The Math Ain't Mathing - All Grain Starch Conversion

[DoubleJ]

Hi gang,

It's been a while since I've posted, but do drop by ocassionally to see what's up.

I'm here again to pick the brains of those smarter than me. I'm just coming off a 2 x 50 gal bourbon mash, very frustrating, failure. My initial sweet runs came off fine, but on my first round of sour mashing, both of my fermentations completely stalled out at 1.040/1.045 (from a ~1.080 start).

It got me thinking if I really wasn't getting a good starch to sugar conversion during mash-in. And subsequently, the (potentially) unconverted starches in my mash(es) contributed to the failure. So, out of curiosity, I went to Dr. Google and asked a couple questions.

1. How much diastatic power does it take to convert 50 lbs of corn (starch) to sugar?
- The answer I got was 3500*L (degrees Lintner)

2. And, how much diastatic power does 6 row malt contain?
- The answer I got was 160*L per pound

Hmmm... So from that info, it would theoretically take 3500/160 = ~22lbs of 6 row malt to convert all the starch to sugar in 50 lbs of corn. Thinking about this further, I then asked this next question.

3. How much 6 row malt does it take to convert the starch in 50 lbs of corn into sugar?
- The answer I got was straight forward, but contradictory at the same time. It said the general rule of thumb is ~10% malt by weight, or 5 lbs.

Wait a second.... 5 lbs x 160*L = 800*L
By the above answers in 1 and 2, it would suggest I barely have 25% of the required malt to do the conversion.

Is there some sort of multiplier effect here that I don't understand? All help is appreciated.

Thanks
JJ