FG coming in high, ABV questions

[ChaosB]

Estimated Post Mash Gravity: 1.060
Actual Post Mash Gravity: 1.066

Est. OG: 1.084
Act. OG: 1.086

Est. FG: 1.010
Act. FG: 1.028

Est. ABV: 10%
Act. ABV: 7.6%

I really need to get better at measurements. I took the OG's without calibrating my refractometer with distilled water. I took OG at mashing temps without cooling but I read that shouldn't be an issue.

I didn't remember to take the FG until after I pressure transferred my beer to the keg. So I took the FG with the inch or so of cloudy beer I left on the cake. I discovered that besides my 3 piece thief being a piece of crap, it also isn't long enough to get down there so I dumped some into a measuring cup and tried to cold crash it over night.

I've read that suspended yeast and hop matter shouldn't affect gravity readings so I guess I have other problems.

With my hydrometer.. the ABV scale is suggesting 4.5%. This is based on a specific starting gravity? because I used the Brewers Friend ABV calculator and that's giving me 7.6%.

I also took the FG at cold crashing temp around 38 F. I attempted to use a temperature adjustment calculator but I think that was intended for higher temps rather than lower as it didn't adjust much.

So.. obviously tried a big beer for my first brew. Mistakes were made somewhere. Looking at yeast, Omega Yeast OYL-052 "Conan." I made a 2 L starter with 2 packages, utilizing a stir plate. Beer Smith indicated that I needed 316.5 Billion cells and that starter should have given me 463.8 Billion. I decanted and saved 100 ml of slurry for another brew day and pitched the rest which seemed like over half. I don't know if I under pitched because I have no idea how to estimate the number of cells in the slurry I took for yeast ranching. I was told underpitching Conan was desirable for the esters.

I aerated with an aquarium pump and air stone for 10 minutes.

Fermentation started quickly within 8 - 12 hours. I fermented around 62.8 F for the first 3 days and then raised temp to 68 F on the morning of day 4 when it seemed like fermentation had slowed and high krausen passed.

I now see that Omega lists temperature range for this yeast as 65 to 72 but I read and was given advice from multiple sources indicating that Conan should be fermented cool to avoid strong clove flavors.

I did my first dry hop additions on day 5 when fermentation appeared to be still active but nearing completion.

Fermentation appeared complete on the morning of day 8. From there I finished my drop hopping schedule and on day 12 started cold crashing and fining with gelatin.

As for mashing, I intended to mash at 148 F but ended up around 153 - 154 F for the majority of the 75 minute mash, conducting a 10 minute mash out at 168 F. I didn't think conversion was an issue as I was close, actually over with my measured OG, according to my uncalibrated refractometer.

70% pale malt, 15% Vienna, 3% crystal, 3% carapils, 7% Dextrose.

I don't know which of these things contributed the most to this result but I'm very not excited to drink this anymore. I expect it will be way too malty.

 

[Yooper]

When you took the FG, was it with the same refractometer? And did you correct for alcohol with the correction tool?

And, I guess a better question- how does it taste?

 

[ChaosB]

When you took the FG, was it with the same refractometer? And did you correct for alcohol with the correction tool?

And, I guess a better question- how does it taste?

I used a hydrometer for the FG.

I don't know yet. I've been force carbing at 50 PSI / 38 F for 8 hours, I was about to drop it to 12 PSI on the head space and put it in the kegerator when I decided to take the FG of the sample I cold crashed.

 

[BrewInspector]

Simply... Don't stress over the numbers.

First, those are all estimated goals based on many variables then you took readings with additional variables that calculators attempt to adjust for. None of this is perfect. If you take multiple readings at the same stage I suspect they too will differ.

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

I'm not familiar with that yeast although by the looks of it you're apparent attenuation was about 67%. The good news is the ABV is close to 7.5%. Lower attenuation no doubt is attributed to higher alcohol levels and higher mash temperatures.

The age of your yeast and how it was stored can adversely impact cell counts if not refrigerated. Which can introduce errors when calculating pitching rates. Lower packaged yeast cell counts lead to lower starter cell counts.

 

[ChaosB]

I'm not familiar with that yeast although by the looks of it you're apparent attenuation was about 67%. The good news is the ABV is close to 7.5%. Lower attenuation no doubt is attributed to higher alcohol levels and higher mash temperatures.

The age of your yeast and how it was stored can adversely impact cell counts if not refrigerated.

I chose the yeast partly because the alcohol tolerance is supposed to be 11%.

My recipe actually didn't include a suggested mash temp but I opted for the low end, attempting to end up with more fermentables. Now I'm concerned there will be too much malt flavor and body than I like in an IPA / DIPA.

The yeast should of been 65% viable based on age, they did make a long journey overseas and arrived not super cold but still noticeably below room temperature. I thought the starter would help, though maybe I ranched too much of it.

 

[ChaosB]

Fermentation started quickly within 8 - 12 hours. I fermented around 62.8 F for the first 3 days and then raised temp to 68 F on the morning of day 4 when it seemed like fermentation had slowed and high krausen passed.

I now see that Omega lists temperature range for this yeast as 65 to 72 but I read and was given advice from multiple sources indicating that Conan should be fermented cool to avoid strong clove flavors.

I'm still stuck thinking it was the fermentation temperature.

I guess my thought was that my mash temp was still within conversion range and I was close enough to my OG.

Unless I'm not understanding the relationship between gravity and fermentable / non-fermentable sugars. Why would we ever want to mash at the higher end of mash temp range if we're just increasing our OG with sugar but that sugar is not going to get turned into alcohol?

 

[ChaosB]

When you took the FG, was it with the same refractometer? And did you correct for alcohol with the correction tool?

And, I guess a better question- how does it taste?

I made beer. Honestly it tastes good but not amazing. It's neither super bitter or extremely fruity as I had expected. Kinda get some floral notes with some bitter, only a little fruit,on and definitely on the dry side which I did anticipate.

What's making me really curious is how intoxicated I feel. I'll be damned if this is 7.5%. It drinks like a 10% or more beer. I'm not sure if I should attempt to Degas a sample and take FG again, I feel like that's not it. I'm not sure how far off my OG could be without calibrating the refractometer. It's almost like my conversion was better than I thought and I ended up with a really high OG, had better attenuation than I thought and ended up with the big beer I anticipated with a different, higher FG. though that seems almost impossible considering I did a no Sparge with what I thought would be, and measured as a low efficiency. Granted I did recirculating mash, and my OG readings could be off. It's hard to imagine a refractometer being that far off out of the box. I guess I don't know much about the science behind it. Is this possible or am I just high on my own supply?

 

[ChaosB]

 

[Gnomebrewer]

With my hydrometer.. the ABV scale is suggesting 4.5%.

The ABV scale is for use as an OG measurement (i.e. an estimate of what your ABV will be with your OG measurement). I think it assumes 100% attenuation (but maybe not). It's quite useless for beer brewing, so ignore it.

 

[Yooper]

Without your refractometer being calibrated, it's anybody's guess what your OG was. And the FG isn't 4.5%- that shows you the Potential ABV left in the beer if it were to ferment out.
The formula (OG-FG) x 131 = ABV is a pretty rough estimate, but fairly close to get the ABV. Without actually knowing if your OG is correct, though, well, that makes it impossible to know.

 

[ChaosB]

Yeah. Today it tastes a bit sweeter and feels sticky. Leaving my lips feeling sticky. Guess there's some leftover sugars. I feel like it's less carbonated today as well and that's making a difference.

 

[robcj]

In my opinion, yeast is more resilient than it might sometimes appear in forums or in advice from others. I suspect your issue is more likely to be either one of measurement (your OG or FG are not what you think) or how you made your wort (grain bill or mash temperature) rather than yeast. When you miss your FG by that amount I'm inclined to think it's a mash temperature issue (possibly caused by measurement issues at that stage.)

 

[Comfort_Zone]

My guess is that you mashed higher than you thought you were. I wouldn't sweat it.

 

[ChaosB]

Yeah, I was still under mash temp after adding my strike water and I don't know why. I hit my Strike water temp and my grain / tun were actually warmer than I accounted for in beer Smith so I'm not sure why. Whatever the reason, I began ramping up the temp on my HERMs system and ended up mashing at higher temps than intended. That or I just used too much dextrose (7%). Next time I'll just ramp temp up slower and mash longer if necessary.