Beer Finishing too low and dry

[alwilson]

Morning Guys,

I'm consistently having this problem with my beers finishing too low gravity-wise. My last bitter (Pale and munich, OG 1050, Mash @ 67 : 90 Mins, Nottingham Yeast) finished at 1.008 - whilst I know this is within range for Nottingham, I was hoping for a 1.010 - 1.012 finish, as I like my bitter to have some residual sweetness.

I tried swapping to Windsor (though would prefer to stick with Nottingham) and then I managed a FG of 1.017, again within range for Windsor, but too sweet for my tastes.

Does anyone have any advice? I've been very particular about hitting 67 mash temps in the thought this would get me at least a 1.010 finish.. but no cigar

Thought, always appreciated

Alex

[Hogarth]

This is one of the trickiest things to get right. But if you're having no luck with a 67°C mash, try one at 68°C.

[Matt12398]

Crystal malt?

[alwilson]

Cheers Hogarth.

Matt12398, yes could do - but I'd rather achieve it without 'assistance' AND I'm a crystal-hater!

[SamT]

How accurate is your thermometer?

If it's inaccurate, It might claim you're mashing at 67C where in actual fact you'r mashing much lower, hence making a more fermentable wort leading to a lower FG

[alwilson]

oooh good point... ill calibrate that..

with ice and boiling, right?

[Eric]

Morning Guys,

I'm consistently having this problem with my beers finishing too low gravity-wise. My last bitter (Pale and munich, OG 1050, Mash @ 67 : 90 Mins, Nottingham Yeast) finished at 1.008 - whilst I know this is within range for Nottingham, I was hoping for a 1.010 - 1.012 finish, as I like my bitter to have some residual sweetness.

Alex

Even with Nottingham I would, like you, have expected a higher FG. Does the wort stand before it goes into the boiler, allowing further conversion to more fermentable sugars?
If you add salts to the mash, calcium chloride in place of gypsum would give malt more emphasis (at expense of hops) and with that recipe you could likely reduce the mash time slightly to some effect.

[jmc]

Maybe try WLP002 / Fullers yeast?

It doesn't attenuate so much but isn't over sweet.

Very tasty & flocculant too.

[Matt12398]

For the ice bath calibration I'll repost something someone else posted here recently and I've reposted since.

http://www.thermoworks.com/blog/2010/10 ... -ice-bath/

I realised I had been doing it wrong. I ended up buying one of the Thermopens in the video from ebay as they were selling off the ex-display and reconditioned ones half price at £28. One of the best brewing purchases I have made.

[AdyG]

Morning Guys,

I'm consistently having this problem with my beers finishing too low gravity-wise. My last bitter (Pale and munich, OG 1050, Mash @ 67 : 90 Mins, Nottingham Yeast) finished at 1.008 - whilst I know this is within range for Nottingham, I was hoping for a 1.010 - 1.012 finish, as I like my bitter to have some residual sweetness.

I tried swapping to Windsor (though would prefer to stick with Nottingham) and then I managed a FG of 1.017, again within range for Windsor, but too sweet for my tastes.

Does anyone have any advice? I've been very particular about hitting 67 mash temps in the thought this would get me at least a 1.010 finish.. but no cigar

Thought, always appreciated

Alex

You have to opposite problem to me then, my brew with Notts yeast finished at 1014, but I think now that was due to a higher mash temp, maybe 68 - 69. I wasn't too concerned about mash temps being spot on being a newby doing BIAB brewing. My more recent brew I took more care to stick at 66 mash temp, so will be interested to see if the FG is any lower.

[alwilson]

Dont worry AdyG, I also have a Windsor thats finished @ 1.017

[Dr. Dextrin]

I had a lot of trouble like this at one stage. Using Nottingham doesn't help as it'll take advantage of any opportunity to finish dry, especially if you're not using much crystal malt. So I'd support the suggestion of a different yeast.

But I think my issues were down to inadequate temperature retention in the mash tun (at least, they went away when I made a better MT). The problem, I think, was that the outer parts of the mash can get a lot cooler than the middle. So while you think you're maintaining the mash temperature (in the middle), a lot of the grain is actually mashing at a significantly lower temperature - and that gives a thin beer.

[dedken]

I think Sam T has already made the point, but if it was me by now I'd be questioning the accuracy of my thermo. Those standard glass brewing ones you can get can be +/-2C against a properly calibrated thermo. I'd spend £20 on a semi-decent digital one. Calibrate your glass one against your own body temperature, you'll soon discovered if you thermometer is a) accurate or b) that you're actually dead.

[Rookie]

The last bittr I did (1.040) was split between S-04 and Munton's regular. S-04 ended at 1.009, the Munton's at 1.013.

[AdyG]

Dont worry AdyG, I also have a Windsor thats finished @ 1.017

To follow up from my earlier posts on this subject, US-05 yeast in my last AIPA had a OG of 1060 and a FV of 1012, spot on as the BrewMate recipe. I also made sure I stuck to a 66 degree mash temp, and kept the FV next to my boiler in the utility room to try and keep it at a more consistent temperature. First time my gravities have been spot on for both.... just another 2 weeks to see what the beer tastes like.