I have had a consistent issue with final gravities, though my beer tastes fine. I make mostly english style ales and I consistently get lower FG's than the recipe calls for. My starting gravities are nearly always spot on. My hydrometer checks out as accurate. Most of my ales are in the 1.045 - 1.055 range for original gravity and then they should be (according to recipes) in the range of 1.010 - 1.014. Instead they come out between 1.002 and 1.004. Only when I did a porter did the FG turn out close to expected. Any ideas what the reason is? I am currently doing mostly all grain but I've had this issue with extracts as well. Yeasts are english - either Notty or Wyeast 1469 or Yorkshire Square.
Final Gravity issues
- Thread starter AleDave
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Dave, sounds like you have a problem opposite to many of us. Notty can be a real beast, not sure about the WY 1469. What temp do you ferment at and how long?
I ferment in the winter at between 66 and 68 whereas in the summer I generally can only keep it to about 68. In the winter, 68 is the temp of my house and I keep it near a wall where it can drop a little lower. In summer I ferment in a cooler filled with water up to the level that the beer is and use an aquarium thermometer to monitor temps, using ice packs to keep it down. I tend to leave things in the primary for 2 weeks or three before bottling.
What are your average mash temps? Lower temps like 145-150 will generally produce a more fermentable wort creating greater attenuation of the yeast. Water chemistry can be another factor although I am less familiar with those issues. As well, the composition of the grist, you may be using more base malt than you need and less specialty grains. If you bump up the specialty grains you can adjust attenuation as well as raising the mash temp.
What is the batch size for these problematic brews?
Cheers!
Cheers!
Lately, as in the past year, I have been doing 2.5 gallon batches by cutting recipes in half.
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