70% attenuation from Wyeast 3056

So I made a high gravity wheat a few weeks ago. The OG was 1.100 which was a few points higher then I planned on. I pitched two smack packs of Wyeast 3056 @ 70 into 5.5 gallons and it's been sitting in 66-68 ambient temps for two weeks. After 1 week it was down to 1.030, then I sampled it last night and it was still at 1.030. I was expecting this to get down to around 1.025. Is 70% attenuation all I can expect from 3056? The airlock is still bubbling every few seconds, but with no gravity drop after a week I'm not expecting anything else.

You will certainly not get 1.025. The alcohol tolerance of that yeast is 10%, so the minimum FG you would get is about 1.026. I'm surprised that you even got that close to the alcohol limit given you didn't make a giant starter or aerate like crazy.

WIth an OG that high, I'd time the fermentation in months, not days/weeks. The Mr. Malty calculator says you really needed 3.5 packs if you didn't use a starter. I wouldn't say you drastically underpitched though. Maybe give it another 2 weeks. If it hasn't changed you will probably need to pitch more yeast. To save $, you could probably pitch a dry neutral ale yeast, or even dry weizen yeast.

BTW, the Mr. Malty calculator is here:

http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

rocketman768 said:

You will certainly not get 1.025. The alcohol tolerance of that yeast is 10%, so the minimum FG you would get is about 1.026. I'm surprised that you even got that close to the alcohol limit given you didn't make a giant starter or aerate like crazy.

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Really, my calculations even at 1.025 put it at 9.7%. I didn't use a starter, but I aerated the crap out of it.

Edcculus said:

WIth an OG that high, I'd time the fermentation in months, not days/weeks.

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It's going to be at least another 2 weeks in primary, not sure if I'll secondary, and then bottle conditioned.

I just picked up this yeast since the homebrew shop didn't have the Wyeast 3333 I was looking for. I'm curious how it's going to perform although since I just pitched it, there's not much I can do about it at this point. How is your imperial wheat tasting, or are you still trying to get it down?

explosivebeer said:

How is your imperial wheat tasting, or are you still trying to get it down?

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I ended up pitching champagne yeast in it on Dec 5th and it took about a week for it to show any attenuation. Now after 14 days it has dropped to 1.025 and is starting to taste pretty good. A lot of the sweetness that was there has gone away and the spice notes are coming out. It'll be in there for a few more days until I have an open keg and then I'll let it condition for a while.

Cool. If you're ever in Tacoma and want to get together to swap a few of these beers, let me know. I'd definitely like to try this one of yours.

Sure thing. I like to go hang out at the 7 Seas tasting room in Gig Harbor every other week or so. I'll let you know next time I'm headed down

Cool. I've been meaning to make it over there and check it out. I'll be out of town until New Year's but let's figure something out after that.