Alright, somewhat frustrated, need the gurus...

[MuddyCreek]

I'm having a FG problem. I seem to consistently reach a FG of around 1.020 to 1.012. It doesn't matter what wort, or yeast I use. It doesnt' matter if I go with hydrated dry yeast or liquid yeast with a starter incubated with my stir plate.

My house is kept at a pretty consistent 63 degrees, I ferment in my basement which stays very close to that temperature. It seems all my ales fail to ferment quite as far as I'd like them to. It doesn't matter if I leave them in the fermenter for 1 week, 2 weeks or 6 weeks. I almost always end up just a bit higher than I expect.

I don't underpitch. I check the yeast cell capability and ensure I am putting in enough regardless of whether I'm using liquid, reharvested or dry (rehydrated) yeast.

Is it me? Is it that the temperature is a bit too high, or low? (I know the fermenter tends to be a bit higher than ambient temp, maybe I just need to bite the bullet and build a fermenting chamber rig and temp control with an ac unit and a pid. Any suggestions are welcome. My beer turns out very well and I'm generally happy with it, I just find it irritating that it never quite hits what I expect for a FG.

Thank you in advance. Don't JUDGE ME! ; )

 

[passedpawn]

Your FG is only going to get to about 25% of your OG.

You never mention your OG, so it's impossible to say if there is really a problem or not.

 

[MuddyCreek]

Ya, the problem is, it doesn't really matter what my OG is. I have started at 1.060, 1.054, 1.070. I even had a 1.090 batch. Regardless I always seem to end up a bit higher than what I expect. I'm thinking it's just poor fermenter temp regulation.

For example, I currently have a 1.070 OG IPA that has sat for 11 days and now clocks in at about 1.012. That's fine. I'm not particularly unhappy but my calculators suggested I should get a bit lower than that. 1.010, 1.008... Maybe I'm just whining about something that's not that important. I don't know.

 

[nmber0nestunna]

all grain or extract? 1.012-1.015 is usually pretty acceptable depending on the style. if all grain i would ask what temp your mashing at. then i suggest checking your thermometer for accuracy. then your hydrometer/refrac. 63 is a little low for some yeasts but with no control it can easily ramp into the 70's which shouldnt cause under attenuation.

 

[PissyFingers]

i run into the same problem, the last thing i am about to try is aerating my wort with pure oxygen with a stainless stone. Do you aerate at all? It may just help the yeast eat up those last few points.

 

[rrumney]

I'm having a FG problem. I seem to consistently reach a FG of around 1.020 to 1.012. It doesn't matter what wort, or yeast I use. It doesnt' matter if I go with hydrated dry yeast or liquid yeast with a starter incubated with my stir plate.

My house is kept at a pretty consistent 63 degrees, I ferment in my basement which stays very close to that temperature. It seems all my ales fail to ferment quite as far as I'd like them to. It doesn't matter if I leave them in the fermenter for 1 week, 2 weeks or 6 weeks. I almost always end up just a bit higher than I expect.

I don't underpitch. I check the yeast cell capability and ensure I am putting in enough regardless of whether I'm using liquid, reharvested or dry (rehydrated) yeast.

Is it me? Is it that the temperature is a bit too high, or low? (I know the fermenter tends to be a bit higher than ambient temp, maybe I just need to bite the bullet and build a fermenting chamber rig and temp control with an ac unit and a pid. Any suggestions are welcome. My beer turns out very well and I'm generally happy with it, I just find it irritating that it never quite hits what I expect for a FG.

Thank you in advance. Don't JUDGE ME! ; )

Are you using a hydrometer, or a refractometer to check your final gravity?
If you are using a refractometer, then you need to correct the final gravity reading.

 

[RM-MN]

All grain or extract, as mentioned above, needs to be addressed. With extract you are at the mercy of whoever made the extract because they have chosen the mix of malts for you and the mash temperature and both of those limit the attenuation. If you are brewing all grain, you control the malts used and the mash temp. I've had a red ale whose final gravity was 1.002 because I used malts that had little unfermentable sugars and mashed at a lower temperature.

 

[kombat]

You said you finish between 1.020 and 1.012. You also listed a few of your starting gravities, ranging from 1.090 down to 1.054. Those are all still fairly high. Assuming your lower OG brews are also the ones getting down to the lower FG, I don't necessarily see a problem.

For example, if your lowest OG brew you mentioned (1.054) also happened to be the one that had the lowest finishing gravity you mentioned (1.012), that's 78% attenuation.

Logically, your higher OG beers are probably the ones ending higher, too. If your 1.090 brew got down to 1.020, that's still 78% attenuation.

You might be able to get it a little higher using some of the suggestions from other posters in this thread (mash lower, minimize unfermentables in the grist, avoid extract, choose higher-attenuating yeasts), but in general, I think what you're experiencing is perfectly normal.

 

[MuddyCreek]

Well that makes me feel better. I have been brewing all-grain for about a year. I use a hydrometer on both the front and back end of the fermentation process. While I was aerating with the old fish-aerator when I was using reharvested yeast I haven't been doing that with the hydrated dry yeasts since it isn't as necessary. As for mash, my various recipes range from around 146 to 155 for mash temps. I always mash out at 175 with a single or double batch sparge depending on grain bill and how much space I have in my MLT (which is admittedly just a bit small, 7 gallon cooler.)

If 75% to 78% is a good level then I really am right in that ballpark across the board. It's just whenever I build a recipe using brewers friend or other online recipe tools the final OG indicated is almost always (No, as I think of it is is always) lower than what I come up with. That's what has really been the cause for my unrest.

By the way, thanks everyone for the input and suggestions. I do appreciate it.

 

[dpatrickv]

Well that makes me feel better. I have been brewing all-grain for about a year. I use a hydrometer on both the front and back end of the fermentation process. While I was aerating with the old fish-aerator when I was using reharvested yeast I haven't been doing that with the hydrated dry yeasts since it isn't as necessary. As for mash, my various recipes range from around 146 to 155 for mash temps. I always mash out at 175 with a single or double batch sparge depending on grain bill and how much space I have in my MLT (which is admittedly just a bit small, 7 gallon cooler.)

If 75% to 78% is a good level then I really am right in that ballpark across the board. It's just whenever I build a recipe using brewers friend or other online recipe tools the final OG indicated is almost always (No, as I think of it is is always) lower than what I come up with. That's what has really been the cause for my unrest.

By the way, thanks everyone for the input and suggestions. I do appreciate it.

How spot on are you with your OG though? If you are a bit higher on your OG then you will probably be high on your FG and vice versa.

I tend to look at attenuation and not necc final gravity. If Im a few points high but it still attenuated 75-85% then I don't care.

 

[Hopper5000]

What I am wondering is what your complaint actually is. Are you wanting to get your FG's lower than that? Do you make your own recipe's? If you have a certain style or types of grains that you use all the time then that would be why you aren't getting down a bit lower. Do you know if you thermometer is calibrated correctly? Sometimes that can cause issues if your not hitting you right temps. If you want your beers to finish a bit lower you could also try to putting in 5 to 10% corn sugar substituted in for some grain because that's 100% fermentable. That will tend to dry your beers out a bit more though.

 

[MuddyCreek]

Hopper, I do my own recipes, although they aren't particularly creative. I have checked the thermometer and hyrdometer, they seem to be calibrated fine.

As I mentioned earlier, my beer generally turns out anywhere from very well to excellent. If in fact, 75 - 78% atten is a good target, I'm doing fine and my concerns are unwarranted.

 

[daksin]

Really numbers are just there as guidelines, the only important thing is if you feel you're getting the correct amount of residual sweetness, mouthfeel, and balance of your beers. If you're brewing all grain, it's easy to adjust the fermentability of your wort in either direction to achieve the result you want.

 

[grathan]

How much do your term temps swing?
How long do you ferment?

Post up a specific recipe with your numbers.