Lets beat that dead horse one more time

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Proofman

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I brewed a dry stout (partial mash with DME)2 weeks ago. OG was 1.039. Target was 1.007. Aerated the wort with an aquarium pump and an airstone for 10 min (plus I pour wort and top off water through a strainer). I used a 2qt starter of white labs Irish ale. I used a ½ tsp yeast nutrient in the wort. With in 12 hours I had to switch to a blow-off. Fermented for 6 days (68-70F). Gravity was 1.013. Let it go for 4 more days and checked again and got 1.013. Racked to secondary.

The closest I have gotten to a target was and IPA and I was within 2 points, which I am totally pleased with (but haven’t tasted it yet). Most everything is 5 to 10 points off. So far, the worst tasting beers have been the ones where I missed the TG by 6-10 pts (one got dumped out). The best tasting ones have been ones closest to TG (I just realized this).

I think I covered all the bases. Is this just something I’m going to have to live with? I’m not too worried about the alcohol content, I just want to make my beer taste as good as it can. I have taken suggestions from several people, most the same; I get the feeling that it is something in my operation creating this inconsistency, or is it random?
 
Have they all used DME? Different brands of extract have different fermentability. You might want to try a different extract.
 
Different extracts will ferment differently

Your partial mash grains will ferment differently

Different yeasts will ferment differently

In other words you have many variables and only experimentation on your part can determine which ones are contributing to your final gravity being off. When recipes give you a target gravity it is only an estimation as they cannot predict exactly what your gravity will be. One reason why people do AG is to have more control over this - although you now have more variables to deal with.
 
Proofman said:
...(one got dumped out)...
N O O O O O ! ! ! !

Oh the humanity....

It is a common theme amongst the extract crowd..."can't hit my numbers..."

For each and every one of my extract brews (back in the day), I always added some additional fermentables...quick oats for my stouts and porters...brown sugar for my english ales...corn sugar for my pales...

I just assumed that my extracts were going to fall short and I always used that as an excuse to experiment with other additives.

Compensate your recipe for what you know is going to happen.
 
BrierMuncher, you answered my next question! thank you. I wasn't sure how to adjust recipes, just thought there might be a way? About how much of what would you add?

As for the extract, I have used many different brands. The only two consistant ones were coopers LME and one batch was good and the other....was the one dumped out. Thanks for your comments.
 
I don't own a hydrometer, so can't really say if they make a difference.But all I do is wait til the airlock is slowed to about 3 or 4 min.between bubbles or stopped completly, then I either bottle or wait a couple of days and then bottle,but the brewers I've talked to have used their hdrometers maybe a couple of times. I've never a batch that was bad......knock on wood. From what I've read you do have to adjust for temp. to get the right reading, but I really don't see why you would have to dump it out for a reading a few degrees off? Must be something with the sanitation or something else.
 
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SpamDog
 
Willy Boner said:
I don't own a hydrometer, so can't really say if they make a difference.But all I do is wait til the airlock is slowed to about 3 or 4 min.between bubbles or stopped completly, then I either bottle or wait a couple of days and then bottle,but the brewers I've talked to have used their hdrometers maybe a couple of times. I've never a batch that was bad......knock on wood. From what I've read you do have to adjust for temp. to get the right reading, but I really don't see why you would have to dump it out for a reading a few degrees off? Must be something with the sanitation or something else.

You can make this hobby as simple or complicated (and aggravating) as you want as: water + malt + yeast + time = beer :drunk:

If you want to make better beer consistently the devil is in the details, like your FG.
 
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