Ending Primary ferm. early to keep FG up?

Well, I just racked a BYO Bass Ale clone to secondary on it 7th day,
with no air lock activity. FG checked out at 1.006. OG was 1.048, just about perfect.

My question is... the recipe noted a 1.049OG and a 1.010FG.
This is my second AG that has finished with a low FG(1.006 on both). Temps and aeration have been good. Both used starters.

Should I rack sooner, ie, closer to the stated FG to keep the beer as close to the recipe as possible? Doesn't finishing lower impart a dryer taste?

wow 1.006?

next time if you want a higher FG then mash a bit higher. What temp did you mash at this time?

Yes your beer is going to be a bit on the dry side...no biggie, just keep that in mind for your next batch

megavites said:

Well, I just racked a BYO Bass Ale clone to secondary on it 7th day,
with no air lock activity. FG checked out at 1.006. OG was 1.048, just about perfect.

My question is... the recipe noted a 1.049OG and a 1.010FG.
This is my second AG that has finished with a low FG(1.006 on both). Temps and aeration have been good. Both used starters.

Should I rack sooner, ie, closer to the stated FG to keep the beer as close to the recipe as possible? Doesn't finishing lower impart a dryer taste?

Click to expand...

Your FG is determined (all else being the same) by mash temps. If you want to raise the FG, (again, all other factors being the same) raise your mash temps a couple of degrees.

If you try to rack over early, the fermentable sugars are still going to ferment, and you don't want an un-controlled ferment in your bottles. This may lead to small pieces of glass being thrown about, and we all don't want to see that happen.

steve

OK, makes sense.
1st AG was low at strike, then brought up to temp.

2nd AG was slightly high (164), then I should have left well enough alone, but
nooooo, had to add some cold water(down to 148. Then it was add some hot water and
I hit and maintained 155 for the rest of the session.

Maybe I should adjust my temps up a couple of degrees, depending on the
recipe. I'm still trying to dial in my setup. (10gal Gott cooler & keggle), but
it seems like I'm running in circles.

I have the Bel. blonde in primary right now and my understanding is you don't
really need to rack to secondary with this style. Maybe leave in primary for 2 weeks?

megavites said:

Maybe I should adjust my temps up a couple of degrees, depending on the
recipe. I'm still trying to dial in my setup. (10gal Gott cooler & keggle), but
it seems like I'm running in circles.

I have the Bel. blonde in primary right now and my understanding is you don't
really need to rack to secondary with this style. Maybe leave in primary for 2 weeks?

Click to expand...

On the average your temp's will be reduced by aprox 11 degrees when you mash in. This is provided you are using an adequately insulated cooler. READ: usually a regular picnic cooler will do. Try this next time, if you want a mash temp of 155, heat your mash H2O up to 166, and then mash in. You might be pleasantly suprised with the results.

As far as racking your blonde.....while you could leave it in primary for two weeks, you may also be better off racking to secondary once fermentaion is complete.

Glibbidy said:

On the average your temp's will be reduced by aprox 11 degrees when you mash in. This is provided you are using an adequately insulated cooler. READ: usually a regular picnic cooler will do. Try this next time, if you want a mash temp of 155, heat your mash H2O up to 166, and then mash in. You might be pleasantly suprised with the results.

As far as racking your blonde.....while you could leave it in primary for two weeks, you may also be better off racking to secondary once fermentaion is complete.

Click to expand...

Gottcha. I did use Beersmith and I waited until the water cooled to 168 in my
cooler before I started doughing in. I think I screwed up by not waiting for
the grains to absorb some heat and I added cool water too quickly.

On the racking of the blonde. I've read differing opinions, if I remember correctly.
I thought that a recipe with wheat malt and flaked wheat (about 50%) that it's not
neccessary to secondary, as they don't really clear well. Maybe I'm mixed up with
hefeweizens.
I think I just talked myself into racking to secondary. Who wants a dirty blonde anyway.

87.5% attenuation?!? Damn. Well, as long as it tastes like it should I'd say don't sweat it. Also, if you rack to the secondary before FG you'll only leave that much more active yeast in the brew and it will take longer to clear out, it's still going to reach the same FG.

Just thought of something. Maybe my slightly low temps combined with fly sparging, which is adding another 45min to the
grains mash time is combining to produce such low gravities. Maybe its time to try a batch sparge and see what difference that
makes on my setup.

Couple ideas here. You may have been getting a relatively low grain bed temp during the sparge because your sparge water wasn't hot enough. You may want to add in near-boiling water for a mash out prior to fly sparging. At least that's what I'd do if I weren't a batch sparger.

It's better to finish more dry than expected than too sweet. Too sweet is undrinkable sometimes. I suppose you could add a bit of lactose to sweeten it up a bit.