98% attenuation?!

[Adamkav]

I have read everything I can find on this topic, but no conclusion yet.. so here it is..

My last few brews have been fermenting very dry 1.004 ish
I brew allgrain, ferment in temp controlled chest freezer with thermometer probe taped to side of glass carboy. I just bought a new mash tun, and new silicone tubing. The glass carboy I soaked full of pbw water for about 48h

I brewed a West Coast Ipa a couple weeks ago and got 1.001 fg 1.052 og (98%)
Escarpment labs cali yeast, pitched from starter. Mash temp 152 and made sure to recirculation this time!
Batch sparge with 170F sparge water
Fermented at 62 and allowed to rise to about 68, diacetyl rest after krousen dropped at 72F. Soft crashed to 58 and dry hopped for 2 days.
My two theories and questions if they seem valid..
1. I'm not doing a mashout and this continues to make fermentable sugars.. 98% though??

2. I'm using a Ss brewtech kettle with a little dip tube and trub trap (couple inches of silicone peice) despite this I can't seem to get the whirlpool to isolate trub in the centre.. so I end up putting everything in my fermenter... could this contribute some sort of hop creep pre fermentation??

Thanks for reading!

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

Refractometer or hydrometer?

 

[dmtaylor]

Have you brewed a saison or other Belgian style recently? Likely contamination by diastaticus variant yeast from a previous batch.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Refractometers typically push the FG high, not low.

I've never done a mash out and neither have I ever had a beer go to 1001-004.

Plenty of brewers here pour the whole shebang from the kettle into the fermenter. Again, I don't think any have seen 1001-004 on a beer.

Unless it's infected. Have you used any STA1+ yeasts lately? Saisons, some Belgians, etc? How long do the beers take to get down that low?

 

[mashdar]

If hydrometer, have you tested it in water to check calibration? edit: Sometimes the slip of paper in the hydrometer is not perfectly placed. Water should be 1.000

 

[AlexKay]

On the off chance it's a Tilt, you can't trust the exact measurement once fermentation starts and yeast sludge starts to build up on the housing.

 

[Adamkav]

Wow thanks for all the quick replies!
I'm using a hydrometer (will check with RO water tomorrow) but pretty sure it's accurate.
I brewed a saison a couple years ago, but again, I cleaned the crap out of the glass carboy.
Took about 7 days or so to Ferment the Ipa..
They don't seems to infected either, most of the brews taste good (other than a couple tasting fusel/solventy see my "off flavor after kegging?" Post)

 

[mashdar]

Hmm. Gravity readings are pre-packaging?

Do you soak your carboy in cleaner after batches? How do you transfer to carboy? Is there anywhere something could be hiding? (Have you disassembled & soaked valves, hoses, clamps in cleaner?)

I'm grasping at straws, so apologies if this retreads old ground.

 

[Adamkav]

Hmm. Gravity readings are pre-packaging?

Do you soak your carboy in cleaner after batches? How do you transfer to carboy? Is there anywhere something could be hiding? (Have you disassembled & soaked valves, hoses, clamps in cleaner?)

I'm grasping at straws, so apologies if this retreads old ground.

Yes gravity readings are pre packaging. I sometimes soak carboy after, but havn't always. This last one I soaked before and visually inspected for anomalies. Also its likely a different carboy anyways ( I have about 6)
Transfer to carboy via silicon tube(new)
I then oxygenate with an air pump, in line air filter and aquarium stone all first soaked in sanitizer of course.... is this the culprit??
To keg: I do closed transfer with co2, carboy cap, racking cane, and tubing (new)

The only thing that haven't disassembled is the brew kettle valve...but still pbw soak and pipe cleaner brush.

 

[mashdar]

Yes gravity readings are pre packaging. I sometimes soak carboy after, but havn't always. This last one I soaked before and visually inspected for anomalies. Also its likely a different carboy anyways ( I have about 6)
Transfer to carboy via silicon tube(new)
I then oxygenate with an air pump, in line air filter and aquarium stone all first soaked in sanitizer of course.... is this the culprit??
To keg: I do closed transfer with co2, carboy cap, racking cane, and tubing (new)

The only thing that haven't disassembled is the brew kettle valve...but still pbw soak and pipe cleaner brush.

There's a chance it's the kettle valve; they can accumulate some gunk on hidden surfaces, and the outside may not be heating up enough to sanitize if you're not recirculating hot water/wort. You could cover it with something during boil to let it heat up more. A dish towel works well if safe from flames, but some loose aluminum foil would trap heat too.

Probably not that, but worth a try?

 

[beren]

I have a fruited wheat beer with harvested allagash used the card down to 1.004. Tasty sucker.

 

[Drewch]

Shot in the dark, but have you checked mash temp with a second thermometer? Maybe you're mashing lower than your think

 

[Adamkav]

So I just checked my hydrometer in RO water and after temp correction it reads 0.998 so that means my actual FG on the IPA is 1.003.. still too dry.
Good call with the mash thermometer! However I have checked this against my inkbird thermometer and they are the same.. I suppose they could both be out!

I'll disassemble my kettle valve for next time to be sure. I'll maybe try another thermometer for reference as well..