How to get more yeast attenuation?

Hello,

How can I get more yeast attenuation out of my next brew?

My story -
My 3rd brew that I just checked FG last night was 1.011
It is the BM - Cream of 3 Crops recipe -
My OG came out at 1.047 (was expecting 1.045), so pretty close to my target for a 6 gallon batch.
I used -
6 - pale 2 row
2 - flaked corn
.5 - flaked rice

I mashed for 90 minutes, using BIAB. It was cold outside so I was shooting for 152 but it probably got down to 147 then I gave it heat and brought it back up at around the 45 minute mark. By 90 minutes it was close to 147 again, I gave it more heat. I ran the temp up to 170 and pulled the bag out and kept it going until the boiling started.
Boiled hard for 90 minutes.
I started with 8.75 gallons of water, biab grains took 3/4, I boiled about 8 down to 6 and cooled it very quickly.

I used Nottingham yeast - aerated well.
first few days it was 59-60 degrees after day5 it was brought up to 65 - then by day 7 I took it upstairs at 71-72 for a 9 days. Then I took it back down stairs where it was 68-ish for anothe 5 days or so.
It started to get really at clear at day 19 or so - now 21 days old
Checked the FG at 1.011 last night.
Now cold crashing.

1.047 - 1.011 = 4.7 abv... which is not bad.
I wish I could have gotten a few more points out of this.

Any suggestions or did I get all I could get out of this?
(it does taste awesome out of the hydro sample...)

thanks Kevin

I thought that was supposed to finish at around 1.011 anyway?

I would ferment warmer to try and get it down further. Although, saying that, I haven't used Nottingham.

You seem to have done everything right! The lowest I've ever had a similar recipe finish is 1.008, which isn't far from yours.

If you want a drier beer, there are just a few things you can do. One is to use more simple sugars. Another is to use some amylase enyzme in the beer, which will break any higher sugars into simple sugars. I wouldn't do that, though- I want my beer to taste like beer! Beer is made up of maltose (and a few other sugars) that aren't as simple as dextrose and so a beer that isn't totally full of simple sugars usually finish at 1.008 or higher. A beer with a lower FG usually doesn't taste as full and have a watery thin finish.

If you want more alcohol, though, and not a lower FG, simply start with more grain next time.

You could do a two step mash, one step in the low 140s and and one in the high 150s to give both the beta and alpha amylases a chance to work at their optimal temp.

Thanks for all the replies thus far.
A 2 step mash and a little warmer fermenting might also help things...
Warmer scares me because of all the "ester" flavors I read about from warm fermentation.

I forgot to mention that the tastybrew calculator I have been using states that my beer was at 77% attenuation.
I guess that is a fair number, was hoping for 79-80.

Yooper said:

You seem to have done everything right! The lowest I've ever had a similar recipe finish is 1.008, which isn't far from yours.

If you want a drier beer, there are just a few things you can do. One is to use more simple sugars. Another is to use some amylase enyzme in the beer, which will break any higher sugars into simple sugars.

Click to expand...

Ah....that is why I see in a few other threads where BM and others say to add some table sugar and replace some of the grains to get a drier/lower FG beer.
I was thinking that with my above process I could get it down a little more without adding sugar....but I guess even yeast has it's limits
thanks for the explanation.

This will all help me get a nice beer for the upcoming pool parties this summer.

thanks Kevin

You have to remember attenuation varies as a function of the specific type of yeast used. White Labs English Ale yeast attenuates as low as 63% where as their Super High Gravity Ale yeast attenuates >80%. Taking a given wort at an OG of 1.050 the English ale yeast could attenuate to a FG of 1.018, but the same wort using Super High could attenuate down to a FG of 1.010 (4.2 abv vs. 5.2 abv respectively).

To answer your question you had an attenuation rate of 77% which is good for Nottingham. You got everything you could out of an OG of 1.046. If you want more ABV increase the fermentables (increased OG) or change yeast.

maybe use a pure oxygen setup?

1.011 is pretty good; +1 on 02.... If you want it just a little lower maybe some Corn Sugar to dry it out (if that's what you are looking for)

MuchoGusto said:

You have to remember attenuation varies as a function of the specific type of yeast used. White Labs English Ale yeast attenuates as low as 63% where as their Super High Gravity Ale yeast attenuates >80%. Taking a given wort at an OG of 1.050 the English ale yeast could attenuate to a FG of 1.018, but the same wort using Super High could attenuate down to a FG of 1.010 (4.2 abv vs. 5.2 abv respectively).

To answer your question you had an attenuation rate of 77% which is good for Nottingham. You got everything you could out of an OG of 1.046. If you want more ABV increase the fermentables (increased OG) or change yeast.

Click to expand...

Perfect - thanks for this reply and the others !!

Kevin

Mash lower, around 148 F

Yeast , mash temp, ferment temp, adjuncts. Pick your method or methods. If it taste good don't mess with it.