1.052 to 1.004 - is it possible and why?

[StarCityBrewMaster]

I used Notty dry yeast and started with a beer that measured 1.052. Today I bottled and the FG was 1.004! If I'm not mistaken that's almost water. The ABV measures 6.4% if this is accurate but it just seems really low?

 

[boo boo]

Depends on the type of sugar you fermented. A recipe would help.
Simple sugars would almost completly ferment, while more complex sugars like that in most wort would only ferment down so far.

 

[nebben]

It isn't exactly water, just that the ethanol has a different density than the sugars.

 

[SKMO]

IF you have calibrated your hydrometer, and IF you took reading at correct temps, it is what it is.

004 is certainly possible, only YOU know how accurate these numbers are. Depends on exact yeast, and temps, and how accurate your readings were.

 

[a10t2]

Nottingham is a strong fermenter, and you're at ~75% attenuation, which is definitely possible. Like everyone else said, it depends on the recipe.

 

[PorterIdontknowher]

It isn't almost water, it is almost the density of water... remember that the density of ethanol is about 0.79 so if it was just 6% ethanol and 94% water, the density would be 0.987. There's still another 5 or 6 grams/ml of "stuff" in there. Some dry wines, ciders and meads finish below 1.0... if you had a lot of simple sugars in there, it wouldn't be really that unexpected...

 

[jmf143]

1.052 to 1.004 is 92% attenuation. Wow!!

 

[PorterIdontknowher]

1.052 to 1.004 is 92% attenuation. Wow!!

Whether that is amazing or not depends entirely on the recipe. 8 lbs of 2 row and 1 pound of crystal and that's moderately remarkable. 7 lbs of 2 row, a half pound of crystal, and a pound and a half of candi sugar, and its less notable. The recipe is what matters...

 

[davesrose]

Whether that is amazing or not depends entirely on the recipe. 8 lbs of 2 row and 1 pound of crystal and that's moderately remarkable. 7 lbs of 2 row, a half pound of crystal, and a pound and a half of candi sugar, and its less notable. The recipe is what matters...

Even with that hypothetical recipe, you'd still be expecting a final gravity of around 1.010. I'm thinking we'd need more then just the recipe, but the whole procedure. Most of the concern would be how this beer tastes now. If it tastes good, then chances are there might be some errors in reading the gravity readings. If it tastes bad, I'm expecting that there were some extra critters in there...

 

[PorterIdontknowher]

Even with that hypothetical recipe, you'd still be expecting a final gravity of around 1.010. I'm thinking we'd need more then just the recipe, but the whole procedure. Most of the concern would be how this beer tastes now. If it tastes good, then chances are there might be some errors in reading the gravity readings. If it tastes bad, I'm expecting that there were some extra critters in there...

I went from 1.040 to 1.004 on a partial mash Koelsch with 4 pounds of pilsen LME, 3 pounds of pilsener malt and 1 pound of Vienna... that's 90% attenuation without adding any pure sugars...

 

[davesrose]

I went from 1.040 to 1.004 on a partial mash Koelsch with 4 pounds of pilsen LME, 3 pounds of pilsener malt and 1 pound of Vienna... that's 90% attenuation without adding any pure sugars...

I'm still skeptical of any beer finishing at 1.004, because beer has so many unfermentable compounds: beer is not like wine, which can get below 1.00 because most of its sugars are fermentable. In your example, you got 48% extraction, yet 89% attenuation? That's beyond even the most super yeast. My highest extractions and attenuations tend to gravitate towards 80%

 

[StarCityBrewMaster]

My recipe was 10.5lbs of pale malt and 4oz of crystal 80. The reading was at 64 degrees so it's actually 1.0044.

I don't know how accurate it is I just know I've never had one attenuate this low and it surprised me enough to write about it!

 

[PorterIdontknowher]

I'm still skeptical of any beer finishing at 1.004, because beer has so many unfermentable compounds: beer is not like wine, which can get below 1.00 because most of its sugars are fermentable.

But the BJCP standards for a Saison are 1.002-1.012... Light American Lager is .998-1.008... American Lager is 1.004-1.010...

Koelsch is 1.007-1.011, but I missed the OG of 1.044-1.050 because I didn't boil off as much as I thought I would and my mash was at 148...

So I didn't make a perfect Koelsch... but I made a darn tasty session beer that ended at 1.004...

 

[davesrose]

But the BJCP standards for a Saison are 1.002-1.012... Light American Lager is .998-1.008... American Lager is 1.004-1.010...

Koelsch is 1.007-1.011, but I missed the OG of 1.044-1.050 because I didn't boil off as much as I thought I would and my mash was at 148...

So I didn't make a perfect Koelsch... but I made a darn tasty session beer that ended at 1.004...

And for all grain, your efficiency is 66%, yet your attenuation is 92%...who knows what your methods were for all grain, and you somehow had some super yeast. The standards for a Kolsch are what you state.

 

[PorterIdontknowher]

My recipe was 10.5lbs of pale malt and 4oz of crystal 80. The reading was at 64 degrees so it's actually 1.0044.

I don't know how accurate it is I just know I've never had one attenuate this low and it surprised me enough to write about it!

Understood... if you haven't had a beer go this low, it would be surprising. Especially if your normal brews have a lot more specialty malts involved...

If I had to guess, mash in the 146-150 range?

 

[Frodo]

My recipe was 10.5lbs of pale malt and 4oz of crystal 80. The reading was at 64 degrees so it's actually 1.0044.

I don't know how accurate it is I just know I've never had one attenuate this low and it surprised me enough to write about it!

Your original question included a "why"? First, you used primarily base malt and a very low amount of specialty grain, and 2) I'm guessing your mash temp was below 150F. Regardless 1.004 is low, but I don't think it's "crazy low".

 

[PorterIdontknowher]

And for all grain, your efficiency is 66%, yet your attenuation is 92%...who knows what your methods were for all grain, and you somehow had some super yeast. The standards for a Kolsch are what you state.

How are you calculating efficiency of 66% when you don't know what the volume of the wort was?

In my case, the efficiency did stink... but 90 min single infusion mash at 148 for 90 min and a single batch sparge... so I could have done a second batch sparge and gotten higher efficiency, but it doesn't matter. The sugars I did pull out were well converted into a highly fermentable wort. Not magical yeast... just WLP029...

Yes, I should have done a second sparge... the scare stories of tannin extraction kept me in line... the next PM brew I did I did a second sparge and kept those runnings segregated until I could determine that the SG was over 1.010...

 

[davesrose]

How are you calculating efficiency of 66% when you don't know what the volume of the wort was?

This is a homebrew forum, and effenciency would suck even more then 66% if it wasn't at least 5 gallons....


I'm just using basic science here...all my batches have fallen in line with the regular effiency and attenuation rules that respected brewers have set forth...no matter what ABV they are.

 

[PorterIdontknowher]

This is a homebrew forum, and effenciency would suck even more then 66% if it wasn't 5 gallons....


I'm just using basic science here...all my batches have fallen in line with the regular effiency and attenuation rules that respected brewers have set forth...

Unless of course, as I said earlier... I didn't have as much boil off as I expected and I ended up with 5.5 gallons in my 6 gallon carboy...

In that case, it doesn't suck as much...

 

[stevedasleeve]

Too many numbers. Numbers don't make beer or even indicate much about it. Take too much stock in them and you end up like the weeny geeky idiot savant brewers who make sh!te beers they think are great because their efficiency is >80%. Everyone else doesn't give a f0ck beyond how it tastes. How does it taste?

 

[davesrose]

Unless of course, as I said earlier... I didn't have as much boil off as I expected and I ended up with 5.5 gallons in my 6 gallon carboy...

In that case, it doesn't suck as much...

Then in your example, that's 63% efficiency and 91% attenuation with 5.5 gallons....

As for the other topic of mash temperature: it's true you'd get more attenuation the more you get simple sugars...but I have never seen a low effiency batch get a high attenuation (as effiency measures the amount of sugar extraction: not what kind of sugar is extracted).