Acceptable finishing gravities

[Thirsty Boy]

Guys,

I know (or at least think I know) that all grain beers tend to have a higher finishing gravity than extract or tin/kit beers. But how high should it be?? Of course it will vary with style. But does anyone have sort of a rough guide? I think I heard Jon P or the Pope mention on one of the Style shows, that 1.01 was a "very dry" beer, 1.015 was "dry" etc etc I think that's the sort of thing I'm looking for. I kind of thought that 1.01 was pretty much what I was aiming for, and too far off meant I had done something wrong. But apparently not.

For example - I brewed Jamil's robust porter recipe. OG of 1.064 3 weeks in primary brought it down to 1.02 and thats pretty much where it stayed. So I shoved it into a keg to age for a while. Is that low enough??

Where should I expect my 1.052 APA to finish out? Is there a chart or something?

Thanks

Thirsty

[Kaiser]

I know (or at least think I know) that all grain beers tend to have a higher finishing gravity than extract or tin/kit beers.

The FG of your AG beers depends on how you mash. You can easily make an AG beer that has a higher attenuation than an extract beer.

But how high should it be?? Of course it will vary with style.

yes the style and previous itetations of the recipe should give you an idea where you want to be. For a normal gravity beer (11-13*P - 1.044 - 1.052) an FG of 2 - 3P is a good target (1.008 - 1.012).

Where should I expect my 1.052 APA to finish out? Is there a chart or something?

The problem with AG batches is, that it is hard to predict the limit of attenuation of the wort since it depends on the exact mashing conditions. Chances are, that your system is consistent and you should easily be able to hit your FG within 1*P (0.004) if you do a good job repeating the mash shedule. The choice of yeast will determine the final attenuation, which is usually pretty close to the limit of attenuation if the yeast doen't floculate to quickly.

There is one way to measure the limit of attenuation of your wort before the fermentation is done. A fast (or forced) ferment test takes a lot of yeast and some of the wort and ferments it at a relative high temperature to have the fermentation complete within a few days. I use this technique for my lagers in order to check how far I want the fermentation to go. For ales this is usually not necessary since ale fermentations are pretty quick anyway.

The short answer is, get to know your system by brewing the same or similar beers multiple times while keeping good notes on the actual parameters that you had during the process.

Kai

Thanks

Thirsty

[Thirsty Boy]

Thanks Kai. Good info.

What you say is pretty much what I am trying to do. Get to know my system and learn how the different things I do effect the beer.

Just didn't know what I was aiming for, so of course, not sure if I was hitting the target.

In the meantime, my brain has kicked into gear and I have had a look at the style summaries that are in Pro-Mash. They of course give you a desirable FG range.

So in my robust porter, I had an OG at the high end of the range and so should be seeing my FG at just about 1.016. Which means that at 1.02 it finished a little high and if it fails to dry out anymore during ageing/conditioning, perhaps I need to look at making a slightly more fermentable wort next time. Or something like that anyway.

Anyway. Question answered. Thanks again

Thirsty

[valorian]

With All-Garin brewing, your FG will depend on what temperature you mash at. Two beers with the exact same recipe, one mashed at 156 will not ferment down as low as one mashed at 150. A 156 mash will create a lot more unfermentables.