Have been lurking on this forum for a few weeks picking up tips but i keep seeing over attenuate and have no idea what that does to the finished product and what causes it. (fermentation temp maybe?) Any simple explanation? Under attenuate too? thanks
Attenuation is simply the degree to which the beer finally fermented. Over or under would probably just mean that it fell short or went too far than expected. There’s a lot of possible causes. The amount of simple sugars in the wort, fermentation temp, yeast strain and health are the main ones that come to mind.
If you give a description of your recipe, process, and what happened, we can probably help correct it.
As far as effect goes, an under attenuated beer may be sweet with a lot of body. The final gravity reading would be higher than expected.
A lower than expected final gravity would be over attenuated. The beer may seem thin and have more alcohol than desired.
I find underattenuation to be much more of a problem than over. I find it tastes like the beer isn’t finished. Worty is a good descriptor. It tastes like unfermented wort or non-alcholic beer. With a strong beer this can be especially unpleasant as it then tastes like a sweet non-alcoholic beer mixed with cheap vodka.
Totally agree. Gotta mash those big beers (in particular) low and long IMO.
perfect explanation guys. thanks.