Apa final gravity

[Brizzo]

I Made the Sierra madre ale, Sierra Nevada clone, using the extract kit with grains. I used the super san diego yeast instead of the chico strain (local homebrew shop told me it was the same but I found out later it is different)

the recipe is as follows:

5 GALLON EXTRACT W/SPECIALTY GRAINS

.5 lbs Briess Caramel 60
6.6 lbs Briess "Gold" LME
14oz Light DME
1 oz Chinook @60
1oz Perle @20
2oz Cascade @0

Dry hopped with 1 3/4 oz Cascade plugs

I used a 1 qt starter of the White Labs Super San Diego yeast.

I did a full wort boil of 6 gallons of water, after my boil I was left with 5 gallons of wort, i cooled it using an immersion chiller to 76 degrees and pitched the yeast starter. The yeast took off immediately and it fermented in primary for 12 days between 64 and 68 F. I transferred into the secondary and dry hopped with cascade hop plugs for 11 days before bottling.

My final gravity reading was 1.018- after a week of carbonation the beer tasted really good, a little malty up front with a hop bite at the end. Now about 4 weeks after bottling the flavor tastes much more harsh- still drinkable but it doesn't taste as good as it did the first week.

I am wondering if I didn't let it ferment or condition long enough? Does my final gravity seem too high for this style of beer?

I have also heard a lot about LME giving beer a distinct "off" taste and I am wondering maybe the LME is contributing to this harshness.

 

[Brizzo]

i should note that the original gravity was 1.052 which was dead on for what the kit called for

 

[Sippin37]

Well using the MrMalty Pitching Rate Calculator it says that you should have used a 1.58 Liter starter, or 1.67 Quarts. I just plugged in the OG of 1.052, 5 Gallon batch, and Simple Starter. Give it a try:
Mrmalty.com

I'm not sure if that is why it didnt attenuate as much as you wanted, but could be one of the reasons why.

 

[Brizzo]

How much will having a higher finishing gravity affect the taste of the beer? If the yeast didn't completely finish the job will the outcome be drastically different?

The super San Diego yeast took off lik crazy, but it seemed like he majority of the fermentation was over within 3 or 4 days.