Max fermentabilty of all-grain wort?

[Learning2Br3w]

I have found a few recipes i want to try out that claim an attenuation of 87%. The recipes include adding Belgian Candi Syrup which i would assume would increase the overall fermentability by a couple of % of the entire wort. Anyways, anyone know of any info that shows percentage of fermentabilty of all grain wort under near perfect circumstances or what the average person can expect?

 

[discooby]

Welcome to home brew talk! Your attenuation is based on the type of yeast you use and the conditions of fermentation.

 

[Learning2Br3w]

Thanks for the welcome. As far as attenuation goes and yeast, doesnt the attenuation also correspond to the percentage of fermentables? For example, i am new to all-grain but based on the info i have found on extracts, they are roughly 75% fermentable at best. given that, wouldnt the max attenuation be 75% since that is the max amount of fermentable sugars?

 

[smashed4]

I think that is a very good question.

If you have ideal mashing and fermentation conditions.. plus appropriate yeast strain.. I think you can get 90% AA..

Think belgian saison.. many are all grain no adjunct and reach very near 90%.

 

[Learning2Br3w]

I think that is a very good question.

If you have ideal mashing and fermentation conditions.. plus appropriate yeast strain.. I think you can get 90% AA..

Think belgian saison.. many are all grain no adjunct and reach very near 90%.

Nice, thank you very much. Reason i am asking is a friend of mine is an extract brewer and wanted a rough all-grain to extract translation of a westvleteran 12 recipe on one of the candi syrup sites but i was concerned about him being able to hit the 87% AA with just the candi syrup and LME without adding another adjunct. Guess i should convince him to get together and do it the way the recipe was designed with all-grain

 

[JLem]

Thanks for the welcome. As far as attenuation goes and yeast, doesnt the attenuation also correspond to the percentage of fermentables? For example, i am new to all-grain but based on the info i have found on extracts, they are roughly 75% fermentable at best. given that, wouldnt the max attenuation be 75% since that is the max amount of fermentable sugars?

The fermentability of wort is determined by the mash temperature. Lower temp, say 148F, more fermentable. Higher temp, say 158F, less fermentable. Extracts tend to be less fermentable than all grain wort - though it will depend on what mash temp was used (unknown for most/all commercial extracts). There may also be something about the process for making the extract. Grist will also play a role - crystal malts will add more unfermentables than a base 2-row.

As already mentioned, your attenuation will also depend on the yeast strain. Different strains are better at fermenting the various sugars.

It is indeed possible to hit 87% attenuation. I recently brewed a tripel that had 88% attenuation. I mashed low, added some simple sugar, and used a highly attenuative Belgian yeast. I suppose an 'average' beer might only get 70-75% attenuation.

 

[Learning2Br3w]

and used a highly attenuative Belgian yeast..

By chance was it WLP530 or WY3787?

 

[JLem]

By chance was it WLP530 or WY3787?

Nope - I used wlp500. Most Belgian/abbey yeasts attenuate well though.

 

[Learning2Br3w]

Alright. Thanks everyone for your info and advice on weeding out some variables i was concerned about.

 

[TyTanium]

Here is some awesome reading on attenuation from one of our members:

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Understanding_Attenuation

 

[Breweralex]

A lot of microbreweries will perform what's called a "forced wort test" where a small amount (1-2 liters) of wort is set aside before adding yeast, then a gravity reading is taken, yeast is pitched, and fermentation proceeds at much higher temps than normal. Although this will create a beer that will taste awful, it is used to show you how fermentable your wort can be under the best conditions for your yeast. A final gravity reading is taken in a couple days to use as a comparison to your full size batch.

 

[red96jeep]

attenuation is usually taken as a percentage measure of how much sugar the yeast can metabolize. Common american ale yeast strains can attenuate anywhere from 60-80 percent of sugars. Some yeasts are higher, some lower. All yeasts are different and their performance depends on many factors revolving around the health of the fermentation(temps, oxygen, digestibles, etc.). To determine the actual amount of sugar that will be in solution is a measurement called efficiency. This can be mash efficiency (sugars pre boil) and brew house efficiency (sugars post boil). Each of which is dependent on a number of factors such as mash pH, mash temp, water chem, and boil off.

There are a number of beer programs out there (you can find most of them around the forums) that given your grain bill, batch size, and boil off will tell you what you should expect for a sugar reading pre-frementation, use your yeast's estimated attenuation to see how much you will ferment out and that will give you an idea of ABV and residual sugars.