Over attenuation - I think i may be on to something. Diagnosis and solution?

I have not had any problems at all, even with some of my light lagers. One of my regular recipes calls for first wort hopping and suggests keeping the run off at about 170F until it is finished, then to ramp up for the boil as usual. I never bring it to a boil until the sparge is finished, although with non FWH beers I go ahead and heat it towards boiling as I am sparging. No excessive caramelizing either way that I can detect. I say excessive as I am sure there is some darkening of the wort when boiling no matter what. I think some degree of caramelization is unavoidable and even desirable in many styles.

 

Interesting....

I have never had a beer finish below 1.011, with 1.014-1.017 or so being pretty average for around a 5% beer. Everything I use is calibrated, and I have always mashed out (both with fly and batch sparging). I normally mash around 152°, but haven't really seen a huge difference between mashing at 149° and 158° as far as attenuation.

 

You only have to raise the temp to above 168 and if you do that in a mash out, you won't have to worry about starting early.

Bull

 

This thread is fantastic! I have had the same problems with my AG beers for quite some time and I can't wait to see if adding a mash out helps my cause.

Thanks for all the great info HBTers!

 

This thread is fantastic! I have had the same problems with my AG beers for quite some time and I can't wait to see if adding a mash out helps my cause.

Thanks for all the great info HBTers!