I bottled a partial mash pale ale the other day and my final gravity reading was 1.008
This surprised me because in the year that i’ve been homebrewing I’ve never had a final grav lower than 1.012
I used Wyeast American Ale II, is this just a really strong strain of yeast? or maybe something i did differently this time in my process ( though i cant think of anything i did any different than before)
maybe just a gift from the homebrew gods?
any thoughts?
either way im sure its yeast related, and I’m grateful that i harvested my yeast cake
What was the OG? I occasionally get brews finishing in single digits. You might have done your partial mash at a fairly low temp, that makes the wort fermentable.
Also, you did cool the wort properly for the reading right? Warm wort reads lower.
My OG was 1.048
and i thought about the temp of my sample being too high but it was the right temperature
I mashed at 150, is that low for a mash? this was my first time branching away from extract & specialty grains
I know an FG that low isnt unheard of, I just found it odd since ive always kind of had a problem with getting it to attenuate well
150F is a fine mash temp, if it dropped a few degrees it would make a slightly more attenuative wort. You got 83% attenuation, thats high but not unheard of. I personally like a slightly drier beer like that. I think you did good. Next stop, all grain.
Wasn’t any sugar in the recipe was there? That attenuates out completely and will give a lower FG.
Did you check your hydrometer for accuracy? I noticed my FG’s were finishing high before I realized my hydrometer was off. 60*F water should read 1.000.
Good advise! To get even more precise use distilled water.
If it is off you can still use it as long as you take into consideration the amount it is off. Also don’t use the sleeve it came in, use a hydrometer flask. There is not enough room in the plastic thing they come in to get a good reading.
