Acceptable range of error for FG?

[pilafdm]

Hi folks!

Minor concern, here.

I recently brewed a hefe. I'm going for banana flavors and such, so I decided to underpitch my weihenstephan yeast slightly as I'd read that doing so will increase fruity esters. Also, I wasn't able to do a great job of controlling temperature and it may have fermented a bit cold.

It's been in the primary fermenter for 8 days now, and all obvious signs of fermentation have stopped.

I took an FG reading tonight and it's a little off. I'm wondering whether it's off enough that I should take action?

The PREDICTED values were:
1.052 OG
1.013 FG

Instead, what I got was:
1.050 OG
1.016 FG

Odd, right?
Considering my OG was already .002 lower than expected, I didn't expect my FG to be .003 higher than expected. My ABV is 0.7% less than predicted.

So, the question:
Should I do something to encourage more fermentation?
Or will that degree in variance in the numbers not really matter all that much? I mean, is this going to be "totally not a hefe" or a big disaster? (Wort tasted okay...)

Thanks!

Cheers,
Phil

 

[nicklepickles]

Its only been 8 days? Id give it a week at least more before doing anything else.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

+/- 0.003 is very good. 8 days is plenty for the style. Check again in 3 days. If the reading is the same, and you're happy with the flocculation, bottle away. Don't try to dry it out any further (by any method other than time), you'll likely be disappointed.

 

[helibrewer]

The predicted attenuation is 75%, you are at 68%. The yeast should give you 73-77 so nicklepickles advice is good advice....especially if you are on the cooler side.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I edited my post - I meant don't use enzymes or other crazy stuck fermentation solutions. I like to serve hefeweizen very young, hence my advice about bottling relatively quickly after achieving a stable FG.

 

[pilafdm]

Wow, such fast responses! Thank you!

So, if I'm hearing you all right, basically the error is not _that_ bad and I shouldn't do anything crazy like add more yeast or nutrients or anything.

I was planning to throw some banana extract in and let that do its thing a few days. Does that sound feasible or will I screw something up? Should I just add that at bottling instead? (I'm stuck on having big banana flavor for better or for worse!

 

[helibrewer]

Wait until bottling so you can trial it to prevent over doing it.

 

[billl]

Definitely leave it alone and confirm that you have reached your FG. However, don't be surprised if your yeast underattenuate. You purposely underpitched, so you should expect to be on the low range for attenuation.

If you are on the cool side, I'd raise the temp to the high end of your yeast range, give it a swirl, and see if you can drive another point or 2 off.