Apparent attenuation of 90% question

[twobeerds]

So I brewed what's supposed to be a session apa/IPA type beer. The malt load came out as:

3.3 lbs breiss light Pilsen malt extract
1 pound Munton's extra light dime
.5 pound catapils
.5 pound crystal 10
10 ozs sucrose

The sucrose was there to bump up the abv a little higher and dry out the finish a bit. My OG was 1.040, I just took a hydro reading and I'm getting a 1.004, and that's after 5 days in the primary. Fermented at a pretty consistent 66 degrees using a smack pack of wyeast 1056 American ale.

Now, as a note, I'm extremely happy with the sample I tasted after I took the reading. Great hoppyness before the dry hop, nice malt profile the finish nice and slightly dry and crisp. Can't wait to see what it tastes like when it's been dry hopped, chilled and carved.

But I'm just trying to understand the results. My estimate was a FG of closer to 1.009. And this seems like the yeast were particularly effective. They've even started to floc out quite nicely, which I understand isn't always super fast with this strain. Any insight? My guess is the sucrose was completely fermented out and added more abv than I estimated, the smack pack was also only 5 or so days old from the package date to when I used it, and I got good aeration in the wort.

But I'd love to hear peoples thoughts.

 

[m1batt1]

I would agree with all your ideas. Maybe combining fresh yeast, good aeration, and the OG being a bit lower than a lot of beers they were healthy enough to eat more than they might have in a higher abv beer?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Home Brew mobile app

 

[adamelb]

Just a thought, I checked my hydrometers in distilled water to see how they did and one was off by .004 . Definitely worth checking if you haven't.

 

[twobeerds]

Just a thought, I checked my hydrometers in distilled water to see how they did and one was off by .004 . Definitely worth checking if you haven't.

I checked the calibration on this hydrometer before I took the OG reading, it was right on at 1.000 in water. But ya, always a good idea in checking the measuring equipment to make sure it's accurate.