High OG gravity has finished - should I go further?

[TexasGuy]

My blood orange beer using wheat DME has finished fermenting in the primary. I've come from a 1.078 SG and are currently at 1.016. This has taken 18 days.

My tilt says the gravity has not changed in two days. If I rack it to a secondary, and are patient a couple more weeks, could I expect the final gravity to go lower? Or should I consider this one done and keg it? Should I add something to it?

Thanks for your feedback.

 

[brownni5]

General recommendation is to not rack to secondary - the oxygen risks outweigh the minor benefits.

At 18 days and 78% apparent attenuation, odds are your extract batch isn't going any lower, but that's dependent upon the yeast strain you used. You're probably ready to package whenever you like.

 

[TexasGuy]

@brownni5 Thanks for the feedback...could you recommend strategies for getting to a lower final gravity in my next batch?

 

[brownni5]

What are you brewing (style)? What yeast are you using? Here are some options for a lower FG:
1. Start with a lower OG - 78% is pretty high for most ale yeasts, outside of Saison and other diastatic strains. Maybe Omega Gulo ale? It was developed for brut IPAs.
2. Add glucoamylase enzyme - also popular with brut IPAs - I've never used it, so I don't have any further recommendations.
3. Go all-grain. Tough to manipulate fermentability with extracts.
4. RDWHAHB - what styles are you brewing? For a lot of things, 1.016 is not that high. Really, that FG is right in line with just about any style I can think of off hand outside of Saison, well, any style that would start at 1.078

 

[TexasGuy]

As far as style, I am not trying to mimic a style...although if I could decide on one as a start it would probably be easier. My goal is develop a very drinkable beer, with a little character, and I think some mouth feel. I would prefer to drink one 16-20oz beer with with a higher ABV, vs several beers with standard ABV.

My last beer was very good...I used a porter stout LME with light DME but no additions...not sure I let it finish fermenting...but I also had not done a starter before and didn't yet understand attenuation.

For this one I took the Blood Orange Wit recipe from the forum and added 3 more pounds of DME to up the OG. I'm on day 3 with no change on my Tilt, so I'll probably put it in the kegorator tonight to cold crash it, then transfer to a keg tomorrow...maybe if I can get out of bed early enough I can force carb it and have it ready for the game...

Unfortunately, all grain will need to come next year...I am still carving our space for the existing equipment, and my wife is tired of tripping over what I've got...