Wyeast 3725 - w/Northern Brewer Farmhouse - Hyper-attenuation?

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seand

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Brewed 2 weeks ago. Used a 1.5L starter... it didn't flocculate overnight in the fridge so I ended up letting it warming up and pitching the entire starter. I got the yeast by mail and it was quite warm when it arrived, I was worried about the viability. It fermented intially in the mid 70's F for a few days showing good stable activity and the rest of the time at 64. OG was 1.042 on a recipe of 1.043. Today I sampled it for the first time, and it came out 1.002. I tested with water to verify 1.000, and it was true. Recommended fermentation range was 70-84F.

It tastes like beer, so I've got no great anxiety over it. I'm probably way off style at 5.3% vs 4%.

Should I send a sample of the yeast off for review as a biofuel source? I was kind of shooting for a lower ABV beer as I'm now 5 for 5 higher than recipe. Is it possible something in my process is causing consistently high ABV results?
 
If you give us your recipe and your process including volumes we can probably tell you why your getting higher than expected ABV's, the yeast alone doesn't give us anything to go with.
 
Fair enough... this is an extract kit. Link to the full instructions.

Start with 2.5 gallons of water. I use the grocery store Spring Water bottles as my source.
0.5 lbs Gambrinus Honey Malt - 20 minute steep, I did it at 150 degrees held temperature for 20 minutes versus the directions.
1 oz "Tradition" Hops at 60 minutes in a bag
3.15 lbs Pilsen malt syrup (Northern Brewer bottles) at 60 minutes
3.15 lbs more at 15 minutes
Chiller inserted immediately after for santization.
Flame out at 0.
Remove hops bag
Connect chiller to ice water source
Transfer wort to 6.5 gallon plastic fermenter
Top off with water to 5 gallons
Check OG (1.042)
Oxygenate from oxygen bottle for around 30 seconds
Pitch yeast, seal up, 2 weeks later... 1.002.
 
Just brewed with this strain two weeks ago and it took my 1.052 OG down to 1.004 in 7 days. I mashed low so I was expecting a dry beer, but damn all the way down in 7 days surprised me. This strain is said to be pretty clean flavorwise for a saison yeast so I fermented hot 80-85 the whole time. My gravity sample tasted pretty good but there was A TON of yeast in suspension. It's crashing now so I am looking forward to putting this on tap in the next week or so.

So to summarize... I am not surprised too much by your results:mug:
 
As an extract kit, most likely your in total OG reading was off. This is a typical problem when topping off because it is nearly impossible to get a good thorough mix of the water and the wort.

Most likely your reading got the heavier wort and thus it was higher than expected, conversely if you got mor water it would have been lower than expected. Usually extract kits OG and FGs start right where they are supposed to.

In addition if your initial volume was off a bit you could get the wrong readings as well meaning it was over diluted or under.

I wouldn't worry, the ABv is probably right where it was supposed to be:)
Cheers!
 
Thanks for the feedback!

It's on its way to 40 degrees now. It will be there at least until I get enough bottles emptied. I didn't really expect consumption was going to be the bottleneck in the hobby...
 
Bottled yesterday and got a good chance to test it mixed up from transfering and it measured 1.002 again.

The yeast cake was bubbling by the time I got done bottling, but I think that was just from it warming up and the CO2 coming out of suspension. I canned some of the yeast and it built up essentially no pressure overnight. But, it's now in the archive for future experimentation.

I think I might split up a future batch and use different yeasts on each...
 
seand said:
Bottled yesterday and got a good chance to test it mixed up from transfering and it measured 1.002 again.

The yeast cake was bubbling by the time I got done bottling, but I think that was just from it warming up and the CO2 coming out of suspension. I canned some of the yeast and it built up essentially no pressure overnight. But, it's now in the archive for future experimentation.

I think I might split up a future batch and use different yeasts on each...



I would highly recommend splitting up batches! It is a great chance to learn about different yeast characteristics and shoot... Two different beers for the price of a yeast pack. Not bad.

To answer your question, you should expect this yeast to chew up the fermentables... I just kegged a batch that finished at .001 (as i had hoped). Granted, i did AG and mashed at 148 to dry it out to ensure that. Saisons are very often finished down in your range.

I also brewed a biere' de garde with this yeast. Finished at .007, a bit lower than i had hoped.

Anyway. I would not be surprised by the low gravity with this yeast. I hope your beer is tasty!
 
Ditto on this experience with the same kit and yeast. Fermented down to 1.004! That's the lowest I have ever had an extract batch get. I had added a pound of honey at flameout in an effort to play up the honey angle a bit, so I have a little more abv than I had intended.
 
Mine fermented down to 1.004 as well. I opened one after 12 days in the bottle and it was damned good. I really like this yeast.
 
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