Drying out beer with high fg

[cheeseburger]

Ok, firstly a bit of background....

I bought 6kg of light DME. I have made a brew using 3kg and the DME only ferments down to 1.030!!!! I know there are lots of factors that means fermentation can stop at this level but I'm certain the DME only ferments to this gravity (wort was well aerated/ I racked the beer onto a different yeastcake to check if it was the yeastthis did nothing and it's at correct temp) There are other online reports of the DME from this shop stopping at 1.030.

Anywho I've added 3g 'pilsner enzyme' and this has started fermentation and the gravity is dropping as we speak and seems to be resolving the problem.

Now for my question......

I still have 3kg of this DME left, 1.030 is way too sweet and I'd rather avoid using the 'Pilsner Enzyme' again (even though it has saved the brew I'm concerned it may cause bottle bombs)

Apparently the malt in beer kits is mashed at a higher temp to give a higher gravity as they are designed to be used with around 35% cane sugar which ferments totally, the beer would be too dry if the extract had been mashed at a more typical temperature.

Could I use less extract and add sugar to make a beer that ferments to a lower FG???????

I hope this question makes sense and I appreciate any advise....

 

[hector]

I'm an Extract brewer and had always the same problem with my previous batches .

You can substitute up to 10-15% of the amount of DME with sugar in your batch .

More than 15% --> The yeast will leave most of Maltose from your Extract undone .

I tried several ways to solve this problem with DME , but did not help .

The problem is solved since I do partial mash using pale malt , Crystal malt and DME .

I add lots of fermentables by mashing at 140-150 F .

Hector

 

[ACbrewer]

I've never had that problem.. What are your malt manufacturers?

 

[WoodlandBrew]

I am also very curious as to the manufacture. Liquid malt doesn't age well and can have that problem. Dry malt from both Briess and Muntons should be 75% fermentable.

 

[t-ross]

I've heard of malt extracts that were specifically made to be less fermentable and were intended to be used with sugar. The idea is that sugar is high fermentable and when combining with less fermentable extract you end up with something that has an appropriate FG. Personally I would avoid those manufacturers.

This should be the case for any high quality DME or LME like Briess or Muntons.

 

[ACbrewer]

I've heard of malt extracts that were specifically made to be less fermentable and were intended to be used with sugar. The idea is that sugar is high fermentable and when combining with less fermentable extract you end up with something that has an appropriate FG. Personally I would avoid those manufacturers.

This should be the case for any high quality DME or LME like Briess or Muntons.

Are you saying the Briess and Muntons are ok or not? I've had good results with Briess DME and I think LME. I think LD Carlson repackages Briess, but either way, their product has been good also. (For those who don't know. Briess makes Malts. LD Carlson is a distributor for homebrew materials including malts, hops, buckets, tools, etc)

 

[ZombieBrew83]

What was your OG? 1.030 for extract is really high unless you are starting at Barleywine OG levels. I've used all sorts of LME and DME and never had something stall that high. Sounds like you either have old extract or old (low viability) yeast. That is, assuming your pitch rates, aeration, and ferm temps are optimal.

Your assertion about subbing (or adding) table sugar is correct. I've used this technique several times with great results while brewing with extract.

 

[Calder]

6 kg DME in 5 gallons = 1.060. Is this what you brewed, or was it a smaller batch?

What DME was it?

What else was in the recipe, if anything?

What yeast?

Yes adding sugar will help FG come down, but without more details, we can't help you figure out what your original problem was.

 

[Brewtah]

I am an extract brewer, I've never had a batch finish over 1.013. I don't buy into the whole DME does not finish with low FG. I had a Saison OG 1.091 finish at 1.003. Review your process and your steeping temps on specialty grains. Check your pitching rates and fermentation temps? Hopefully that will help.

 

[WoodlandBrew]

+1
Pitch rates, aeration, and temperature control are critical.

DME is pretty consistent at 75%. LME changes after long periods of storage. Where I would expect the most variance is with kits designed to be supplemented with corn sugar. If the corn sugar is replaced with DME the final gravity will be higher than intended.

 

[cheeseburger]

Update............ The enzyme is working.... Gravity now 1.011 and fermenting vigorously still!!!! Eeeeeekkk

 

[hector]

Update............ The enzyme is working.... Gravity now 1.011 and fermenting vigorously still!!!! Eeeeeekkk

You're going to have just Water and Alcohol . It can even ferment down to 1.002 .

Hector