Big beer help...

S I just kegged my first attempt at a big beer, OG was 1095, finished at 1022. The FG was a bit higher than I wanted, but I think maybe it was my yeast(s) choices. Bt I was wondering if you guys had some tips and techniques for getting these big high gravity beers to attenuate.

Maybe someone can suggest some reading material for me? I'm always up for more books or a nice online write up! Thanks!

big beers need a lot of yeast and a lot of oxygen

limiting specialty grains, low mash temp and using a well attenuating yeast will all help lower the FG

terrapinj said:

big beers need a lot of yeast and a lot of oxygen

limiting specialty grains, low mash temp and using a well attenuating yeast will all help lower the FG

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I pitched the wort onto a cake from a previous 5 gallon batch and shook it like crazy... Also used no crystal or roasted malts, all specialty grains were lightly kilned, mashed at 149 for 60 minutes... The recipe also used 2 pounds of honey.

I thought I had given the yeast some pretty good food, and I did get a solid 77% AA, I had just hoped for it to finish lower. I guess the aim of this thread was really looking for tips (or answers) of how to get super high attenuation rates. Is it all mostly determined by the yeast strain?

which strain did you use?

the yeast will determine the general range of attenuation, the other factors above will usually effect which end of the range but of course they don't always follow the specs

Started with 1272, which did the bulk of the work, then re-pitched with 1056, which only lowered it by 8 points.

1056 AA range is 73-77% so you ended up at the higher end of the range

terrapinj said:

1056 AA range is 73-77% so you ended up at the higher end of the range

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So in other words, I probably just made poor yeast choices?

HollisBT said:

So in other words, I probably just made poor yeast choices?

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Depends on the style of beer. Many Belgian strains attenuate higher, but you might not want that yeast profile. What did you brew?

Most higher gravity brews can easily handle 8-15% of the fermentables being table sugar or corn sugar (up to 20% for the adventurous). A great number of world class craft beers are made with that kind of approach so don't be scared or put off by it. As others have said, oxygen+yeast=success.

jeepinjeepin said:

Depends on the style of beer. Many Belgian strains attenuate higher, but you might not want that yeast profile. What did you brew?

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This was a DIPA.

MVKTR2 said:

Most higher gravity brews can easily handle 8-15% of the fermentables being table sugar or corn sugar (up to 20% for the adventurous). A great number of world class craft beers are made with that kind of approach so don't be scared or put off by it. As others have said, oxygen+yeast=success.

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Well I did have 8% honey in the recipe, which is equally as fermentable as sucrose.

HollisBT said:

Well I did have 8% honey in the recipe, which is equally as fermentable as sucrose.

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Depending on the honey and the yeast it doesn't always ferment out like straight sucrose, but obviously is more fermentable than any malty wort ever endeavored to be. Bump it up to 16%. Btw 1.022 isn't bad for a 1.095 brew. Sure 18 would be better in a lot of applications, even 14 or 15, but it's not bad.

Ok, first off have you calibrated your hydrometer? Are you sure it reads correctly? If it's off by four you could be at 1.018 which isn't bad. Check it in 60* water, it should read 1.000
Secondly, no one has mentioned temp. What did you ferment at and for how long? Any dramatic temp swings? I like to keep it cool for the first three to five days and then let it bump up gradually to ambient temp.
Third, for my big beers I like to try to keep the yeast in suspension by lightly swirling the carboy three times a day after about a week or a week and a half. This just helps keep them in suspension so that they can finish their job before dropping out. 1272's flocculation is listed at medium/high which means that it will drop out and allow for a crystal clean beer but may also not finish up in time if the beer is a big one.

Most of this is covered in my blog posting below. There are also some other helpful links in there if you want to check them out.