Is this right?.... Apparently Incredible Attenuation

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nobadays

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Brewing a, slightly modified Sculpin clone kit from MoreBeer. I like going to my fermenter with +/- 6 gallons, the kit was for 5 gallons. I added 1# of 2-row and ended up with 6.5 gallons to the fermenter. I use Priceless for BIB recipes and it was showing an O.G. of 1.059 (with 6 gallons to the fermenter, I had 1.054 with 6.5 gallons) and an est. F.G. of 1.013. Here I set on day 6 of fermentation and the air lock is still relatively active and my Tilt is showing 1.005... and it did correspond to the initial O.G. of 1.054 I had on the hydrometer so pretty sure it's accurate. Looking back through my notes I've had several 1.032/1.035 beers hit 1.006/1.007 but never a 1.054, crazy.

Here is the recipe(sans hops/schedule) maybe someone can shed some light... I'm thinking it's going to drop at least another point.

14# - 2-row
8oz - Crystal 10L
8oz - Carapils

Brew in a Bag method, electric, PID controlled
60 minutes at 148*
15 minutes at 160*
15 minutes at 170*
cooled to 70*
pitched - sprinkled - US-05
Fermented at a steady 68*

I Usually only do a 60 minute mash but the pre-milled grain looked coarse for BIB so extended it.... does longer mash time = higher attenuation?

Thanks!
 
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Tilts are accurate when they’re clean, but if they get glop on them during fermentation they can go way off. Still very useful for seeing how and when gravity changes, and so what stage of fermentation you’re at. I’ve had gravity go up by five or ten points during particularly active ferments.
 
You are seeing a combination of several factors here:

1) As the others stated, the Tilt is not accurate when crap is stuck to it.
2) Yes, the extended mash makes a little difference. And,
3) US-05 is one of the highest attenuating yeasts, especially if you mash low and long like you did.

A bit of all three.
 
Well it's been 3 days with the Tilt showing 1.005/1.006, kind of fluctuates. So pulled a sample and dry hopped it. Tilt was a bit off, had krausen on a top edge so likely throwing it off a bit. The hydrometer read 1.008 @ 68 so adjusted for temp - 60* hydrometer, gives me 1.009. That seems pretty close to what I thought it would be. I figured with the 148* mash/ 90 minutes it would finish drier than my usual but not as dry as it was appearing!

Starting with 1.054 finishing at 1.009 should net ~ 6% beer.... right where I wanted to be.

Just dropped the Tilt in my Citra session ale that has been in the fermenter 5 days, reading 1.009.... it started at 1.038. Brew Target estimated 1.041/1.010. I went to the fermenter long with nearly 6.5 gallons insteadof 6gal ( I need to adjust my boil-off rate, apparently I am overestimating) so 3 points less is about right. Guessing finishes a little dry as well as I used the same mash profile... of course less 2 row and higher percentage of crystal. Betting it finishes at ~1.008 giving me a ~4%... perfect!

Thanks all.... been too long since I brewed, doubting my abilities!
 

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