Hello All,
Need advice on final gravity with my first attempt at a robust porter and higher mash temps. I mashed at a higher temp. for more body at around 155-156. It’s been almost two weeks in the primary and the gravity has leveled off at around 1.022 for the past week. The starting gravity was 1.061. Just wondering if I can expect any more lowering of the gravity or is this normal for higher mashes due to the unfermentable dextrins? I started with a cool fermentation and have slowly warmed it up to 70 degrees in the hopes the gravity will get lower.
Thanks All!
Tom
can you post some recipe details? 155-156 is not that high but if there’s lots of crystal malt in there that might what you get.
Yes, the recipe would be very helpful, and considering your mash temp I wouldn’t be surprised if 22 was the final grav. You could try raising the temp a bit and give it a gentle stir to get a few extra points out of it.
Here’s the grain bill: 9.5 Lbs Pale, 1 Lb Munich, 1/2# Caramuncih, 1/2# Crystal40, 1/2#Carapils, 3/4#Chocolate, and some Carafa II and Roasted Barley…
I tasted the beer when I took the gravity readings and didnt taste to sweet at all…
Thanks for the feedback!
Yeah, looking at the recipe you have quite a few unfermentables in there. That combined with the higher mash temp is going to give you the higher FG. I’d say if it doesn’t drop a few points in the next couple days then it is done.
You are only at about 12% crystals, which is not excessive, so I think 1.022 is a bit high. You may just have lethargic yeast or maybe under-pitched a bit. I would pitch a bit of krausen from your next batch of ale. I imagine a little more time at 70F where you have it will help, regardless.
Rouse the yeast every day or two and keep an eye on the gravity. If it doesn’t taste too sweet, then RDWHAHB and package when FG is stable for a few days.
This situation is a good reason to do forced ferment tests if you’re brewing a recipe for the first time. No guessing required.
What yeast did you use? If you used WY1968, I’d say you are done. If you used WY1056 then you may have a couple of points left.