Consistantly Low Alcohol by Volume Brews

[Jamoke86]

I am having real trouble achieving the desired FG reading on the past few brews I've put together

One was a dark porter, LME, with some molasses and brown sugar. The OG was on target at 1.054 but fermentation for over a week only took me down to 1.016. I was shooting for a 1.010 reading.

On another occasion, I made a pale ale with a OG reading of 1.040 and a FG of 1.020. Again, the target was 1.010. For this brew the yeast was pitched at 60 degrees F and stored at approximately 72 degrees.

Please help! Am I not boiling the extract at the proper temperature for long enough (for the second batch I even let the wort boil for an extra 25 minutes before starting the hour boil.)

I feel like I am missing a fundamental step. Thank you in advance.

Cheers,

Greg

 

[david_42]

Boil time makes absolutely no difference in attenuation. Your first batch is ballpark for an extract beer, about 70% apparent attenuation.

Are you de-gassing the FG sample? Shake it hard for 30-45 seconds, then let it sit until the foam settles.

 

[agentEhrman]

What kind of yeast are you pitching?

I would try to keep you fermentation temps below 70 for sure, ambient temps should probably be below 65. Keep in mind, ambient and actual temp inside your bucket or carboy will be different. The actual temp inside can be 10 degrees higher during peak fermentation...

 

[ChshreCat]

If you're brewing with extract, that actually seems about right. Many extracts leave me with a higher FG than expected due to more unfermentables in them.

 

[Machalel]

I've had the exact same "problem" with my 2 extract brews as well... OG was right on target, but FG was about 5-10 points higher than expected.

 

[midfielder5]

also, check/calibrate your hydrometer as it can read high. mine is .004 off

 

[Jamoke86]

Thanks for the tips! It was really the second batch that seemed off to me. I will try de-gasing and trying to store at a cooler temperature to improve the odds of a lower OG reading.

Thanks again!

 

[Zalf]

One thing that helped me get my FG out of the 1.02 range was going to a partial mash. The only extra step over steeping specialty grains was using a small pot to get sparge water hot. A little cheaper and every batch has hit the target FG.