I completed a wit and a Gueze comparison at my home brew to commercial bottles.
The beer's I have brewed are very close to the commercial brews. The one consistent difference is that I end up with a higher final gravity. You can feel it while your drinking it My Wit is about 1.015. I did not check my Gueze. I thought of adding water to correct the situation. Any other ideas to get that final gravity at the 1.008 mark?
Oxygenation and pitching enough yeast come to mind, as well as making sure that the fermentation is indeed done. Did you oxygenate/shake it up well, and are you sure you pitched at least 1 billion cells/liter?
I step up my starter with 3 large mason jars. I pitch into a batch is a double batch (about 48 litres(say 10-12 gallons) (In terms of cell's per beer I would not know)
for ales and lager's I give it about 2 weeks to ferment with one racking any where from 7-10 days.
I do shake the primary's to get oxygen in. Lately I have not used my oxygenation stone.
Further to my original post. I measured my final gravity of my bock and it's final gravity is at 1.015. From the feel of my lager I expect the same. So basically I have the same characteristic across all my beers. Ales,lagers,gueze.
Yep, this is important. If you're brewing with extract you will be limited in how low your FG will go by the fermentability of the brand of extract you use (they vary). Also, 1.008 is pretty difficult to hit in my experience and generally results in a dry, thin beer. I like to shoot more for the 1.012 range.
Your are right about the 1.008. I generally never take my final gravity so I guessed what it should be. My mistake Well I am not far off the 1.012. I measured my wit and my bock and they both ended up about 1.015. I will take the advise of leaving my lager longer to ferment. This is good advise. I still feel that my beer tastes or feels a little heavier than I would like.
The 1.008 is wrong sorry my mistake. I generally never take my final gravity. Which explains my mistake. My wit and bock measure around 1.015. So I am not far off. I like the more aeration idea. I definitely am going to give my lager's a week longer. I think I definitely cut this last lager of mine off before the ferment was finished. I still feel as though my beers taste a little heavier than I would like. Does anyone have the same feeling about there all grain home brew's. Have they had success changing this. FYI I have been comparing my home brew's to the commercial equivalents. My home brew's all taste compatable but heavier.
Richard
Gueze bottle and one year old and nice and sour.
bock on tap
lager on tap
wit on tap
Final Gravity to high
Linear Mode
