just one last thought about efficiency, for the first few brews when efficiency is expected to be not so great is it okay to add extra grain to bring it back up a bit? i know it's kinda hit and miss but in theory could it help?
of course i don't mean to bring up the efficiency but rather the alcohol content?
nervous brewer
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mysterio
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SteveD
Yep, add more grain into your grain bill to cover possible lower efficiency. If you get more than you wanted...awful! 
You can always sanitise some empty plastic drinks bottles and freeze the excess wort for use as yeast starter, or , if you have collected the volume you want preboil, at the gravity you want then just stop collecting! (15 degrees below OG at a 15% per hour evaporation rate, or about 9 degrees below OG at 10% per hour evaporation rate. That's with a 90min boil) Comfort yourself with the knowledge that your beer quality will be higher for not having sparged it to death.
The man who has won the Midlands CBA festival two years in a row, and in multiple beer categories, has a typical mash efficiency of 63-65% Quite a strong argument for under-extraction.
You can always sanitise some empty plastic drinks bottles and freeze the excess wort for use as yeast starter, or , if you have collected the volume you want preboil, at the gravity you want then just stop collecting! (15 degrees below OG at a 15% per hour evaporation rate, or about 9 degrees below OG at 10% per hour evaporation rate. That's with a 90min boil) Comfort yourself with the knowledge that your beer quality will be higher for not having sparged it to death.The man who has won the Midlands CBA festival two years in a row, and in multiple beer categories, has a typical mash efficiency of 63-65% Quite a strong argument for under-extraction.
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AT
