Ipa Gravity Question

[JaseH]

I have an AIPA in the fermenter at the moment and its bottomed out at about 1017. The fast ferment sample I took managed a couple more points to about 1015. I've tried swirling, giving it a sanitary stir, and raising the temp a few degrees but it doesn't appear to want to drop those last couple of points. Its been in the fermenter just over 3 weeks and I dry hopped into the primary with almost ~90gm of pellets a few days ago.

Is it worth racking it to another vessel to try and get the last couple of points or will it be ok to bottle as is? If ok to bottle should I adjust my CO2 priming amount to be a bit lower? I would normally try and rack to another vessel next but not sure its worth it in this case?

 

[manticle]

No idea what the recipe is, mash temp if you mash etc so hard to say.

If you expect it to get lower, then yes, racking may help kickstart it.

Up to you if you think it's worth the trouble/risk - 2 points isn't crazy but carb on the lower side if you do. 4 points would be the outer limits for me but I would generally do whatever I could to get the best attenuation I could expect before bottling. Flavour balance and all that jazz too.

 

[RagingBull]

whats the recipe?

if the IBU/(OG-1) ratio is high enough i doubt you should be too dissapointed.

You could always rouse and try to get the last few points, but recipe, especially crystal malt % might have a bearing on how low you can actually get

 

[JaseH]

Its an extract recipe I did using a full boil:

Recipe: Hairy Eyeball IPA
Brewer: Jase
Style: American IPA
TYPE: Extract

Recipe Specifications
————————–
Boil Size: 27.42 l
Post Boil Volume: 26.00 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 24.00 l
Bottling Volume: 23.50 l
Estimated OG: 1.062 SG
Estimated FG: 1.010 SG
Estimated ABV: 6.8%
Estimated Color: 13.1 EBC
Estimated IBU: 68.1 IBUs
Boil Time: 45 Minutes

Ingredients:
————
Amt Name Type %/IBU
0.20 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt – 60L (118.2 EBC) Grain 4.7 %
0.10 kg Cara-Pils/Dextrine (3.9 EBC) Grain 2.3 %
2.50 kg Light Dry Malt Extract (8.0 EBC) Dry Extract 58.1 %
1.00 kg Light Dry Malt Extract [Late Addition] Dry Extract 23.3 %
0.50 kg Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 EBC) Sugar 11.6 %

30.00 g Warrior [17.20 %] – Boil 45.0 min Hop 49.1 IBUs
20.00 g Amarillo [9.30 %] – Boil 10.0 min Hop 7.0 IBUs
20.00 g Cascade [6.80 %] – Boil 10.0 min Hop 5.1 IBUs
20.00 g Amarillo [9.30 %] – Boil 0.0 min Hop 0.0 IBUs
20.00 g Cascade [6.80 %] – Boil 0.0 min Hop 0.0 IBUs
30.00 g Cascade [6.80 %] – Dry Hop 4.0 Days Hop 0.0 IBUs
30.00 g Amarillo [9.30 %] – Dry Hop 4.0 Day Hop 0.0 IBUs
30.00 g Centennial [9.70 %] – Dry Hop 4.0 Day Hop 0.0 IBUs

1.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) Yeast

The estimated values shown here are from BeerSmith, but dont appear to be correct(must be something with the DME values in Beersmith?), the Beer Designer spreadsheet estimated FG at around 1015 which looks to be spot on.

I would prefer to carb on the lower side than rack to try and pick up a couple of points, just wasnt sure if it was ok. Tastes good at the moment, plenty of IBU's from what I can taste in the SG samples!

 

[RagingBull]

Sounds like a DME thing.. IBU/GU ratio for an IPA should be palatable so you shouldnt have too much to worry about. Doubt a rack will do too much so Enjoy :icon_cheers:

 

[manticle]

Carapils mixed with crystal plus all extract and 1017 looks fine to me.

Try racking if you think it tastes too sweet or if you really feel it hasn't finished properly but when I brewed extract, I was finding most beers finished at 1016-1018 with no chance of anything shifting and no bottle bombs.

 

[JaseH]

Thats good enough for me, looks like I'll be bottling this weekend :icon_chickcheers:

 

[Tony]

yep.... will back this up above. Extract is notorius for crap attenuation. put crystal malts with it you get plenty of residual.

Also..... with that higher gravity, i would use 2 packs of yeast. It may have helped a bit.

with 68 IBU...... it will be fine.

Bottle her up!

 

[kelbygreen]

1.062 down to 1.010 is expecting heaps from extract. I will also say your well and truly done, Wouldnt worry the slightest

 

[JaseH]

Thanks for the re-assurance guys - looking forward to getting this one carbed up, its tasting and smelling pretty awesome at the moment out of the fermenter!

Thought about using 2 packs of yeast, but didn't in the end. I will for my next high OG beer, but will hopefully be doing AG by then.

 

[JaseH]

Just thought I'd post an update to this, I cracked one of these last night after a week and half in the bottle, I must say it turned out bloody awesome! Bitterness is spot on and so much hop aroma and flavor! Full volume boils FTW! Gonna have to hang on to this recipe and try it again as an AG.

 

[jeremys]

I brew almost exclusively with DME and have generally found that poor attenuation is a given. If you're going to do this recipe again and want to get closer to 1.010, I'd drop the Carapils and bump the corn sugar up to 20%, as DME is generally made using pale malt and a touch of carapils/dextrine malt anyway.