Poor efficiency from old grain?

[Bonenose]

Hi,
I did a brew earlier in the week using some grain purchased last October and came up short on my expected gravity with efficiency coming out at about 70% as calculated using Brewer'sFriend calculator. I'm using a grainfather and brew was no different to any other that I have done, ie I did nothing strange or unusual with this brew. This easily the lowest efficiency I have got so far from the Grainfather by a long way. Is it possible the age of the grain is responsible?
Cheers

 

[Midnight Brew]

As pointed out in the Maris Otter thread, some grains (and various maltsters) require additional mash time so this could have something to do with it.

Has your water source changed at all? I see you are in Darwin, is it the same water supply feed or does your water supply feed from different catchments?

The grain from October, was it pre-milled?

70% Efficiency is still good efficiency IMO.

 

[Bonenose]

On bore water so may change slightly from wet to dry season, will see what water reports I can dig up but from memory I think they were all fairly similar.
It was pre-milled grain, well sealed but I assume that is still getting on a bit.
Would not be really worried except that my previous efficiencies have been around 85% if the calcs were correct.

 

[Midnight Brew]

I'd say I was the age of the pre-milled grain. 5 months from the optimal time to have used it. Still 70% is impressive from old grain!

If you have the space, try and buy your grain in sacks and invest in grain mill. The mill will pay itself off in no time from the money saved buying in bulk. Mill the day of or the day before you brew and you'll be hitting that efficiency target in no time.

 

[Coodgee]

I have a grain father and I find efficiency can vary greatly depending on how you stir in the grain. For example, if I just pour in as much grain as I can before it starts to float on the surface and then pile up on the surface, and then stir it in, I will get a really fast sparge and low efficiency, however if I get someone to stir the mash as soon as I start pouring in grain it will result in quite a slow sparge and higher efficiency. I need to be careful to be consistent. I like to balance good value with high efficiency with not having to sparge for 40 minutes, so I tend to pour in about a fifth of my grain before I start stirring.

 

[Bonenose]

I have a grain father and I find efficiency can vary greatly depending on how you stir in the grain. For example, if I just pour in as much grain as I can before it starts to float on the surface and then pile up on the surface, and then stir it in, I will get a really fast sparge and low efficiency, however if I get someone to stir the mash as soon as I start pouring in grain it will result in quite a slow sparge and higher efficiency. I need to be careful to be consistent. I like to balance good value with high efficiency with not having to sparge for 40 minutes, so I tend to pour in about a fifth of my grain before I start stirring.

Interesting, will take more notice of this in future