Oops. Over attenuated.

[ARittner]

So this is my 4th batch of beer. Every time I've brewed, I've done something wrong. Nothing huge really, and all the beers have turned out OK, if not great. Each one is a learning experience, and so I'm not disappointed. I fix those problems with the next batch.

This time, I didn't pre-heat my cooler I was mashing in (doing an AHS mini-mash kit) and even though the strike water was heated to the right temp for the amount of grain I was using, it dropped to 148-ish immediately, instead of the 155 I was shooting for. I guess I could have added more hot water, but I didn't know the big difference the mash temp made in the final beer. Next time I'll know. FG ended up at 1.010 instead of 1.014. Not a huge deal, but the beer definitely seems thin (pre-bottling, so the carbonation will help).

I've had under-attenuated batches. I didn't even know over-attenuation was a thing until this time.

Oh well. I'm happy to learn something every time I brew. I just wish it didn't take two months to see how my mistake affected the final product.

Venting session over!

-A

 

[shanecb]

Wow a 7 degree F difference from not pre-heating the tun? I wouldn't have expected that much.

 

[mlg5039]

I bet it will still be fantastic!!


BTW, what are you using for a mashtun?

 

[coypoo]

Wow a 7 degree F difference from not pre-heating the tun? I wouldn't have expected that much.

Very common. You also lose temp from the grains as well. I generally heat my strike water to about 10-12 degrees higher than the calculated temp just to make sure. I am usually about 1-3 degree higher (depending on a few other variables) and will just stir the water in the MLT before I add the grain to get it to the correct strike temp.

 

[EricT]

Wow a 7 degree F difference from not pre-heating the tun? I wouldn't have expected that much.

Ha, I thought 7 degrees was pretty good. I lose 10 degrees when I am warming mine up. Then again, I keep mine in the garage so if its 45 degrees and I'm trying to heat it to 167 for grains...well, youre gonna lose alot of heat.

 

[shanecb]

Wow news to me, I've only lost 5 degrees *max* from not heating the tun. Guess I'm lucky!

 

[rycov]

i think attenuation refers to how much of the available fermentable sugars are are used during fermentation. how different yeast strains have different levels of attenuation. and sometimes wild yeasts and bacteria can ferment more of the sugars and you can get over attenuation. so what your talking about would be efficiancy.(i'm not an expert by any strech of the imagination. just wanting to help) but just because you didn't quite get the efficiancy you were looking for doesn't mean the beer won't be great!

 

[TheSeether]

Yeah, I was wondering how he knew he over-attenuated when he had no FG.
I thought I was missing something, though.

 

[shanecb]

Hm? He did have a final gravity... 1.010, versus what he was shooting for; 1.014. So it was over-attenuated compared to what he wanted, likely due to the lower mash temperature.

 

[Shinglejohn]

It happens. Who knows, maybe youll like it better.

 

[TheSeether]

Yep, my reading comprehension is completely shot. Have some family stress that is obviously bleeding through. Signing off before I make bigger mess of it.

 

[shanecb]

Yep, my reading comprehension is completely shot. Have some family stress that is obviously bleeding through. Signing off before I make bigger mess of it.

It happens

 

[rycov]

Hm? He did have a final gravity... 1.010, versus what he was shooting for; 1.014. So it was over-attenuated compared to what he wanted, likely due to the lower mash temperature.

but if his OG was lower too then the beer wasn't over attenuated. i see what you mean. and i think the OP knows what he means to. i was just talking about wording. the main point i guess is that the beer is fine.

 

[ARittner]

I bet it will still be fantastic!!

BTW, what are you using for a mashtun?

It will probably be fine, yes. I had a good boil for once (new propane setup instead of my stove) and my fermentation temps were perfect throughout (new chest freezer temp controller combo. Well, new to me anyway). Did a starter for the first time, and pitched at the right temp, etc. I'm pretty happy with how things went in general. I'm using a 5 gallon Igloo cooler, but only had about 3.5 pounds of grain, so lots of air space. The grain was 62 degrees which I adjusted for, but so was the cooler, which I didn't. OG was 1.051, FG was 1.010.

 

[ARittner]

but if his OG was lower too then the beer wasn't over attenuated. i see what you mean. and i think the OP knows what he means to. i was just talking about wording. the main point i guess is that the beer is fine.

Yup! I'm not so much worried about the beer as I am commenting on how learning to brew is a lot like Whack-a-Mole. Every time I think I have my bases covered, I find something else out that I hadn't even considered.

I hit the OG I was shooting for, by the way. Probably should have mentioned that.

 

[rycov]

yeah. that makes more sense now.

it is like whack-a-mole. i'm always forgetting to do or order things, or have something come close but not exact. whatever, the beer comes out good so i'm happy