Increasing ABV with my Yeast

[eager_brewer]

Ok here is my quick grain bill for this one:

18lbs 2 row
2.5lbs Crystal 120

My starting gravity for 5 gallons was 1.110 yes that it correct

For Yeast I am using a culture Wyeast 1272. This is the second time I have pitched this yeast. I used about 1/2 a mason jar of slurry. I had great fermentation for more than a week. It was stored at about 68 degrees and I raised the temp near the end to 76 degrees. I moved it to secondary tonight and took a gravity reading and it it 1.040

My question is how could I have got it down to 1.030? I am trying to make the yeast more efficent.

Thank you!
Tom

 

[944play]

Wait at least another week.

HTH.

 

[Yooper]

With 2.5 pounds of crystal (largely unfermentable), I don't think you'll do any better than you did.

 

[a10t2]

For starters, if you want the gravity to drop any further you shouldn't rack to secondary. I'll assume the yeast has been dumped and that ship has sailed.

Your best option at this point is to make a new starter and pitch it at high krausen. You need a lot of yeast, and you need it to be active.

FWIW, depending on mash temp, I would expect that grist and yeast to finish in the 1.015-1.025 range.

 

[Yooper]

FWIW, depending on mash temp, I would expect that grist and yeast to finish in the 1.015-1.025 range.

Really? How? I seriously don't know how to get that high of an attenuation from that yeast, especially with 2.5 pounds of crystal. What am I missing?

 

[david_42]

Short of re-pitching with a high-attenuation yeast, like Pacman, it's done. Yes, it's below the low-end of the expected attenuation range, but what Yooper said and it's close to the maximum ABV for the yeast.

Mashing at 148F would have helped a little.

 

[eager_brewer]

OK next time I'll try mashing at a lower temp. mashed thit at 156F.

 

[944play]

The oxygen introduced from racking MAY incite some extra yeast activity. That's why I said to give it at least another week. You might see it drop some.

 

[GuldTuborg]

How long has it been going so far? You're not going to get this down to 1.010 or something silly like that, especially after mashing at 156, but you should do better than 1.040. Give it time. Big beers don't ferment in a week. They can take a month, or even two. Raise the temp a few degrees and give it another couple of weeks. You should see some lowering of the gravity. If you don't, then consider repitching. It's a bit early to be throwing more yeast at it right now, if you ask me.

 

[motobrewer]

i've gotten 80% AA with 10% crystal before (1.5lb). mashed at 149, US05

 

[eager_brewer]

Wow thanks for all of the help! I have one question. Why the lower mash temp? How does that help?

Thank you
Tom

 

[Yooper]

i've gotten 80% AA with 10% crystal before (1.5lb). mashed at 149, US05

But the beer is already at 9%. It can't go much higher with the strain he's used, plus the crystal malt is largely unfermentable. Getting 80% attenuation with a 5% beer isn't hard at all, if mashed correctly. Starting with an OG of 1.110 makes a huge difference.

 

[Yooper]

Wow thanks for all of the help! I have one question. Why the lower mash temp? How does that help?

Thank you
Tom

Mash temp is a tool that we can use to control some of the properties of the beer, most notably the fermentability. With a higher mash temp, you are favoring alpha amylase, which means you'd have a "thicker", more dextrinous, less fermentable wort. With a lower mash temp, you'd be favoring beta amylase which would produce a drier beer due to a more fermentable wort. See: http://www.howtobrew.com/section3/chapter14-1.html for a much better description than I could ever hope to provide in a concise manner!

Also important are ingredients themselves- some things like crystal malt tend to leave quite a bit of residual sweetness because they aren't fully fermentable and have a sweet taste besides. Some ingredients, like corn sugar, will ferment out nearly completely.

Using these two techniques, mash temp (and thickness, to a lesser degree) and ingredients will be what determines the fermentablity of the wort. Next, you choose the proper yeast that will give you the correct attenuation so that you can produce the beer you envisoned.