Very low GF's - help!

[cookmysock]

My last couple of all grain brews have ended up with very low fg readings. The batch below ended up with 1.001 fg!

4 kg commander (an Australian pilsener type grain)
fuggles 15g at 60 mins
fuggles 8g at 15mins
fuggles 5g at 5mins
water/grain ratio 2.6 litres/kg
mash 66 deg C for 45 minutes
vorlauf
batch sparge at 78 deg C
boil for 60 mins
wyeast 1335 british ale II
sg = 1.055 (actual)
fg = 1.001 (actual), 1.014 by initial design

I have read somewhere that the high attenuation is strongly linked to mash times?

The beer is very dry and some of the good malty flavours are lost

ideas to prevent such low fg's?

 

[itchygomey]

Are you positive your mash temp is correct? (Thermometer accurate?)


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[cookmysock]

pretty sure the thermometer is okay. Actually used it for my daugter's science experiment the other day so we calibrated it against boiing water and near freezing water

 

[seabass07]

The mash temp is a bit on the low side. That will contribute to the low fg, but no way it would end that low without sugar additions or some kind of infection.

 

[cookmysock]

i was wondering about an infection too. I bottled today and the yeast cake looked a bit strange. Not a nice smooth paste, but almost like curds and whey.

 

[brewkinger]

An infection would be more noticeable.
Anything growing on top?
Smell?
Taste?
The cottage cheese appearance of the yeast cake is all normal, especially that yeast, it flocculates like that.
The culprit would most likely be mash temps.
It sounds as though you mashed low and got very fermentable wort that ends up being dry and high alcohol.


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[cookmysock]

oops - just realised the mash temp was 68 deg C. (154F)

 

[brewkinger]

154 would not have given you a dry and highly attenuated beer.

150 or lower usually.


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[retheisen]

Here I was expecting a thread about short SWMBOs.


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