Fermentation question

[Beer_belly]

I have a several extract brews under my belt and normally get a FG of about 1.012 for most of my brews. I recently brewed a coffee porter with a FG of about 1.020. Is it possible I did something wrong? If the temperature is too low, will it cause something like this to happen? I just thought it was odd not being around what I am used to, but I guess it could be right. Thanks for the help guys!!

Oh and on to all-grain brewing this weekend while I listen to the raindrops hit my roof

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

Did you hit your projected final volume accurately?

 

[flars]

Your recipe could have had some unfermentable sugars for added body. One of these sugars could have been lactose, which would result in a higher FG.

 

[Homercidal]

You have to understand that your FG will vary quite a lot based on the recipe, and also somewhat by the conditions the yeast have to do their magic.

Some beers will just end higher due to the amount of total fermentables (Malt will ferment to a percentage, and the more you have, the higher the percent not fermented.) And different yeast attenuate at different amounts too.

If you post the recipe, I'm sure someone can help determine the expected FG.

 

[Beer_belly]

I didn't hit the projected FG which was around 1.011. The project OG was 1.045 and I was a little above that at about 1.052-1.054. Here is the recipe I used:

6.6 LBS Plain Light Malt Extract
14 oz. Coffee/Pale Chocolate Malt
1 LB Caramel 60
6 oz. Black Malt
10 oz. Special Roast
2 oz. Fuggle hops
and used S04 yeast (2-packs, recommended by LHBS)

 

[ncbrewer]

There are a lot of things that can affect yeast health. Here are some:
Rehydrated vs dry pitch
Pitching without delay after rehydration, or adding some cooled wort while waiting
For rehydrating - not dropping the temperature too much at one time
For rehydrating - Using tap water or other with some hardness (Some say chlorinated water hurts the yeast - might depend on whether it is chlorine ore chloramine as chlorine can be boiled off)
Aeration/oxygenation
Yeast nutrient

Hope this helps.

 

[kh54s10]

There is quite a bit of dark malt in that recipe, which will lead to a higher FG. There is also the tendency for extracts to stop at about 1.020. I would expect that recipe to end up higher than 1.011 especially if your OG really was 8-9 points high.

Were your other brews also dark beers? Or were they pale ales or IPAs? These typically ferment lower.

It is also common when doing extract batches with top up water to get a bad OG reading because it is somewhat difficult to get the wort to fully mix with the water. This leads to either a high or low false reading

 

[Beer_belly]

There is quite a bit of dark malt in that recipe, which will lead to a higher FG. There is also the tendency for extracts to stop at about 1.020. I would expect that recipe to end up higher than 1.011 especially if your OG really was 8-9 points high.

Were your other brews also dark beers? Or were they pale ales or IPAs? These typically ferment lower.

It is also common when doing extract batches with top up water to get a bad OG reading because it is somewhat difficult to get the wort to fully mix with the water. This leads to either a high or low false reading

That is a valid point and come to think about it, all of our beers having been basically pale ales. Interesting to know that could be the cause. I will start paying more attention to the darker colored beers and see if this is a common theme. Thanks for all of the help guys!!