Interesting Efficiency and Super Low FG

[WFox93]

So I kegged up my Strawberry Cream Ale (that's the typical cream ale, no lactose or vanilla added)

Pretty typical cream ale recipe aside from the added strawberries. I ended up doing a 90 minute mash because it wasn't fully converted per the iodine test at 60 minutes. Well, my post boil gravity check revealed that I got about 80% efficiency vs my typical 60%. this gave me a starting gravity of 1.062 where I was expecting ~1.050 or something like that. I pitched Nottingham yeast as that was the cleanest, neutralist yeast that fit my needs and if memory serves me, I did re-hydrate.
The next day I was standing next to the closet when this thing took off. I thought I had a pipe burst with all the bubbling this thing was doing. I did the strawberry additions by dicing the strawberries and soaking in ordinary sugar for 3 days then pureed and added one week after pitching the yeast and another bit one week before kegging. total fermentation was 3 weeks.

The final gravity was 1.002. I have only ever seen a gravity swing like that in my dad's wines. I tasted the sample and it didn't have a noticeable burn but it was very dry and crisp had a definite strawberry flavor. I thought this was pretty interesting, figured I'd share for enjoyment and possibly get some thoughts on what may have caused that.

 

[TurnipGreen]

Notty is a beast. It’s my go to for any experimental brew ‘cause it will eat through everything. Including a wider range of sugars in your malt. I always keep a spare packet for experiments of back up or have some old slurry laying around.

I wonder what your mash temperature was and how much sugar you added with the fruit? I’ve noticed particularly when a simple sugar is added, Nottingham tends to dry out a beer more than I usually expect.

 

[WFox93]

I mashed at roughly 155-160 and soaked a whole regular sized plastic carton of strawberries in about 1/4 to 1/3 of a cup of sugar.

I used Nottinham in my last cream ale which was a MrBeer kit, again, modified with strawberries in a similar fashion. That time when I added the puree, almost immediately the LBK started shaking. I switched fermenters since then but and the reaction to the puree wasn't quite as violent this time. I still can't believe how violent this stuff was when first kicked off.

 

[TurnipGreen]

Well that shoots down any of my ideas. You’re mash temp is on the high side and a third of a cup is not much sugar to affect the gravity that much. Even for a mr beer sized batch.

I guess beer is magic.

 

[seatazzz]

Nottingham is also in my opinion the most forgiving yeast out there for temperature swings. I brewed a brown a few weeks ago and used Notty (OG 1.069) and we had a surprise heat wave that drove my fermenting temp up over 78 from 66. It was in my 7.5g carboy so couldn't lift it into a water bath to help it cool, so I just let it ride. Sipping on a pint right now, no off flavors and the yeast didn't stress out. It did only get down to 1.020 but I pretty much stopped it at that point to avoid drying out the beer too much (I keg so no risk of bottle bombs). Notty is my go-to for just about everything I brew.