Left hand MS super low attenuation

[PSUbrewCREW]

First post-

Brewed an AG left hand milk stout clone this past Friday. Everything went great with the brew.. OG of 1.062 pitched at roughly 80 degrees.. Wyeast 1084 Irish ale yeast.. Moved into keg for 30 day age yesterday and checked the gravity and it was only 1.032!?

Granted its a stout and I used a pound of lactose and that level of attenuation got me about 4.3% abv..

I was expecting a FG of 1.020 or lower, shooting for an abv over 5%.

Beersmith had my recipe closer to 1.010 FG.

- Didn't use a starter, it was a smack pack.
- dont have any temperature control, which could have attributed to this
- I am expecting a further drop during aging, but a significant amount..

Any thoughts?

 

[g-star]

Let's see...

1. Pitched way too hot
2. Under-pitched by a significant amount
3. Used a low-attenuating yeast and a pound of unfermentables (lactose)
3. No temperature control

If it has only been 6 days, you might have been able to get a few more gravity points lower if you left it alone, but now that you have transferred it off the yeast, forget it. Next time, use more care with pitch rates, pitch temps, ferm temps, and recipe design and you can avoid these problems. Seems like you have more to learn than can be explained in one post.

 

[PSUbrewCREW]

Recipe was a straight rip from a competition winner using same ingredients on the left hand website.. Recipe wasn't the issue..

I'm limited with my temp control because its not cold enough yet for me to turn the heat on- so we are having temp swings in our house day to night.. I concede that as an issue.

I'm brewed bigger beers and a single smack pack was plenty.

However I'll concede that I'm not a yeast nut and may have wanted a higher attenuating yeast. Should have done some more research there.

I had to pitch at 80 degrees I was running out of time on a Friday night. I'll concede that as well.

 

[PSUbrewCREW]

What about re-pitching with a starter?

Never done that though.

 

[ajwillys]

I've brewed LHMS clones twice (one of my wife's favorites). The first time I was a huge newb. I did a partial mash (my first) and ended up with an FG of 1.034. It was overly sweet and I did everything right (I thought). The second time I had a few years of experience under my belt and managed to get it to 1.028. When you think about it, it's supposed to finish high. You mash at a high temperature to make an extra dextrinous wort, you add a bunch of dark malts that don't convert well, and then you add a ton of unfermentable sugar. After making it twice, I've come to the conclusion that most of the clone recipes I've seen are not very good. After the notes from my first two, I've come up with a recipe but I don't want to give it out because I haven't brewed it yet.

Left Hand starts at 1.066 and ends at 1.020. They also use the following malts:
Pale 2-row, Crystal, Munich, Roast Barley, Flaked Oats, Flaked Barley and Chocolate

For next time, I plan to lower my mash temp to 154, reduce the lactose and rely more heavily on malts/oats for the body. We'll see what I get. I like the irish ale yeast, but it is low attenuating. I usually make a 2L starter.

 

[ajwillys]

What about re-pitching with a starter?

Never done that though.

Some people have had luck pitching a starter at high krausen. You could try this. Just remember when preparing the starter that (unlike most starters), the wort from it will all be going in your beer. I wouldn't recommend continuous aeration and use good extract.

 

[PSUbrewCREW]

Some people have had luck pitching a starter at high krausen. You could try this. Just remember when preparing the starter that (unlike most starters), the wort from it will all be going in your beer. I wouldn't recommend continuous aeration and use good extract.

Could you explain that last sentence a bit more?

 

[ajwillys]

Sure. Generally when I do a starter I put it on a stir plate and let it get a bit warmer (to maximize yeast production). I'm also not terribly concerned if the extract I'm using might be a little old or something (I only use extract for starters, so this is often the case). I then chill the starter and then decant off most of the wort/beer and just pitch the yeast. If you're going to do a starter for the purpose of grabbing a few more gravity points, you'll want to pitch at high krausen (when the yeast is most active). If you do this, you're pitching the whole starter. For this reason, you would want to standard beer practices, not starter practices. You would aerate the wort at the beginning, but not once it started. You would also want to keep it cooler. Lastly, don't use old extract. Make sense? In this case, the entire starter (1/2 gallon or so) will become part of the final product as opposed to a few ounces (at least if you normally decant) so you want it to be good.

 

[PSUbrewCREW]

Well said and explained. Thank you.

I may just end up bottling this batch and making the necessary adjustments the next time around so that I can compare the differences.

 

[BeerCyclist]

I had to pitch at 80 degrees I was running out of time on a Friday night. I'll concede that as well.

If I can't get my temp low enough, I just transfer it to my carboy, throw it in a rubbermaid box with cold water and pitch the next morning. Fortunately, I have a room under the house that's a steady 68 degrees, so it's no problem keeping my fermentation temp in the low 60s by tossing in frozen water bottles whenever necessary. It might require a little more attention if your temp fluctuates.

 

[PSUbrewCREW]

If I can't get my temp low enough, I just transfer it to my carboy, throw it in a rubbermaid box with cold water and pitch the next morning. Fortunately, I have a room under the house that's a steady 68 degrees, so it's no problem keeping my fermentation temp in the low 60s by tossing in frozen water bottles whenever necessary. It might require a little more attention if your temp fluctuates.

I'm working on either a chest freezer or fridge with a temp regulator. But funds are a little low right now.

 

[ajwillys]

A swamp cooler will give you a good 10 degrees. Put a cotton t-shirt on your carboy, set it in a few inches of water and point a fan at it. The shirt will wick up the water and the fan will evaporate it. The evaporative effect cools the whole thing down.