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8.34% abv in 4 days?

Mashing
#1

Ok. Posted a few questions about my latest brew due to the fermentation temp get tout I hand. I have it rangled back down to 65degrees. After 4 days of vigorous fermentation I tested it. OG was 1.080. Reading today was 1.016. My calculations are 8.34%abv. I was shooting for 7.2%. Was it the warm fermentation that cause the over attenuation? Is my beer going to win up thin in body?

Here is my grain bill and mash schedule.

15.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row)
0.50 lb Aromatic Malt
0.50 lb Biscuit Malt
0.50 lb Caramunich Malt
0.50 lb Special B Malt

Mash 153* for 60min

#2

what yeast did you use?

likely the higher temps helped the yeast along.

#3

Wyeast English ale. 2L starter.

#4

Temp won’t necessarily make it finish at a lower FG, that is more a matter of your mash temp and methods.

Its darned hard to keep a higher ABV wort from running away.

#5

Gotcha. Thanks. Ya, this is my first time brewing anything with such a high OG so it was a new experience with new problems. I’ll just let it ride. I’m sure its gonna be wonderful. One week in secondary should be sufficient right?

#6

One or two weeks, I wouldn’t rush it. Yeast will sometimes clean up some esters after the majority of fermentation is done.

#7

With an OG of 1.080, 8.3%ABV does not sound unreasonable. The timeframe in which this happened also does not sound unreasonable. The duration of the active phase of fermentation in which alcohol is produced may complete in as little as a day and usually within a few days from everything I’ve read (as SOP I never touch a beer until two weeks after pitching, so I don’t know from first hand testing).

Can you clarify which yeast you used? I’m not familiar with a Wyeast “English ale” strain, although they have several strains that fall into that category.

For me, it’s not unusual to exceed the attenuation range quoted by the yeast lab. For example, with 1098 London ale, I hit 77-78% attenuation pretty consistently. With 1056 I hit 82-84% pretty consistently.

#8

Sorry, It was White Labs WLP002 English Ale. Normally I don’t touch it till at least a week but I was curious due to the vigerous fermentation. Good to know it is pretty much normal. I normally do 1.050 beers and have never had fermentation like that. Was awesome!

#9

I’ve used that yeast twice now, and it seems to be super active for me. It chewed through a 1.075 porter in a hurry, and is currently settling down after taking off right away on an ESB. So far, I’m pretty impressed with the fermentation on this yeast.

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