Porter with High FG

[ThomEHof]

Below is a recipe I have had in the secondary for two weeks. The FG is still pretty high, but we started pretty high. I'm thinking that it's fine as it is, but wanted to double check? Tasted Great. I do plan on racking for at least two - three more weeks.

Ingredients

14.00 lb Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 57.14 %
3.00 lb Smoked Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 12.24 %
1.50 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 6.12 %
1.00 lb Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) Grain 4.08 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 4.08 %
0.50 lb Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 2.04 %
0.50 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 2.04 %
0.50 lb Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 2.04 %
2.50 oz Centennial [9.10 %] (60 min) Hops 38.1 IBU
1.50 oz Liberty [4.30 %] (5 min) Hops 2.2 IBU
2.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
2.00 items Yeast Nutrient (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1.00 lb Milk Sugar (Lactose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 4.08 %
1.00 lb Turbinado (10.0 SRM) Sugar 4.08 %
0.50 lb Molasses (80.0 SRM) Sugar 2.04 %
1 Pkgs Dry English Ale (White Labs #WLP007) [Starter 35 ml] Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.070 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.081 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.017 SG
Measured Final Gravity: 1.028 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.99 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 6.94 %
Bitterness: 40.3 IBU

 

[afr0byte]

Well, the apparent dryness will probably be higher with all of that chocolate and black patent. The higher FG is also obviously partly due to the lactose.

 

[ThomEHof]

Thanks! FYI, forgot to mention this was a 10 gallon batch.

 

[cyclonite]

Tastes great - that's all that really matters! I wouldn't worry too much about the fg as long as the taste is good. The lactose will keep the fg a bit high, I doubt you'll get under 1.020. It will continue to go down a bit most likely, but it's amazing how beer has a way of settling out to a good balance. RDWHAHB!

 

[JLW]

I had a similar problem with an Imperial Stout. I started really high 1.112 (over shot the OG). I let it ferment for 4 months and repitched the last week before bottling. Never could get it to drop to recipe TG. I was worried about being overly sweet and trying to dry it out. Honeslty, this beer tastes awesome. Still bottle conditioning this beer until the fall.

It sounds like it will be a really good beer. I wouldn't worry much.

 

[Calder]

From those ingredients, I would have calculated 1.082 as an OG, so you were about right.

Including the lactose, you have about 10 points (per gallon) of unfermentable sugars. The simple sugars are about 8 points (molases and Turbinado), which will ferment completely.

The the remaining sugars (63) will be the ones that you use to calculate attenuation. You ended up at 1.028. Less the 10 points for the unfermentables = 18 points. (63-18)/63 = 71%.

WLP007 is rated at 70 to 80% attenuation. Looks like you are there. I would suspect you mashed high (mid 150s) to end up at the lower end of the attenuation range

 

[afr0byte]

From those ingredients, I would have calculated 1.082 as an OG, so you were about right.

Including the lactose, you have about 10 points (per gallon) of unfermentable sugars. The simple sugars are about 8 points (molases and Turbinado), which will ferment completely.

The the remaining sugars (63) will be the ones that you use to calculate attenuation. You ended up at 1.028. Less the 10 points for the unfermentables = 18 points. (63-18)/63 = 71%.

WLP007 is rated at 70 to 80% attenuation. Looks like you are there. I would suspect you mashed high (mid 150s) to end up at the lower end of the attenuation range

This is the extract brewing forum. Anyways, extracts do often have unfermentables such as carapils.

 

[ThomEHof]

It's been 4 days since taking a reading, not even a little movement. But wow does it taste really nice. i think we got about all I can get out of it. Do you think I should try to do anything else? Or can I rack.

 

[afr0byte]

If it tastes good, and the fg hasn't moved in 4 days, I'd rack. However, you might consider calibrating your hydrometer, if you haven't. I've seen people on here with readings that can be as much as 4 gravity points off. The idea is to float your hydrometer in distilled water and verify that it gives you a reading of 1.000.

 

[Darklordenron]

If it tastes good, and the fg hasn't moved in 4 days, I'd rack. However, you might consider calibrating your hydrometer, if you haven't. I've seen people on here with readings that can be as much as 4 gravity points off. The idea is to float your hydrometer in distilled water and verify that it gives you a reading of 1.000.

Then adjust the reading of your gravity accordingly if it is off.

 

[ReefkprZ]

most hydrometers are calibrated to 60 degrees, so if your taking a sample of wort at 75 degrees the gravity will be lower, if your taking a sample at 50 degrees your reading will be higher. doesn't really pertain much to the situation in question but another poster mention checking hydrometer calibration, make sure your using distilled or RO water at 60 degrees f, when checking calibration. and honestly for as accurate as human eyes are tap water will give a reading so close to distille water on a floating hydrometer I will bet you can visually tell the difference. if you were using a refractometer you may see the difference but that will still be questionable.

I have over 12 years experience with the use of hydrometers and refractometers due to my salt water reefkeeping hobby. I have had to calibrate a couple over the years. I have also done tons of experiments on accuracy. the hands down best way to calibrate a hydrometer is to compare it against an ATC refractometer that has been calibrated with distilled water. but like I said pure tap water at 60 degrees F will be so close you wont be able to tell the difference.