92% Attenuation Possible?

[Grim_Ale]

Hey guys, so I am fermenting batch number 2 and today is the 2 week mark. I took a hydrometer sample and was quite surprised.

My OG was 1.084 and my CG is 1.006. I put these numbers into the brewers friend calculator and got over 90% attenuation.

I used WLP099 and posted about how bad the sulfur smell was and although that is faded, it still has a slightly off putting aroma. It does taste like straight rocket fuel though. Obviously this fermented at too high a temperature I guess? House stays at 68 was out of town first 3 days of fermentation. Came back and put it in a controlled temperature at 66 degrees for the remainder.

Obviously I need to let this age for a while but will this even carbonate in a bottle at almost 11% ABV? Also, I need to dry hop, will racking into a secondary getting it off the yeast cake help tone down the sulfur at all? Beer tastes ok but the smell isn't the best.

 

[ColoHox]

Sure, that attenuation is possible (you proved it), especially at that temperature. At 68F ambient, your fermenter might have climbed to near 80F, which is not ideal, especially in the first 3 days of fermentation.

A beer like this will take a long time to condition correctly, but I'm sure you know that. If you do not add additional yeast for bottle conditioning, it will probably still carbonate but it will take a long time, months probably. Adding conditioning yeast with your priming sugar is easy and nearly guarantees successful carbonation.

How long has it been in primary? The sulfur will blow off, but don't bottle before it does. This beer would benefit from a long bulk age period.

 

[ArkotRamathorn]

Didn't catch what yeast you were using, but its entirely possible. Sometimes the little buggers just go berserk :rockin:. Not to rain on your parade I would double check what temp your hydrometer is calibrated to, mine reads 1.000 at about 66F.

I haven't check my 1.095 Belgian Dark Strong Ale in 2 weeks since I moved it to secondary but before I moved it I got a reading of 1.012-14 (my eyesight aint the best). I think that puts me around 85-87% attenuation, used wyeast 1388 which says average attenuation is 74-78% on their website so its entirely possible you had a really healthy bunch. (I have a feeling after watching it in the carboy for a couple minutes I was getting a couple little bubbles every 40 seconds to a minute so it was still going after transfer, probably will only knock off 2, maybe 3 points but its still entirely possible).

 

[dcp27]

that attenuation is totally reasonable with 099, its a beast. also zero worries on carbing up @11%, that yeast has a tolerance over 20%. i'd give it at least a few more weeks before dry hopping to let it fade more and preferably not til the week or 2 before u intend to bottle

 

[marvaden]

I assume that you used the WLP099 here. Yes, that one should be able to rip right through the 1.084 wort's sugars with ease. Was this an all-grain or an extract brew? I have found with extract brews that I was getting over-attenuation or at least on the upper bounds of what the yeast companies were saying is the strains' normal attenuation.

 

[Grim_Ale]

Yeah it was WLP099, I mentioned it in my post.

I know it'll take forever to carb which is fine but I guess next time I'll start my ferm off much lower.

I am using a speidel fermenter so it's plastic. Do you think I should rack it into a 5 gal glass carboy n let it sit for a while then dry hop?

 

[marvaden]

I don't think you will have problems with carbonation. I have. You used a pretty strong yeast, so 11% should not hinder it at all, like dcp27 said.

 

[Grim_Ale]

So I still need to know if I should rack out of my Speidel plastic fermenter into my glass secondary.

If so how long would you let it sit before dry hopping? I know this will need to age but I will have to dry hop before bottling. This Saturday will be 3 weeks and I know the fermentation is done.

 

[marvaden]

Since you are dry hopping, I would go ahead and just do that now or at your convenience. Being on the yeast cake for a little extra time doesn't hurt, but I would just rack onto the hops and then leave it there for a few days to a week prior to bottling.