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casall

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I just finished brewing two batches of all grain beer, both started out with OG right on according to recipe but both of stopped at 1.024 FG.

Recipe #1
Burning River Pale Ale Clone
10.67 lbs two row
12 oz Crystal 40
3 oz Belgian Bisquit
Yeast: Wyeast 1968 London - liquid, let it stand for 4-5 hrs and swell to max.



Mashed at 154F (Strike 167F), after 30 min 154F, after 60 min 153 after 90 min 151F. Aerated beer with stone and oxygen. Bubbled away at 71F for 10 days, racked to secondary then to a keg. [email protected]. Tasted good but should have been at 1.013

Recipe #2
MacTarnahan's Amber Ale
10.0 Lbs American 2-row
Crystal 40
Peated malt
Roasted barley
Yeast: Wyeast 1332 Northwest Ale, liquid, let stand for about 3 hrs before pouring into beer

Aerated beer with stone and oxygen.

Mashed at 155F (Strike 168F), after 30 min 154F, after 60 min 154F, after 90 min 152F. Aerated beer with stone and oxygen. Bubbled away at 71-72F for 10 days, racked to secondary today with [email protected]. Tasted good but should have been at 1.013

Any ideas why my beer is stopping around 1.025?
 
Same thing happened to me when I started all grain. Drop your mash temp.

Mashing too hot turns your sugars to unfermentable ones. You're temps at 154-155 are right on the line and if you're off by a degree or two, then you're definitely too hot.

Try it at 150 and that will fix your problem.
 
Is your hydrometer calibrated with distilled water? You're not using a refractometer, right?

155 is a pretty high mash temp- I'd expect a higher FG than with a temp of 151/152. Is your thermometer dead on accurate? If not, an it's even 4 degrees off, you could be mashing at nearly 160 which would really increase the FG.
 
I'll lower the mashing temp to 150F and try again. Guess I'll have about 10 gallons to drink before I can do that ;)

I doubt that my thermometer is off by 4 degrees, I just bought it (not digital)

Yooper, I am using a refractometer calibrated with distilled water.
 
I'll lower the mashing temp to 150F and try again. Guess I'll have about 10 gallons to drink before I can do that ;)

I doubt that my thermometer is off by 4 degrees, I just bought it (not digital)

Yooper, I am using a refractometer calibrated with distilled water.

Ah. Well, ditch the refractometer for this, and grab a hydrometer reading. Trust me. Your refractometer reading is way off- and the beer is fine.

let us know what the hydrometer reading is! I bet it's 1.012-1.016.
 
Alcohol is going to skew your measurement with a refractometer. Corrections can only do so much. It's It's better to use the right tool the first time IMHO. I would not be surprised if your thermometer is off by 5 degrees. Analog doesn't mean more accurate. Test it in boiling water.

But if it turns out both are in calibration, then it's probably conversion. That could be a pH problem.
 
I'll lower the mashing temp to 150F and try again. Guess I'll have about 10 gallons to drink before I can do that ;)

I doubt that my thermometer is off by 4 degrees, I just bought it (not digital)

Yooper, I am using a refractometer calibrated with distilled water.

I agree with using the hydrometer and don't kid yourself about the thermometer, just because you just bought it does not mean it is accurate:)
 
I agree with using the hydrometer and don't kid yourself about the thermometer, just because you just bought it does not mean it is accurate:)

I'm betting the thermometer is ok, though, and the only reason the FG reading is high is because it hasn't yet been taken with a hydrometer. The refractometer is useless once alcohol is in the mix. I know there are conversion charts out there, but I haven't found one yet that is accurate.

A hydrometer is what should be used after fermentation.
 
I've found that the refractometer adjustment spreadsheet is very accurate. Provided you use it correctly. IME, more things can throw off a hydrometer reading.

I do second confirming that your thermometer is accurate. If it didn't come with a NIST cert, then who knows how close it really is.
 
I just finished brewing two batches of all grain beer, both started out with OG right on according to recipe but both of stopped at 1.024 FG.

Recipe #1
Burning River Pale Ale Clone
10.67 lbs two row
12 oz Crystal 40
3 oz Belgian Bisquit
Yeast: Wyeast 1968 London - liquid, let it stand for 4-5 hrs and swell to max.



Mashed at 154F (Strike 167F), after 30 min 154F, after 60 min 153 after 90 min 151F. Aerated beer with stone and oxygen. Bubbled away at 71F for 10 days, racked to secondary then to a keg. [email protected]. Tasted good but should have been at 1.013

Recipe #2
MacTarnahan's Amber Ale
10.0 Lbs American 2-row
Crystal 40
Peated malt
Roasted barley
Yeast: Wyeast 1332 Northwest Ale, liquid, let stand for about 3 hrs before pouring into beer

Aerated beer with stone and oxygen.

Mashed at 155F (Strike 168F), after 30 min 154F, after 60 min 154F, after 90 min 152F. Aerated beer with stone and oxygen. Bubbled away at 71-72F for 10 days, racked to secondary today with [email protected]. Tasted good but should have been at 1.013

Any ideas why my beer is stopping around 1.025?

I am no expert, but doesn't 12oz of crystal 40 have a lot of unfermentable sugars?
 
I am no expert, but doesn't 12oz of crystal 40 have a lot of unfermentable sugars?

Not to the amount the OP has the SG at. Also, the yeasts used should have finished with lower gravities fermenting as warm as they did. He fermented at the high end of the range for both (higher in 1968's range, which lists up to 72F).

I still suspect the thermometer being incorrect for the mash temp.
 
I am no expert, but doesn't 12oz of crystal 40 have a lot of unfermentable sugars?

Crystal malt adds less unfermentable sugars than most people think. When steeped, crystal malt has about 25% more unfermentable sugar than base malt, and even less when mashed. (There were some experiments run by someone on this board to demonstrate this.) 12 oz will add 4 gravity points to the wort (1.004) So you could expect the final gravity to be one point higher if the grains were steeped. (1.001) Because these were mashed there will be a negligible difference in final gravity caused by the crystal malt.
 
Not to the amount the OP has the SG at. Also, the yeasts used should have finished with lower gravities fermenting as warm as they did. He fermented at the high end of the range for both (higher in 1968's range, which lists up to 72F).

I still suspect the thermometer being incorrect for the mash temp.

Thank's for the education.
 
Crystal malt adds less unfermentable sugars than most people think. When steeped, crystal malt has about 25% more unfermentable sugar than base malt, and even less when mashed. (There were some experiments run by someone on this board to demonstrate this.) 12 oz will add 4 gravity points to the wort (1.004) So you could expect the final gravity to be one point higher if the grains were steeped. (1.001) Because these were mashed there will be a negligible difference in final gravity caused by the crystal malt.

Wood, thank's for the education.
 
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