Holy attenuation batman! (and a question on bottling volume)

I went to siphon my first all grain brew, an imperial IPA, to secondary tonight.

Now, when I first put this beer in a month ago it had a SG of 1.091 as measured by refractometer. Tonight I measured and the current gravity is 1.004 according to my hydrometer.

That puts my Imperial IPA around 11.7% alcohol which I'm pretty happy about. I drank the contents of the hydrometer and the hops balance the alcohol pretty well.

Now that I'm done patting myself on the back I want to see if my bottling volume is normal.

I had 16 litres (4.2 gallons) in my secondary after I was done. The trub in the primary was almost three inches deep.

I originally put about 6 gallons into the primary. Is it normal to lose 1.8 gallons to trub? I pitched about 688 million yeast cells (according to BrewSmith) and total hop volume added (wet and dry) was 10 oz. BeerSmith says I should have 5 gallons to bottle but maybe it assumes the brewer will put the hops in a mesh baggie during the boil and for dry hopping.

That's about it.. thanks for reading my post and for your responses.

That does seem like a lot of liquid lost to trub, assuming all the measurements were accurate. How long was it in primary?

Also, just curious, what yeast did you use?

JeffersonJ said:

That does seem like a lot of liquid lost to trub, assuming all the measurements were accurate. How long was it in primary?

Also, just curious, what yeast did you use?

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It was in primary for 4.5 weeks and I used Wyeast 1056 American Ale.

Wow. That's 95% attenuation and that yeast's range is 73-77% according to Wyeast. Extremely unusual. Have you tasted to make sure there was no infection?

EDIT: Nevermind - I can't read. I'm stumped!

I was going to use my refractometer to measure the current gravity but I read something about the alcohol screwing up the readings.

JeffersonJ said:

Wow. That's 95% attenuation and that yeast's range is 73-77% according to Wyeast. Extremely unusual. Have you tasted to make sure there was no infection?

EDIT: Nevermind - I can't read. I'm stumped!

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I am not sure what that means. The yeast will die off at a certain alcohol level I know but I am right about that level from what I read on the chart at the brew supply shop for that strain.

I also used two packets in a starter on a stir plate, stepped up twice before pitching. So.. who knows?

banderberg said:

I am not sure what that means. The yeast will die off at a certain alcohol level I know but I am right about that level from what I read on the chart at the brew supply shop for that strain.

I also used two packets in a starter on a stir plate, stepped up twice before pitching. So.. who knows?

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Although 95% seems a little high for 1056, it's not uncommon for it to attenuate well above the range you specified.

I've had 1056 attenuate like that before when I underpitched and fermented too warm and it got stressed. The resultant beer smelled and tasted like jet fuel. Could easily strip the paint off your house and the enamel off your teeth. Mmmmm fusels.

If you get a headache as you are drinking it then it is probably chock full of fusels. If not, enjoy your super high octane brew.

chumpsteak said:

I've had 1056 attenuate like that before when I underpitched and fermented too warm and it got stressed. The resultant beer smelled and tasted like jet fuel. Could easily strip the paint off your house and the enamel off your teeth. Mmmmm fusels.

If you get a headache as you are drinking it then it is probably chock full of fusels. If not, enjoy your super high octane brew.

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No this fermented in my temperature controlled chest freezer at 68 degrees.

I just sampled my first bottle.. but it has only been in the bottle for one week. Well, there is zero carbonation and the taste of the alcohol is noticeable. It's super hopped up.. I will wait a few more weeks to see if carbonation builds up but I am guessing the yeast are all dead.

banderberg said:

I just sampled my first bottle.. but it has only been in the bottle for one week. Well, there is zero carbonation and the taste of the alcohol is noticeable. It's super hopped up.. I will wait a few more weeks to see if carbonation builds up but I am guessing the yeast are all dead.

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If I had to guess, the "super hopped up" taste is primarily because there's no sugar left to counterbalance it! It should fade with time though.

Really curious what your original recipe was??? Do you mind sharing?

banderberg said:

I just sampled my first bottle.. but it has only been in the bottle for one week. Well, there is zero carbonation and the taste of the alcohol is noticeable. It's super hopped up.. I will wait a few more weeks to see if carbonation builds up but I am guessing the yeast are all dead.

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I'm guessing you're wrong. Winner gets a case?

banderberg said:

I originally put about 6 gallons into the primary. Is it normal to lose 1.8 gallons to trub? I pitched about 688 million yeast cells (according to BrewSmith) and total hop volume added (wet and dry) was 10 oz. BeerSmith says I should have 5 gallons to bottle but maybe it assumes the brewer will put the hops in a mesh baggie during the boil and for dry hopping.

That's about it.. thanks for reading my post and for your responses.

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You will lose more beer during IIPA's, mostly due to hop absorption. If you have the ability to cold crash, it helps get a little more out, but nothing really significant.

banderberg said:

I just sampled my first bottle.. but it has only been in the bottle for one week. Well, there is zero carbonation and the taste of the alcohol is noticeable. It's super hopped up.. I will wait a few more weeks to see if carbonation builds up but I am guessing the yeast are all dead.

Click to expand...

It's only been a week in bottles and that's a super high gravity. It is going to take several weeks and possibly a few months for this one to carb up I'm betting.

It definitely happens once in a while... I fermented @ 66* and here's what I got http://hopville.com/recipe/994983