Why is my terminal gravity so high???

Hey there,

I have recently started BIAB breweing and have been ending up with a high terminal gravity with the last couple of batches. Why?? My last batch for example is an APA thats been in the fermenter for 13 days, It started at 1.053, and has stopped at 1.019. The recipe i got says it should come out at 1.008
My strike temp was 71 and mash temp was 67 and dropped to 65 over the hour and mash out at 75. (just checked my thermometer for accuracy in boiling water and it gives a reading about 0.3 degrees lower than what it should be.)
Grain bill as follows:
Golden Promise (Thomas Fawsetts) 2.7kg
2 row pale (JWM) 3.26kg
Munich 0.32kg
Carapils 0.22kg
Crystal Grain 0.21kg
Flaked Barley 0.15
Total 6.86Kg

I airated by letting the wort splash into the fermenter from the my cube (i no chill) and every 5L stopped put the lid on and gave the fermenter i nice shake for a minute or 2.
I pitched a pack of US-05 (re hydrated in warmish water), and definately fermented within the recommended temp range.
Im considering bottling now cause ive just tasted it and its not all that sweet.

Any thing obvious that im doing wrong? What are the reasons for a high terminal gravity? and what should i do with the beer - Bottle? add more yeast?

cheers and look forward to hearing back.

It may have been under aerated. Buy an aeration wand and a bottle of O2 from your local home improvement store.

Let it sit in fermenter at 20 for another 2 weeks then bottle. Also, you could add another pack of yeast encase there are more fermentables left. But the beer should taste great. I think getting to 1.008 would be a little too much for an APA anyway.

Thanks - I think ill just wait it out. It always seems to be the right thing to do with homebrew. Maybe the O2 set-up will be my next bit of beer kit.

cheers

Long shot here but 67c is 152.6 degrees fahernheit ( please forgive the conversions,someday americans will catch on to the rest of the world ) which is a medium bodied beer meaning there are a considerable amount of dextrines or non fermentable sugars in the wort. The higher your mash temps the less fermentable the wort will be but more mouthfeel will be present at higher temps. Also us-05 has a 73-80% attenuation so at a BG of 1.053 at 73% you would finish at 1.014 so you really got more like 63% AAT. Another possibility is that you did not have enough nutrient in your wort ... in extract brewing nutrients are all contained in your dme or lme but with all grain it is not nesasarily there thats why products like servomyces or fermax should always be used with AG brewing to ensure complete vigorous fermentation. Hope this helped.

And double check to make sure your thermometer is accurate. If you're off by a couple of degrees, that might affect your FG too. Cheers!

Thanks for the replies. I guess it was never realistic to get it all the way down to 1008. As for my themometer, its a probe type digital themometer which i have checked for accuracy in boiling water. I got a reading of 97.7 degrees whereas it should have been reading 98 degrees based on my elevation so i figure its only 0.3 off. However i just thought that when i take the temperature reading I'm measuring the top couple of inches of water in my kettle. Would the temp difference between the top and bottom of the kettle after i turn the burner off???

cheers

Yes the bottom will be hotter unless you stir and equalize it. Also try a starch test on the next batch. It will give you a more accurate idea of sugar available v/s starch. Sorry I call it starch may not be the right term.