I brewed this beer 6# golden promise, 1/2# wheat, 1/2# caramalt, 1/4# crystal rye.EKG’s and some Columbus at flame out going for a session pale ale kind of thing. I mashed at 155. I used a 1.5 L starter of wlp029 german ale kolsch. 4 gallons OG=1.046
Anyways its been two weeks and currently at 1.015 which is about 66% attenuation, took a reading a couple days ago and it was the same. My concern is that on the third day of fermentation I put some ice in the swamp cooler before I went to sleep and that night the ambient temps also dropped significantly so I went from 64-66 to 58-60. The next morning all the krausen was gone but there was still a lot of yeast in suspension I warmed it up to 64-66 since then and swirled the fermented daily. The beer has now dropped clear.
I mashed high and have 10% crystal malt so I’m kind of stuck on whether to think its done and the low attenuation is due to the recipe and mash temps or because the yeast dropped out prematurely. The beer tastes awesome so i’d hate to end up with bottle bombs if the priming sugar restarts fermentation.
I know this is one of those question that its hard to answer. Just looking for some expert advice I do have some us-05 handy
Where I am going is a 3pt drop to 1.012 is 76% attenuation.
A 2 point drop, 1.046…1.012(88) is 72%
IMO you are over analyzing this. If you have a steady gravity reading, the beer is done. Can you taste the difference between a 3 point difference in the beers?
hmm good point. I was thinking 66% was very low I never realized it was only a matter of three points I was worried about. I was just concerned there may be some fermentable sugars left because of the way the krausen feel after the third day. It doesn’t taste sweet and I hit exactly what I wanted flavor wise so I guess ill give it another week and bottle that puppy up. Thanks for your input much appreciated :cheers:
hmm good point. I was thinking 66% was very low I never realized it was only a matter of three points I was worried about. I was just concerned there may be some fermentable sugars left because of the way the krausen feel after the third day. It doesn’t taste sweet and I hit exactly what I wanted flavor wise so I guess ill give it another week and bottle that puppy up. Thanks for your input much appreciated :cheers:
[quote=“Nighthawk”]And like you mentioned in the 1st post, if you mashed at 150*, you might see the 3 points difference.
Also if you wish for a lower FG, sub some table sugar for some of the grain.[/quote]
I did mash high on purpose for a beer with some body I guess I got what I wanted. It was just the nature of the fermentation along with the higher FG together that bothered me. I think I’ll end up with an interesting low alcohol pale ale with a good amount of body, great hop flavor and aroma without being bitter which was my plan.
