First Time Brewer's Attenuation Questions

Hi All

First off - you all are outstanding. I dont think that I have had to wait for more than 1-2 minutes for answers to any of my questions since I have become a member. An EXCELLENT community.

Here are my questions.

(1) My first beer was an American Amber Ale from NB. It had an expected OG of 1.047 and I came in at 1.053. The FG ended up at 1.013 which gives an attenuation of 77%. Is 77% good/bad/average? Any comments on the fact that my OG was a little high?

(2) My second was a Brown Ale that had an OG of 1.061 and after 9 days and the kraussen settling the gravity is now at 1.017 which puts it currently at 72%. This is the first hydrometer reading I have taken since racking to primary so am not sure if it is done... I will check again in a couple days. But I guess it is not a big deal since I am just going to let it sit in primary and not go with a secondary this time after reading some on the subject.

So I guess what I am looking for is some feedback on attenuation of my two beers and any comments etc.

Thanks

JASON

Most yeast attenuate in the mid 70's. Your best bet is to look up the specific yeast's profile from the manufacturer.

It depends on the recipe as well. The more crystal malts, dark extract, and the like, the less it will come down. It's a concern if you get poor attenuation, but you seem to be okay. Don't think that higher attenuation necessarily means better beer.

Yep, depends on yeast, recipe, process. Both of those are probably fine.

1) When someone misses the OG mark on a kit beer it is almost assuredly due to improper mixing. Which is no big deal since the yeast will mix everything as its fermenting. This is especially likely in your case considering that you hit the FG nearly dead on. So most likely your real OG was not 1.053, but was more like 1.047 where it was supposed to be. The only real way to be off that far in a kit brew would be to drastically alter the amount of water or malt.

Process, recipe, yada yada... 70-75% attenution is always good unless you are making something really off the wall or are brewing outside of norms.