i want lower final gravity

rhodian · Post by **rhodian** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 9:44 pm

hi guys. i'm making good beer, kits and all grain, and really enjoying it/getting drunk.

but... ideally i'd like slightly less sweet beer. i'm getting final gravities of about 1.010, no matter what i start with, kit or grain.

should i... a) just accept what i've got and enjoy it. b) leave fv in a slightly warmer place c)use different yeast - i use bakers yeast wit the TC and it goes extra dry d) add yeast nutrient e) none of the above...

??

any tips appreciated

ta

ian

OldSpeckledBadger · Post by **OldSpeckledBadger** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 9:49 pm

Try a strain of yeast called Nottingham. It ferments down to a slightly lower FG than most dried yeasts.

trucker5774 · Post by **trucker5774** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 10:14 pm

I use Nottingham yeast (gervin actually, but it's the same thing) and regularly hit an FG of 1010. You may find if you use white sugar (not a recommendation) that it may ferment lower. Try using a stronger bittering hop early in the boil. Yeast nutrient may help but it sounds like you are getting good results for AG. The kits could get down to 1006 perhaps.

rhodian · Post by **rhodian** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 10:26 pm

thanks guys

i use safale S04 with the AG, by the way, and just whatever comes with the kit, if it's a kit. i'm pretty much weaned off white sugar for now so i don't fancy going back...

maybe if i start with a higher SG so as to brew it stronger, and then add water at the end before bottling... i mean i diluted my wort a bit from last AG batch before fermenting, if i did that after... or is that just crazy talk...

trucker5774 · Post by **trucker5774** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 11:09 pm

I often dilute wort post boil before I ferment.................just down to my set up and size of mash tun/boiler. I wouldn't add water after fermentation

Ive had many apint in a pub where I suspected they had diluted the beer.............not nice

rhodian · Post by **rhodian** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 11:34 am

cheers chris, that helps!

ian

EoinMag · Post by **EoinMag** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 2:40 pm

Apparently adding these things http://www.amazon.com/Beano-Helps-Preve ... B00014DTOO

will decrease your final gravity, they break down long chained sugars into simpler sugars and increase the overall fermentability of your wort, the yanks use them from time to time, might be worth researching.

<edit> just in case you're wondering the same long chained sugars are responsible for farts, which is what the tablets help against for more or less the same reasons.

mysterio · Post by **mysterio** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 3:53 pm

Obvious, but simply making lower gravity beers around 1.040 goes a long way. If you're making anything above this and using an English yeast, you've got to accept that the beer is going to be quite sweet unless you have the hop bitterness to back it up. US pale ales get away with beers in the 1.050 - 1.060 range by using a very attenuative yeast in most cases (Chico) and having a large amount of hop bitterness and usually some carbonation which adds to the drying effect. Even then many of them seem syrupy and unbalanced to me. Plain sugar is a must IMO if you're making a stronger English style ale (1.050 +)

rhodian · Post by **rhodian** » Sat Aug 15, 2009 12:13 am

eoin: wow, beano - strangely fascinating... don't think i'll bother tho! thanks anyway!

mysterio: syrupiness is the exact problem; i start the evening thinking my beer is the best thing i've ever tasted, but halfway through the second pint it starts to seem kinda sticky... maybe general lower gravity is the way to go. think i'll mess about with more hops/carbonation too and see what happens.

cheers

ian

mysterio · Post by **mysterio** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 7:45 pm

What gravity is the beer you are brewing, in general ?

Chase24 · Post by **Chase24** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 7:00 pm

I've always found the best solution to the sticky beer problem is to brew a lower gravity and use crystal or choc malt to get the mouthfeel. Adding sugar seems to be a good way of boosting Abv and achieving lower gravity but you lose some of the malt flavour In return...

simple one · Post by **simple one** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 7:39 pm

Also try leaving it for a few months. Its amazing what happens to a beer once mature and some of those dextrins are gone.

If your like most brewers and have an aversion to white sugar, why not make some light candy sugar? Just a thought.

mysterio · Post by **mysterio** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 8:15 pm

Or just forget about the aversion to white sugar, theres nothing wrong with it

simple one · Post by **simple one** » Mon Aug 17, 2009 8:47 pm

Thats why I never put ferment.

simple one · Post by **simple one** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 8:59 am

I am probably wrong to use the term dextrins, but doesn't the process of staling/maturation allow certian chemicals to react with some of the more complex sugars over time and produce a thinning effect (and some times even a wine like flavour if left extremely long) over time. I have tasted this thinning effect in a porter, one a month old compared to 7 months.

I suppose a some of this can be put down to a background level of other micro organisms too. Would this be classed a fermentation, probably yes

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