Laaglander Dry Malt Extract question

I used this for my stout because I wanted a lot of body in it.

I know that this is higher in dextrins, and I sacrifice alcohol for the body, but the gravity of that stout last night at bottling time still seemed a bit too high. (This is one of the rare cases where I actually used my hydrometer because I was curious as to how the Laaglander was going to behave.)

Has anyone ever done a brew using ONLY Laaglander extract? If so, do you happen to know what your starting and finishing gravities were.

-walker

PS: my hatred of hydrometers has intensified. I broke the damn thing this morning when I was putting everything away. I now have no hydrometer in my equipment box, and I feel very liberated. The damn things only make me worry, so... GOOD RIDDANCE!

The only extract I've used so far was Muntons, but the gravity difference shouldn't be much (if any) from other extracts. How off are we talking?

LupusUmbrus said:

The only extract I've used so far was Muntons, but the gravity difference shouldn't be much (if any) from other extracts. How off are we talking?

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Laaglander is (supposedly) much higher in dextrins than most other brands, so I expect it will be significantly different than Muntons or some other arbitrary 'regular' brand.

The stout started at 1.077 and finished at 1.032. For an Imperial stout style, this is pretty much within the proper range (start at 1.075 to 1.090, and finish at 1.020 to 1.030), but I was expecting something in the mid 1.020's and not above 1.030. It sure tasted sweet at bottling time and was crazy sticky.

-walker

Woops, I misread the initial post. I thought you meant that your OG was too high.

Your FG looks about right for Laaglander. I can't say where it was, but I've read that Laaglander is only 55-60% fermentable.

Check this out to see just how much less fermentable laaglander is compared to Munton's.

-walker

LupusUmbrus said:

Woops, I misread the initial post. I thought you meant that your OG was too high.

Your FG looks about right for Laaglander. I can't say where it was, but I've read that Laaglander is only 55-60% fermentable.

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Yeah.. I'm finally finding some info from online posts in other forums where the gravity ended up being off by about 10 points compared to 'normal' malt extracts.

Looks like I hit it right. I sure hope so, because if it decides to take off on a second fermentation, there are going to be a bunch of grenades in a big box in the house.

-walker

Sounds like a good time. Ill bring some homebrews and we can watch the fireworks.