i just used this on an Oktoberfest beer. I’m extremely disappointed in the attenuation of this beer, only 61%. I’m trying to figure out if it’s something I’ve done, or if it is common with this yeast.
What is you experience with Wyeast 2633 Oktoberfest blend?
- Thread starter Blackdirt_cowboy
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
Can you provide some more details about your brewing and fermentation process? Specifically, what was your OG, FG, batch size, mash temperature, grainbill, starter size, and fermentation schedule?
I’ve used this strain 3 times and gotten 71-75% AA each time, which is consistent with the Wyeast estimation.
I’ve used this strain 3 times and gotten 71-75% AA each time, which is consistent with the Wyeast estimation.
OP
OP
Batch size: 5.5 gallons
OG: 1.057
FG: 1.022 (expected 1.012)
Grain Bill:
5.5 lbs dark Munich
1.5 lbs Vienna
4 lbs pilsner
.5 lb carafoam
Mash temp was 154°. I overshot mash temp when I doughed in. It was 156°. I immidiately added cold water and temp came down to 152°. I BIAB, so I fired the burner very low and stirred until temp came up to 154°. I mashed here for 60 minutes and only lost 1°.
I made a 4.5 liter wort. I saved .5 liter for future use, decanted and pitched into 52° wort. I fermented at 48°. On day 7(yesterday), gravity was at 1.025 so I began to let the temp free rise to 62° for a diacetyl rest. It reached 62° today, but fermentation stopped as there’s no activity from the blow off tube and the krausen has completely dropped. I took a reading with my refractometer, and confirmed it with a calibrated hydrometer at 1.022. Also, my thermometer is a thermapen. It reads 32° in ice water and 212° in boiling water, so I’m confident in my mash temps.
One other note, my smack pack of yeast was fairly old, 6-7 months if I remember correctly. I used the homebrew Dad calculator. The starter took off quickly as did the actual beer fermentation. Fermentation was fairly vigorous for a lager until it just stopped. So I’m fairly confident I didn’t underpitch. This is strange because I usually come in a few points low of final gravity. I typically get 75-80% attenuation with wyeast products, so I don’t know what I did wrong this time. I really appreciate any insight anyone can give me.
OG: 1.057
FG: 1.022 (expected 1.012)
Grain Bill:
5.5 lbs dark Munich
1.5 lbs Vienna
4 lbs pilsner
.5 lb carafoam
Mash temp was 154°. I overshot mash temp when I doughed in. It was 156°. I immidiately added cold water and temp came down to 152°. I BIAB, so I fired the burner very low and stirred until temp came up to 154°. I mashed here for 60 minutes and only lost 1°.
I made a 4.5 liter wort. I saved .5 liter for future use, decanted and pitched into 52° wort. I fermented at 48°. On day 7(yesterday), gravity was at 1.025 so I began to let the temp free rise to 62° for a diacetyl rest. It reached 62° today, but fermentation stopped as there’s no activity from the blow off tube and the krausen has completely dropped. I took a reading with my refractometer, and confirmed it with a calibrated hydrometer at 1.022. Also, my thermometer is a thermapen. It reads 32° in ice water and 212° in boiling water, so I’m confident in my mash temps.
One other note, my smack pack of yeast was fairly old, 6-7 months if I remember correctly. I used the homebrew Dad calculator. The starter took off quickly as did the actual beer fermentation. Fermentation was fairly vigorous for a lager until it just stopped. So I’m fairly confident I didn’t underpitch. This is strange because I usually come in a few points low of final gravity. I typically get 75-80% attenuation with wyeast products, so I don’t know what I did wrong this time. I really appreciate any insight anyone can give me.
OP
OP
Ona strange thing happened. I lowered the temperature to 55° in preparation of cold crashing, as I thought fermentation was over. Now the blowoff tube has started blowing off again. I didn’t open the bucket to see if a krausen was reforming. Is this yeast just really sensitive to warmer temperatures?
The only thing that looks a bit odd is your fermentation schedule. 48F is very low, even for lager yeast — it’s quite possible for the yeast to floc out prematurely at those temperatures. Oxygenation is absolutely vital for lager yeast as well. I usually perform a slow ramp to the diacetyl rest temperature and leave it there for a week or longer to clean up some of the messy fermentation byproducts.
OP
OP
I don’t know, maybe you’re right, but I’ve fermented all my lagers at 48°. This one was rocking along great until I let the temperature start going up. I don’t think my initial mash in temp at 156° was high enough to make that many unfetmetable sugars, was it? I had the theme back down to 152° within a minute or two.
Similar threads
