent so I now figure it is my equipment and is it is not efficiency friendly.  60% and above is not bad, since I don't have the proper equipment, so I am not going to complain.
Just bottled my orange wheat and I am loving it so far.  Not only am I getting started on developing a great summer beer, that may even be competition worthy, but it gives me a good base on a cascade IPA that I would like to make.  Slowly but surely I am turning into a brewer and the more I open myself up to learning recipes and just brewing the more become competent.  Hopefully the more secure I feel in my adventures the more likely it will lead to some professional brewing later on.

Happy accidents may not be accidents after all

When I made my orange wheat (which is turning out really well) my efficiency was really low and I thought it was something I was doing wrong.  The stout I made yesterday ran into the same problem so I am thinking it might not be me after all.  It could still be me but now that two batches in a row have ran into issues I have done some research.  I don't use mash tuns, since I brew one gallon batches, so using a strainer and sparging water over the grains could be it BUT I had a string of normal efficiency batches so I should look elsewhere.  The first issue to look at is the grain mill.  The mill might not be holding its size and needs adjusting.  I use the LHBS, or local home brewers store, as my grain mill location so now I have to look into how often, if at all, they adjust.  Hopefully it will help in solving the issue.  Low efficiency does not mean bad beer, but as someone who wants to keep up quality and consistency, it is important to keep the process at a top level.  Other problems could be water temperature, mash time and temperature, hydrometer.  Those, I do not believe, are so much the problem, so I will start with the grain mill.
I will report back tomorrow after I get my grains.  On deck for next week: Honey nut brown ale!

Happy accidents

Too bad not all accidents are happy ones but at least I can say mine was a happy one.  I made my orange wheat beer yesterday and had to adjust the grain bill.  Most wheat beer recipes call for 50% wheat malt at the most and I had 60%.  I added more 2-row, honey malt, and carapils and brought the wheat malt to 51%.  By increasing the other grains I bumped up my estimated ABV to 5% and I wanted to keep it just above 4% since I wanted a good summer drinking beer that was not strong.  Well, somewhere in my sparging I did not get the efficiency number and this will lower the alcohol level to probably just under 4%.
This accident is giving me the end result but at a cost.  I just hope that my next batch (vanilla bean stout) will hit the efficiency number and I am not doing something horribly wrong.

Happy Friday!