I recently returned to homebrewing and brewed my first extract + specialty grain brew. Used a cultured up Coopers Pale Ale yeast and all was going great. However the fermentation seems to have stopped at 1.014 which is a bit higher than I expected. It has been fermenting for 2 weeks at 20-22C. Fermentation temp is a bit higher than I would have liked but haven't yet set up my fermentation fridge. I expected the brew to finish around 1.010 based on the Kit & Extract spreadsheet available on this forum with a 75% attenuation. The recipe used is below.
Recipe:
2.0kg Light Dry Malt Extract
300g Caraamber
100g Carapils
500g Dextrose
36g Cascade 7.0% 60mins
6g Cascade 7.0% 10mins
OG: 1.045
The only thing that I can think may have caused this is the specialty grains steeping temperature. Being my first specialty grains attempt I did not control the steeping temperature overly well. I know there were periods where the temperature went both over and under the 60-70C recommended range. And I forgot to filter the hot break out of the boiled wort when I transferred to the fermentor. I can see quite a lot of break/trub in the bottom of the fermentor.
Does this FG seem high to anyone else? Could either of the problems noted above be the cause for a higher than expected FG or is there something else I should be looking for?
Any recommended ways to see if fermentation has actually finished and I should bottle? Have checked over 3 days and gravity has remained steady at 1.014.
Thanks heaps for any help
Recipe:
2.0kg Light Dry Malt Extract
300g Caraamber
100g Carapils
500g Dextrose
36g Cascade 7.0% 60mins
6g Cascade 7.0% 10mins
OG: 1.045
The only thing that I can think may have caused this is the specialty grains steeping temperature. Being my first specialty grains attempt I did not control the steeping temperature overly well. I know there were periods where the temperature went both over and under the 60-70C recommended range. And I forgot to filter the hot break out of the boiled wort when I transferred to the fermentor. I can see quite a lot of break/trub in the bottom of the fermentor.
Does this FG seem high to anyone else? Could either of the problems noted above be the cause for a higher than expected FG or is there something else I should be looking for?
Any recommended ways to see if fermentation has actually finished and I should bottle? Have checked over 3 days and gravity has remained steady at 1.014.
Thanks heaps for any help