Super Attenuation

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rambler

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Well it seems that every time i get one brewing mystery figured out i run into another.

In the past i have had an occasional beer go past its FG and never paid it much mind. In my last three beers I have had some crazy attenuation though. I didnt pay much thought to it until today.

I harvested some WLP002 from my last batch and immediately put it in the fridge. It was 66 deg. when i put it in the fridge and the beer was sitting at 1.014. Today i sampled some of the beer from the keg, which went into the fridge at the same time. I'm letting a sample warm up now and will check the gravity. I tasted some and it tastes like nothing. I decided to pull some of the beer from the harvested yeast to see if it had the same blandness and it exploded as soon as i opened it, which suggests that it continued to ferment even after refrigerated. I dont see how thats possible because the fridge is 34 degrees. As far as i know even lager yeast wont ferment at that low of a temp.

I aslo checked my Steam Beer this morning and it is way below it's FG too. I mashed at 154 for 60 mins and have fermented at a steady 64 degrees. It has fermented for 10 days now and has gone from 1.051 to 1.006, and yes i adjusted for temp.

Both of these beers are too dry to be enjoyable for such a beer snob as myself, and i know how to remedy it with maltose, but i would like to find out why they are fermenting so low.

Any ideas?:drunk:
 
It is impossible to answer questions on attenuation without knowing your process or recipe.

As for the exploding yeast in the fridge. Was the lid of the jar depressed or bulging? (was there low pressure or high pressure?) if the pressure was significantly lower than the pressure outside and it was filled to the brim with liquid, I could see it "exploding" to a certain degree as air rushes in.
 
Here is the recipe breakdown
9# 2 row
1# 80 L
.30# roasted barley
.25# peat
.75 oz centennial
wlp002

mashed at 154 for 60 mins. Fly sparged until 7.5 gallons of wort collected. Boiled 1 hour and cooled to 76 degrees. Pitched 1 tube wlp002 and fermentation started in about 8 hours at 1.055

This beer fermented exteremely quickly. It was at 64 dregrees for 5 days and was stabilized and clear at 1.014 when i racked/cold crashed.

And when i say exploded i mean EXPLODED. It went everywhere. The top of the jar was bulging enought to make me concerned about opening it.

Yooper, i read in another thread that you had an overattuation problem at one point also. I gathered some good info from that thread and will try the ideas. You said it could possibly be an infection though. I have a meticulous sanitizing regimen and even completely stripped, sanitized and calibrated everything the day before i brewed. Both fermenters were full of starsan until about 1 hour before being filled.
I wondered if it was wild yeast, but everything i read says that wild yeast will actually cause underattenuation. I had a wild yeast once in the distant past and havent had the problem since i changed my sanitizing routine.

Helpful?
 
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