Final Gravity

[Dazza_devil]

Good point on the maltodextrin. I'd steer clear of the enzymes though, too many vaired reports.

Have you tried racking to secondary to drop a few SG points? Its often done that for me in the past, not to mention it gives a clearer brew at bottling time.

- boingk

I tried racking to secondary once Boingk, never budged. Same goes for a gentle stir. I reckon it's the fermentability of my LDME but the beers are still nice though.
I doubt if I would go the enzyme route, I prefer to use only the pure ingredients of beer.

I guess adding maltodextrine would put the FG up anyway.

 

[rackemup]

Sorry, i forgot to add - always boil up the kit yeast as nutrient for your other yeast, i think it gets the fermentation of to a quicker, stronger start which should help get a lower fg

 

[Muggus]

According to my logs, i've had an extract pilsner go down to 1.006 using WLP802 Czech Budejovice.
Left it in secondary for a month and it just did its thing. Very dry and bitey bitterness.

 

[Dazza_devil]

According to my logs, i've had an extract pilsner go down to 1.006 using WLP802 Czech Budejovice.
Left it in secondary for a month and it just did its thing. Very dry and bitey bitterness.

Interesting Muggus.
Would you have a recipe?
What sort of extract did you use?

 

[Muggus]

Pretty simple recipe...quite a while ago though.

Simple used an ESB Czech Pilsner Kit 3.0kg up to 20L, not sure if they make this anymore...
And yeah, pitched a vial of White Labs Czech Budejovice Lager Yeast WLP802 at 18 degrees, and let it ferment at 12 degrees for 3 weeks, then into secondary for 3 more weeks.

 

[harry72]

So here is a really silly noob question - what is the benefit of a low final reading? Isn't it relative to where it starts?

 

[Muggus]

So here is a really silly noob question - what is the benefit of a low final reading? Isn't it relative to where it starts?

Like you mentioned, it is all relative.
But one thing is certain with a low FG, a dry body. In other words, your beer will not be sweet. Generally this will allow hops (particularly their bitterness) to shine through more prominantly. On the negative side, a good malt body tends to hide a high alcohol percentage better than a dry body, so keep that in mind.
Other than that, a low FG may allude to your beer having a lean body, ie quite thin texture particularly if the alcohol isn't high.

 

[zebba]

Half a tin Coopers Wheat Malt
Full tin morgans masterblend lager malt
300g LDME
200g Dextrose
US05
21 litres

20g Amarillo @ 60
20g Willamette @ 60
15g Willamette @ 15
20g Willamette @ 1

OG 1046
FG 1008 - in 4 days @ 18 degrees! Never had one take off like that. Ever. Bottled after 1 week, drinking 1.5 weeks after, and it's loverly. I really like this one, and the turnaround was ridiculously quick!

Biggest delta though was my case swap beer for the Vic lads this Christmas (full recipe in Vic case swap recipe thread):
3.?kg LDME (dodgy scales, so not 100%)
60g Carapils
100g Dark Crystal

OG 1067
FG 1010 - 2 weeks, and it just kept bubbling slowly the whole time. I expected it to bottom out @ 1016-1018... Crazy stuff for an all malt.

 

[Dazza_devil]

Half a tin Coopers Wheat Malt
Full tin morgans masterblend lager malt
300g LDME
200g Dextrose
US05
21 litres

20g Amarillo @ 60
20g Willamette @ 60
15g Willamette @ 15
20g Willamette @ 1

OG 1046
FG 1008 - in 4 days @ 18 degrees! Never had one take off like that. Ever. Bottled after 1 week, drinking 1.5 weeks after, and it's loverly. I really like this one, and the turnaround was ridiculously quick!

Biggest delta though was my case swap beer for the Vic lads this Christmas (full recipe in Vic case swap recipe thread):
3.?kg LDME (dodgy scales, so not 100%)
60g Carapils
100g Dark Crystal

OG 1067
FG 1010 - 2 weeks, and it just kept bubbling slowly the whole time. I expected it to bottom out @ 1016-1018... Crazy stuff for an all malt.

That first recipe looks delicious Zebba, perhaps the wheat malt is a contributing factor to your low reading there. I've never tried the Morgans Lager malt or Coopers Wheat malt. What's in the Morgan's Masterblend Lager malt?

 

[zebba]

That first recipe looks delicious Zebba, perhaps the wheat malt is a contributing factor to your low reading there. I've never tried the Morgans Lager malt or Coopers Wheat malt. What's in the Morgan's Masterblend Lager malt?

According to their webpage: "Contains 100% 2 Row Barley Lager Malt being 1350g of barley malt.".

All I know is, I was looking for a quick extract brew that would be an easy drinking summer beer, and I wanted to steer clear of dry extract as I was trying to pinpoint a strange flavour in my last few brews (chalky, toothpaste like flavour - very mild, and you had to be looking for it, but it was there) (the LDME addition was for the hop boil). I'm calling it a success, as it didn't need a month+ of conditioning to get it very drinkable, and no chalk flavour in sight

 

[Dazza_devil]

According to their webpage: "Contains 100% 2 Row Barley Lager Malt being 1350g of barley malt.".

All I know is, I was looking for a quick extract brew that would be an easy drinking summer beer, and I wanted to steer clear of dry extract as I was trying to pinpoint a strange flavour in my last few brews (chalky, toothpaste like flavour - very mild, and you had to be looking for it, but it was there) (the LDME addition was for the hop boil). I'm calling it a success, as it didn't need a month+ of conditioning to get it very drinkable, and no chalk flavour in sight

Did you dry pitch 12g US05?

 

[zebba]

Did you dry pitch 12g US05?

Yup @ 22 deg