Extract Recipes --> For Beginners? Standard ABV?

[srl135]

I am about to bottle my first batch which is an amber wheat beer; it was a completely extract recipe. I called my LHBS to ask if they had a specific recipe or name for my beer and I was told that the extract has a standard recipe (which i got) and didnt have a cool name... thats all fine, but got me thinking.

If all the extracts have a standard recipe, then do they all have a standard expected ABV outcome? I am trying to determine if mine turned out right (at this stage). I have no doubt it will be good, but without a benchmark comparison or goal of OG and FG it is hard to judge. FWIW, my amber wheat produced an OG of 1.041 and FG of 1.006 (pre-bottling) which came out to 4.7%. I have a friend that just finished a regular amber which came out to 3.6%.. so what gives? Is the wheat yeast stronger? Other than the yeast, I believe all of our ingredients and steps were the exact same.

Not complaining, just curious if there was an expected outcome in ABV or SG's with all extract brews?

 

[RM-MN]

There can't be a solid ABV or FG for all extract brews because of the differing ingredients. If you brew with an extra light dry malt extract, most of the sugars are fermentable. A dark malt will have just as much sugar (mostly true) but some of it will be unfermentalbe sugar so the ABV will be lower and the FG higher but it may be more flavorful. Some yeast can ferment to a higher attenuation so that has an effect too.

 

[dos_perros]

All beers will have different OG and FG which, in my basic understanding, is based on the amount of fermentable sugars in your recipe. There wont be any one OG and FG for all beers, the recipes are going to have more LME / DME or less based one the recipe. Did your kit have any instructions? If you got this from your LHBS I would think they could have some information about OG's and FG'S of their recipe, maybe call and ask ( if you havent tried that allready). Sound like your fermentation went fine, maybe compare your recipe to a similar one on the AHS website and see what their estimated OG and FG is.

 

[srl135]

So given that my friend and I both brewed the exact same ingredients (liquid extract BTW) with the only difference being the wheat yeast vs regular yeast - both of those dry, would that be the cause for difference?

 

[Yooper]

So given that my friend and I both brewed the exact same ingredients (liquid extract BTW) with the only difference being the wheat yeast vs regular yeast - both of those dry, would that be the cause for difference?

Yes, yeast strains have different attenuation rates. One yeast strain, say Windsor yeast, may give you a FG of 1.020. Another yeast strain, say a more attenuative strain like nottingham, might give you a FG of 1.008! It's not that the yeast is stronger, but the strain may have a higher average attenuation (the amount of sugars it will consume).

Other things come into play, too. Ingredients, temperature, the yeast health, etc, all play a part in reaching the final gravity of a brew. Most of those things are under your control, but some (like the fermentability of the extract you buy) aren't.

 

[dos_perros]

Sounds like from your orginal post that you brewed an amber wheat and your friend brewed an amber. I would guess to say that you had some more fermentables in the wheat than he had but that is just my noobish guess. I am sure someone will be along to help more with this than I can at my level of experience and knowledge.

 

[srl135]

Sounds like from your orginal post that you brewed an amber wheat and your friend brewed an amber. I would guess to say that you had some more fermentables in the wheat than he had but that is just my noobish guess. I am sure someone will be along to help more with this than I can at my level of experience and knowledge.

That is exactly what im asking... being noob as well, i thought that yeast was yeast...

 

[Yooper]

That is exactly what im asking... being noob as well, i thought that yeast was yeast...

Well, they have hundreds of different strains, and there is a reason for that! yeast provides more than just microbes to make alcohol out of sugar- it actually is a huge part of the beer. Yeast provides flavor on its own, as well as can control the amount of fermentables actually consumed.

Beer is made out of water, malt, hops, and yeast. Each of those four ingredients plays a huge role in the outcome. Aside from some "odd" ingredients, or something not really beer- every beer in the world is made from those four ingredients. So you can see that there must be a wide variety in just those four items.