First All Grain - High Attenuation?

[bradford0113]

I just recently attempted my first all grain batch. I brewed the Great Lakes Christmas Ale Clone in the recipe section - scaled down to a 3 gallon batch due to my equipment limitations. Brewed in a bag on the stove top and then dunk sparged in a separate pot.

When I brewed two weeks ago, the OG was at 1.073 and now it's at 1.006. This calculates to a 92% attenuation. Is this even possible or were one of my measurements likely off? Mash temps were upper 150s and I pitched a 1 liter starter of Wyeast Labs #1028 London Ale. Fermentation temps were right around 65 degrees for 2 weeks so far.

I was hoping this would finish a little higher and not be so dry.

Here is the original recipe:

10.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US 73.64 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L 7.36 % (they use 45L, but i could only find 40L)
1.00 lb Wheat Malt 7.36 %
0.25 lb Special Roast 1.84 %
0.08 lb Roasted Barley 0.59 %

Cascade (60 min) 27 IBU
Hallertauer (10 min) 3 IBU

2 Cinnamon Stick (boil 60.0 min) Misc
1. oz Ginger Root (boil 60.0 min) Misc
1.25 lb Honey (Flame out) Sugar 9.20 %
1 Pkgs London Ale (Wyeast Labs #1028) Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile

Original Gravity: 1.075
Final Gravity: 1.018
Alcohol by Vol: 7.53 %
30.0 IBU
11.6 SRM C

Mash Profile

60 min 154.0 F

 

[maida7]

I think the honey is the reason.

 

[afr0byte]

I think the honey is the reason.

I don't see how 1.25 pounds of honey could make that much difference. In my opinion the more likely cause is an inaccurate temperature reading of the mash, or perhaps some kind of infection.

 

[mooshimanx]

Even with the honey, that seems really low, particularly with that yeast (which to my recollection is just Wy's version of WLP013, which has a fairly moderate attenuation level).

What does it taste like? Does it have some kind of off-character that would signal an infection, or does it just taste really dry? You could always add some maltodextrin to bring back a little body if its just the latter.

 

[wiescins]

What temp did you measure FG? Seems very low even with the honey and the mash temp. Perhaps measure again to confirm?