German blonde, dry yeast.. low final grav?

[gonavy1066]

Hi

I just bottled my german blonde kit with steeping grains from NB. my starting grav was spot on but my final gravity seemed a bit low. it was 1.006 . there was no indication of any infection. the wort was clear, smelled like beer and the gravity sample tasted like very dry beer. it was a very very vigorous fermentation, and i kept it in the primary for 3 weeks before bottling.

any idea what would cause it to attenuate so much? (Safale US-05 brewer’s yeast) fermentation was at 64F. it was well aerated before pitching.

thanks… just curious. does using steeping grains impact the final grav?

[rebuiltcellars]

Using steeping grains has no sigificant impact on attenuation. What else was in your kit? If you used sugar as well as extract pre-fermentation then that could drive the FG down below what you are used to seeing.

The other possibility is that your hydrometer is off. Try testing the gravity of 68F water and see if it reads 1.000.

[gonavy1066]

just the standard kit… dme… grains… hops. i checked my hydrometer and it is reading true. i used whirlfloc as well. now im not entirely sure but i may have added yeast nutrient. dont have my notes with me.

[rebuiltcellars]

A mystery to me too. I would just enjoy it; you’ll likely figure it out eventually.

[mvsawyer]

[quote=“gonavy1066”]Hi

I just bottled my german blonde kit with steeping grains from NB. my starting grav was spot on but my final gravity seemed a bit low. it was 1.006 . there was no indication of any infection. the wort was clear, smelled like beer and the gravity sample tasted like very dry beer. it was a very very vigorous fermentation, and i kept it in the primary for 3 weeks before bottling.

any idea what would cause it to attenuate so much? (Safale US-05 brewer’s yeast) fermentation was at 64F. it was well aerated before pitching.

thanks… just curious. does using steeping grains impact the final grav?[/quote]
US-05 is a beast of a yeast! I had an Irish blonde (beer) finish that low with that yeast. BTW, check the hydrometer to see what temp it should be calibrated. Mine is 60F not 68F. Also make sure you’re reading where the plane of the water intersects the stick, not where the water has stuck to it. You haven’t screwed anything up. Sounds like you got everything right. Sometimes that’s just the nature of yeast.

:cheers: