Should I care about efficiency?

[J A]

You have a lot of non-base-malt ingredients and dark malt in there. And your mash temp may contribute to slightly lower efficiency, too. I find that I always have to allow a few points lower when I do a stout or porter. When in doubt I formulate recipes so that it'll be to style over a pretty wide range of possible efficiency percentages. And I have a fair number of similar batches to reference to see where the average is likely to be for a particular recipe.
We've all had things go the wrong way with efficiency or attenuation occasionally. All you can do is chalk it up to experience and brew again and see what the differences/similarities are.

 

[GFHomebrew]

You getting your grain milled at HBS or doing it yourself Craig? I mill my grains in a thermomix (glorified blender). I find if I don't get the speed right x time I get a few in cracked grains and I just know extraction is going to be down. I beleave it all starts in the mill. Yesterday's brew was mashed for over 4 hours I take that little doggie to reactive dog training between mash and boil not that that length of time helps the wort I think it might actually break down the long chain sugars with beta Amalyse cleaving them sugars down to more fermentors....
I see @Head First got some awesome extraction from a slow mash rise through mash range yesterday maybe there is something to that. Good PH helps. I don't personally believe grist to water matters but I'm probably wrong but 80+% is good with me.
One fellow to check out is Kai http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/Braukaiser.com he has done in-depth analysis on all things mashing decocting yeast propagation you think brewing he has done the maths.

 

[Craigerrr]

Thanks guys, it is definitely live and learn, which is why I ask the questions, and you folks are always so awesome with your feedback.

I wondered about the milling, because I couldn't really explain going from 78% down to 66% from one brew to the next. A local craft brewery milled the grains for me, maybe they could have been crushed a little more. I will eventually get a mill of some type, but I have been adding equipment, and upgrades as I go that is a down the road thing for me. I am thinking about going Bob's route as well and get a bag that will fit in my cooler. I assume that I could then mill the grains finer if I have the bag in there.

 

[GFHomebrew]

Thanks guys, it is definitely live and learn, which is why I ask the questions, and you folks are always so awesome with your feedback.

I wondered about the milling, because I couldn't really explain going from 78% down to 66% from one brew to the next. A local craft brewery milled the grains for me, maybe they could have been crushed a little more. I will eventually get a mill of some type, but I have been adding equipment, and upgrades as I go that is a down the road thing for me. I am thinking about going Bob's route as well and get a bag that will fit in my cooler. I assume that I could then mill the grains finer if I have the bag in there.

They should ask how you want it milled I know one HBS will did two passes for me.
Yep get a bag it doesn't mean your any less of a brewer for it.

 

[J A]

A local craft brewery milled the grains for me, maybe they could have been crushed a little more.

Breweries with big tuns have very different needs than we do. They're less likely to do a really fine crush because a stuck sparge means hours of labor and maybe a missed brew day. If they're small enough that they could mill literally a few pounds for you, they may be closer to homebrew specs than some of the bigger breweries, I suppose.
You have to be a little careful about milling too fine with homebrewing too unless you're doing BIAB. I have my mill set up relatively fine but the crush is not as fine as some BIAB guys like it. I use a bag as a liner over my false bottom and there are plenty of times that I have to lift it up to get things flowing again.