Tim Taylor in Cali II

[iowalad]

I crushed my own but I had lousy efficiency too - I had a similar issue and made up wort with DME to make up my last gal and to get to my OG.

I put mine down to not double checking weight as I bought the exact amout of GP I needed and just assumed I got shortchanged. My second thought was we were getting the lower efficiency that the British were getting earlier in the year with their malt but that drop is too dramatic. So my last thought is blame the brewers!

[monk]

I'm still thinking I want to blame someone else.

Seriously, though, my method is always exactly the same, so I don't know what could have caused a 25% drop in efficiency.

[mysterio]

very strange

Oddly enough, i haven't (touch wood) experienced any drop in efficiency with GP or recent MO. Tried e-mailing NB or posting on their boards?

[monk]

Tried e-mailing NB or posting on their boards?

That I will. I'm pretty sure it has to do with the grain. Maybe it needed more than a sixty minute mash. I'm not a great brewer, and I don't get fabulous efficiency, but I'm pretty consistent with my system. This is a huge difference from normal. I've used MO, Great Western, plain American two row, and optic many times, and all of these grains give me about 75% with my system.

In order to fix it up, I'm going to add 3 pounds of amber DME. My problem, at this point, is not so much the low gravity but the very high bitterness--probably around 50 ibu. So I'm going to get the brew up near 1.060, to even things out. I'm saving the Yorkshire yeast for another brew. I'll split the starter and use it several times in the future.

[Whorst]

It's possible that the GP you bought is old. I've seen shops that crush it and don't sell it for six months. That's my guess, you got hold of some old, dodgy, malt that's been lying around. Being that you live in California, give Williams a shot. They sell quality stuff, and have great customer service. I usually order on a Monday, and it's at my door on Wednesday afternoon. They charge $6.50 for shipping! There really is no reason to buying anywhere else. I forgot to mention, are you sure your starting gravity is 1.030?? Did you use a hydrometer? Was the hydrometer used at 60F? If you checked it warm, you'll need to add gravity points.

[monk]

It's possible that the GP you bought is old. I've seen shops that crush it and don't sell it for six months. That's my guess, you got hold of some old, dodgy, malt that's been lying around. Being that you live in California, give Williams a shot. They sell quality stuff, and have great customer service. I usually order on a Monday, and it's at my door on Wednesday afternoon. They charge $6.50 for shipping! There really is no reason to buying anywhere else. I forgot to mention, are you sure your starting gravity is 1.030?? Did you use a hydrometer? Was the hydrometer used at 60F? If you checked it warm, you'll need to add gravity points.

Yes, unfortunately I'm sure. The reading was 1.030 on two different hydros. The corrected was 1.032. That's why I'm so surprised!!! It's ridiculous. Not even on my first AG was I so low on effeciency. I'll def give Williams a try. Obviously, I don't have any reason to stick with NB.

[RabMaxwell]

I think what people are missing is the malt. Timothy Taylor use floor-malted Golden Promise. I've used GP before, that when mashed, had a very light straw color. The floor-malted variety gives you that Landlord color, and more than likely the maltiness, due to the kilning.

Hello all i love GP malt although i haven't used it for a few years now but i know my beers have got more malty tasting since i changed from Muntons MO to Warminsters floor malted MO.As for carmelising the first runnings don't be scared if you think you need 3 litres use 5 the caramel flavour might be in your face at first but it fades when aging.

[Grot]

I spend a lot of time on the NB board and I've seen a lot of complaints about their crush. They're selling a Landlord clone so I wouldn't think their grain is old.
I usually buy from Midwest. Their grain prices are better and they don't charge extra to crush. Shipping probably isn't as good to California as it is to Illinois, though. They also show up in the Google ads here so my orders help with the server costs.

[iowalad]

I am going to keg today. Hit my gravities but the beer is straw colored and hazed still . . .
A bit too early to tell but not wowed by this one yet - the next week in the keg will see a lot of change hopefully.
Right now I can just taste hops - not really getting anything from the yeast or the malt to my untrained palate.

[iowalad]

Monk,

How did this turn out?

[monk]

Well, I can't really say at this point. The gravity was so low that I added dme that I had lying around and it was amber. Also, I didn't want to waste the yeast on this mistake so I used S-04. The resultant beer is not bad actually, but I doubt it's much like TTL. On the upside, the Styrians are BOLD! They really make the beer.

[iowalad]

I have been happy with mine even though I also had to go the DME route to bulk it up.