Highest FG?

[Zephyr259]

What's the highest final gravity folks have had their beer finish at? Stuck fermentation's don't count. Curious as the wee heavy style can finish as high as 1.040, Ray Daniels mentions that same fg in a scotch ale he brewed in designing great beers. Strikes me that high would be pretty sweet especially as the style doesn't go very high on the bu:gu ratio, around 0.5 I think.

So what are pepoles highest finishes?

 

[strange-steve]

My imperial stout had an FG of 1.032 but it also had 86 IBUs to balance it out.

 

[dps51]

also should have asked what the og was first to start with
then see who got the highest finished fg

 

[Ajhutch]

My milk chocolate stout was 1.048-1.018 so finished pretty high, due to the large dose of lactose. I heard something interesting from Gordon Strong on an old BeerSmith podcast where he talked about finishing gravity being where he starts a lot of recipe design from, that's quite thought provoking because I have to admit it doesn't tend to be foremost in my mind when thinking about recipes.


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[hamster]

I've just done a Zombie Dust that finished at 1030 from 1070, again though IBU should be 88 although just aim was to finish it more around the 1020 mark... I had my mash temp too high

 

[Zephyr259]

Thanks for the info guys, I figured most with high FGs would also have big IBUs, probably should have asked that too. The wee heavy style doesn't seem to "allow" for those high IBU figures. Also stouts will also be balanced by the roast character which I'll be lacking.

From the 2015 BJCP guidelines
Vital Statistics:
OG: 1.070 – 1.130
FG: 1.018 – 1.040
ABV: 6.5 – 10.0%
IBUs: 17 – 35

I'm thinking of going from 1.099 to 1.034 for 8.5% ABV. Then keeping with the mid to high spec around 31 IBUs. Sounds a bit like it could go wrong and be really sweet and syrupy but I'm too curious to not try. Any thoughts? My spiced barleywine only has about 15 IBUs due to volume issues as it was my 2nd batch, it went from 1.092 to 1.018 and is fairly tasty. Should be an interesting experiment.

 

[Ajhutch]

I wonder how you get yeast to stop that high, is it just due to alcohol tolerance or a wort with lots of unfermentable sugar


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[dad_of_jon]

king kong - og 1.108 fg 1.010

we'll wheat again an 8% wheat beer og: 1.072 fg 1.019

in this case it was the alcohol level causing the yeast to give up rather than unfermenetable sugars

 

[IainM]

This RIS in my fv has finished at 1.022, down from 1.102, but with 93 IBUs to balance it out.

 

[Zephyr259]

I wonder how you get yeast to stop that high, is it just due to alcohol tolerance or a wort with lots of unfermentable sugar.

Wyeast 1728 Scottish ale yeast has an average attenuation of 71%, if you mash at 70C then it drop's to around 66% which leaves a lot of sweetness behind. So a mix of yeast choice and a lower fermentability wort.

Interesting discovery while playing with this, using the grainfather recipe builder the yeasts seem to hit their average attenuation at 67.5C.

Thanks for the continued information.

 

[MrN]

On the subject of the beer being too sweet. I was listening to a podcast with Charles Bamforth and interestingly higher fg supposedly doesn't necessarily mean sweeter beer. It all depends on what residual sugar are left behind. Dextrins, for example, are apparently unfermentable but also undetectable to our palates so a wort high in dextrins (as would be created by a high mash temp) might be more full bodied but not necessarily sweeter.

They gave examples of beers they'd brewed that had been lower fg but actually sweeter tasting than one with a higher fg.

I suppose this means that sweetness is more to do with malt and yeast selection e.g. a low attenuating yeast strain may leave behind more 'detectable' sugars but I could be wrong on that.

 

[Sadfield]

Water will have an effect also, altering the perception of bitterness dependant on sodium levels.

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[hamster]

On the subject of the beer being too sweet. I was listening to a podcast with Charles Bamforth and interestingly higher fg supposedly doesn't necessarily mean sweeter beer. It all depends on what residual sugar are left behind. Dextrins, for example, are apparently unfermentable but also undetectable to our palates so a wort high in dextrins (as would be created by a high mash temp) might be more full bodied but not necessarily sweeter.

Well bugger me sideways... I've been looking for a way to get a fuller bodied beer and I never knew that dextrins don't mean a sweeter beer !

I'm off to research malts that produce dextrins without the sweetness !

 

[IainM]

On the subject of the beer being too sweet. I was listening to a podcast with Charles Bamforth and interestingly higher fg supposedly doesn't necessarily mean sweeter beer. It all depends on what residual sugar are left behind. Dextrins, for example, are apparently unfermentable but also undetectable to our palates so a wort high in dextrins (as would be created by a high mash temp) might be more full bodied but not necessarily sweeter.

They gave examples of beers they'd brewed that had been lower fg but actually sweeter tasting than one with a higher fg.

I suppose this means that sweetness is more to do with malt and yeast selection e.g. a low attenuating yeast strain may leave behind more 'detectable' sugars but I could be wrong on that.

There was a Brulosophy xBmt about this:

The objectively observable differences between the beers in this xBmt corroborate this scientifically valid fact– the higher beta amylase activity in the low mash temp beer resulted in a FG of 1.005 while the increased alpha amylase activity in the high mash temp sample resulted in a FG of 1.014, a strikingly vast .009 SG difference. Prior to this xBmt, if asked how 2 beers of such varying FG might differ, I would have thoughtlessly, perhaps even arrogantly, claimed the differences in body and especially perceived sweetness would be easily identifiable. It’s a line of reasoning that, on the surface, seems obvious: higher FG = more sugar = sweeter. The data just doesn’t seem to back this up, which I find incredibly surprising.

 

[MrN]

Well bugger me sideways... I've been looking for a way to get a fuller bodied beer and I never knew that dextrins don't mean a sweeter beer !

I'm off to research malts that produce dextrins without the sweetness !

I believe you can just use maltodextrin powder for this but may be wrong. You can also get dextrin malt for this purpose which I think is also known as carapils.

Here's a couple of links with more info:
http://howtobrew.com/book/section-4/experiment/increasing-the-body

http://byo.com/mead/item/2966-dextrin-malts-mr-wizard

Edit: that Brulosophy article is also very interesting, not only was there no noticeable difference in sweetness but body was perceived to be the same as well.

 

[Sadfield]

Any crystal malt will do, as will high mash temperatures. IIRC in the case of Crystal they're a product of the Maillard reaction during stewing. Carapils and Caramalt are just low colour Crystal malts.

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[geetee]

I believe you can just use maltodextrin powder for this but may be wrong. You can also get dextrin malt for this purpose which I think is also known as carapils.

Here's a couple of links with more info:
http://howtobrew.com/book/section-4/experiment/increasing-the-body

http://byo.com/mead/item/2966-dextrin-malts-mr-wizard

Edit: that Brulosophy article is also very interesting, not only was there no noticeable difference in sweetness but body was perceived to be the same as well.

Yup, Carapils is also known as dextrin malt and can add body and head to a brew without the sweetness.
I just made a NEIPA with Golden Promise, munich, 4% carapils and acid malt started at 1061 and got down to 1015. never moved for a week so cooled and bottled it. Still waiting for it to cold condition before sampling!

 

[BeerCat]

My "Rogers Old Todger" finished at 1020 ABV 11.89%. I had 3 Stouts in a row finish at 1018 and they all went down the drain.

 

[Simonh82]

As a side note, maltodextrin is the stuff the coat crisps in to carry the various flavours. It is used because it is pretty flavour neutral so doesn't change the taste of the crisps.

My understanding is that maltodextrin is a catch all term for the dextrins that are produced by mashing malted grains. These can be long chain and short chain dextrins and the shorter chain ones are slightly sweeter. In the mashing process this is controlled by the mash temperature.

 

[dad_of_jon]

I thought dextrins could ferment in your stomach thus making you fart more

or did I just dream that?

Regards,

David