TropicThunder
Member
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2017
- Messages
- 13
- Reaction score
- 2
I just bottled an Imperial IPA and I didn't hit the attenuation numbers I was hoping for, so I'm hoping you have some ideas! It was disappointing because in the past the same setup on smaller beers attenuated properly. Here's the recipe.
Style: American Imperial IPA
Malts
9.9 lbs. LME
1 lb. Corn Sugar
1/2 lb. Crystal 10L
Hops
4 oz. Cascade
4 oz. Citra
1 oz. Magnum
Yeast
2 packs Fermentis US-05
Water
1 gallon store-bought distilled
~4 gallons filtered sink water
Basement Temp: 66 degrees
OG: 1.084
FG: 1.029 (expected 1.018)
ABV: 7.35% (expected 8.79%)
Apparent Attenuation: 66% (expected 75-80%)
Procedure: I steeped the Crystal malt between 140 - 160 degrees for 20 minutes. Then I brought it up to a boil, took it off the heat and added 3.3 lbs. LME. At 45 minutes I added the corn sugar and 6.6 lbs. LME. At flameout (60 minutes) I cooled it to 80 degrees in the sink with an ice bath, poured it into the fermentor that already had water in it (which was room temp), then topped it off to 5 gallons. I stirred vigorously for 5 minutes (lots of froth on top), then swirled the wort and dropped in the dry yeast, a little at a time. Gravity was measured (both times) with a hydrometer. It was then stored in a dark room in my basement.
At 2 weeks I dry hopped it and 4 days later I bottled. I was surprised to see that the yeast hadn't performed as well as it has for me in the past. Following the same method above, I regularly get 80% apparent attenuation on beers with OG 1.060 and below.
Any idea what I could change in the future to help this one out? I don't usually use more than one pack of yeast, but I also don't regularly make bigger beers. I'm stumped - where could this have gone wrong? I'm thinking of adding yeast nutrient next time, but I haven't had to do this in the past. Thoughts?
Style: American Imperial IPA
Malts
9.9 lbs. LME
1 lb. Corn Sugar
1/2 lb. Crystal 10L
Hops
4 oz. Cascade
4 oz. Citra
1 oz. Magnum
Yeast
2 packs Fermentis US-05
Water
1 gallon store-bought distilled
~4 gallons filtered sink water
Basement Temp: 66 degrees
OG: 1.084
FG: 1.029 (expected 1.018)
ABV: 7.35% (expected 8.79%)
Apparent Attenuation: 66% (expected 75-80%)
Procedure: I steeped the Crystal malt between 140 - 160 degrees for 20 minutes. Then I brought it up to a boil, took it off the heat and added 3.3 lbs. LME. At 45 minutes I added the corn sugar and 6.6 lbs. LME. At flameout (60 minutes) I cooled it to 80 degrees in the sink with an ice bath, poured it into the fermentor that already had water in it (which was room temp), then topped it off to 5 gallons. I stirred vigorously for 5 minutes (lots of froth on top), then swirled the wort and dropped in the dry yeast, a little at a time. Gravity was measured (both times) with a hydrometer. It was then stored in a dark room in my basement.
At 2 weeks I dry hopped it and 4 days later I bottled. I was surprised to see that the yeast hadn't performed as well as it has for me in the past. Following the same method above, I regularly get 80% apparent attenuation on beers with OG 1.060 and below.
Any idea what I could change in the future to help this one out? I don't usually use more than one pack of yeast, but I also don't regularly make bigger beers. I'm stumped - where could this have gone wrong? I'm thinking of adding yeast nutrient next time, but I haven't had to do this in the past. Thoughts?