Finishing too dry.

[cormano]

My last two batches have finished way drier than I expected. They actually taste fine, I think, the main thing is that their ABV is way higher than I was going for. All I know is that it's too warm in my fermentation area (kitchen). Should I just adjust my recipes to have a lower starting gravity? Could this actually be a money saving boon?

 

[NineMilBill]

If you've acknowledged the break in your system happens to be your temperature control, the fix isn't to change ingredients. That's not going to do you much good. You need to either lower the temperature in your house or your fermentation chamber.

The typical fix for those starting out (and many experienced brewers) is to building a homemade swamp cooler to keep the temps down. Give it a shot.

 

[cormano]

I will check out that link, thank you. I'm not sure if temperature is the problem, I was hoping someone could give me advice for figuring out where the break is.

Looking at my recipes just now, I realized that both batches used Danstar yeast (an IPA using Nottingham and an all extract wheat beer using Munich), which I haven't really used before. Is this something they're known for?

 

[IffyG]

Are you doing extract or all grain? If you are doing all grain, I'd check all your thermometers for accuracy.

 

[HerbieHowells]

I have never used either of those yeasts, but I get the idea from reading a lot of threads that Notty is a high attenuator- the Danstar website is a bit reluctant to give attenuation in percentages, but it suggests you can expect to get down to 1.008 with Notty. What other yeast are you using?

If you have never sat down and listened to the Brewing Network Brew Strong shows, they are a great tool for helping you spot breaks in your system. There is an entire episode about attenuation, which might give you some answers.

 

[Piratwolf]

I've gotten over 90% apparent attenuation with notty. But that plus the lack of temp control left me with less than stellar beers.