Stout FG 1018 3 times in a row

[BeerCat]

As the title says annoyingly my last 3 Stouts have finished at 1018. Fermented at 19c and 20c using fresh decanted starters of WLP004 with 2 and the new Polish/Irish yeast with the last. Absolutely nothing wrong with the health of the yeast and same method/recipes i always use to get down to a 1010 dry beer.
I didn't use temp control before these beers and i smashed my thermometer. Replaced it with 2 of the same model which read the same. My Pale Ales are crisp so i dont think they are mashed too high and always full attenuate. Wort always tastes fine no sign of tannins. I don't think i am under pitching as i always pitch a healthy amount of fresh yeast. If anything i over pitch.
A normal healthy fermentation, looks same as always. Flocculates reasonably fast.
Used Marris Otter and Irish stout malt, all fresh ingredients.
Normally pitch around 18c and i pour from a good height so its got plenty of oxygen.
Your thoughts appreciated.

 

[johnnyboy1965]

Its your water
Check the Ph of your water and the mash

 

[Ale]

My one attempt at AG so far failed because of too high a mash temp which releases more non-fermentable sugars. What was yours?

 

[johnnyboy1965]

Just re-read your post...WLP 004 will leave a little sweetness
Try the same recipe using a "bog standard .....yeast S04"

 

[Bodleigh Head]

I hope I am not stating the obvious, but any beer with crystal malt or roasted malts in it is going to finish with a higher FG. Particularly if you are using an ale yeast that doesn't ferment maltotriose (not familiar with WLP004) and if you are brewing a higher gravity beer. If you have got 1018 three times in a row it sounds like you are doing it right.
I brewed up a vintage IPA a month or so ago, it finished at 1018 ... no worries, it was designed to do that. If you want a drier brew, try replacing some of your malt with a little sugar or perhaps look into the quantities of crystal and or roasted malts you are using.

 

[Leon103]

Same ingredients?
Is they hydrometer working correctly?

 

[BeerCat]

This is the same recipe i always do which is a dry Stout. Should not be sweet. I have used 13% RB and 3% crystal before and finished at 1010 every time. I should of said i split the first batch and both have the same flavour/ finishing OG. Always use RO water, the problem must being the mash which is odd as i dont mash dark grains. Its identical to doing a pale beer apart from 2c higher temp. I wonder if i am extracting tannins and my taste buds dont detect it. I cant believe i have gone back to not being able to brew a Stout again.

 

[BeerCat]

Found the problem. You can see from this photo the different ph of 2 of my beers. The one on the left (stout) looks around 2.5 and the other (IPA) is about 5. My notes are not exactly concise but guessing i adjusted the ph when i should not of done. As i cold steep dark grains does not need iot. No wonder it reminds me of starsan, has the same bloody acidity. Plenty of beer to throw away again. Not going to get too angry and i hope it helps someone not make my mistakes.

 

[dad_of_jon]

good spot, my starsan is ph3 so 2.5 is really much too low

 

[MyQul]

There's no way I'd chuck the beer. Blend it with some very dry stout or get some amylase enzyme (if you haven't already bottled it)

 

[BeerCat]

good spot, my starsan is ph3 so 2.5 is really much too low

Cheers , been trying to do to many things at once as usual and that's what happens. Must pay attention.

@johnnyboy1965 You were correct . Once again must pay attention

 

[BeerCat]

There's no way I'd chuck the beer. Blend it with some very dry stout or get some amylase enzyme (if you haven't already bottled it)

Could be good as a marinade. Just gonna brew another batch to replace it tomorrow night hopefully. £10 in ingredients and hurt pride. Could be worse. I need a clipboard and boxes to tick.

 

[Ajhutch]

If you use RO water do you need to add back some chemicals to make it alkaline to begin with, as roasted malts will bring down the ph, as appears to have happened.

 

[Razor]

What's RO water?


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[BeerCat]

What's RO water?


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Reverse Osmosis. The problem was alkalising the water when it didn't need it. I don't mash dark grains only steep them so i didn't need to. Very stupid mistake of me to have made. Oh well live and learn (slowly in my case).

 

[strange-steve]

Reverse Osmosis. The problem was alkalising the water when it didn't need it. I don't mash dark grains only steep them so i didn't need to. Very stupid mistake of me to have made. Oh well live and learn (slowly in my case).

If you increased the alkalinity of the mash water unnecessarily then that could indeed be a factor in the high fg, however it doesn't explain why you would have a pH of 2.5 in the finished beer, if anything the opposite should be the case ie. the pH should be too high.

Fwiw the pH of the finished beer should generally be somewhere between 4.0 - 4.8, lower is going to taste sour and higher will be dull and flat tasting and much more susceptible to infection.

How sure are you that your ph strips are accurate? 2.5 is very low, a Berliner Weisse is about 3.5 and even a lambic won't be any lower than 3.0.

 

[BeerCat]

If you increased the alkalinity of the mash water unnecessarily then that could indeed be a factor in the high fg, however it doesn't explain why you would have a pH of 2.5 in the finished beer, if anything the opposite should be the case ie. the pH should be too high.

Fwiw the pH of the finished beer should generally be somewhere between 4.0 - 4.8, lower is going to taste sour and higher will be dull and flat tasting and much more susceptible to infection.

How sure are you that your ph strips are accurate? 2.5 is very low, a Berliner Weisse is about 3.5 and even a lambic won't be any lower than 3.0.

Hi Steve. Sorry i thought i had replied to already. Very interesting, i dont understand it either. I tested a bottle again and it looks like 3PH. Its a bit hard to tell as its a dark beer and they are only cheap 50p a pack generic strips. They seem to be reasonably accurate though. Its all been ditched now and a new batch is fermenting away. I am definitely going to taste the water before use and check my wort before fermenting and bottling. Thanks for your help.
I challenge anyone else on here to screw up as much asi do

 

[Llanbrewer]

I've just kegged some stout today at 1018. I had a taste from the hydrometer vessel, and it didn't taste particularly sweet. In fact it tasted pretty good.

 

[BeerCat]

My 4th attempt is either stuck or finished at 1018 again. From 1050 that's only 63% attenuation. Does not taste bad but way too sweet for me. Will try rousing the yeast and see if this helps. Hardly any water additions, the same as i always did and always fermented down to 1010. Even varied the recipe with lactose and still hit 1010. Anyone here any experience of stout malt?

 

[dad_of_jon]

Hi Steve. Sorry i thought i had replied to already. Very interesting, i dont understand it either. I tested a bottle again and it looks like 3PH. Its a bit hard to tell as its a dark beer and they are only cheap 50p a pack generic strips. They seem to be reasonably accurate though. Its all been ditched now and a new batch is fermenting away. I am definitely going to taste the water before use and check my wort before fermenting and bottling. Thanks for your help.
I challenge anyone else on here to screw up as much asi do

you can test a ph strip against a bottled water with a stated ph on the label, that would give you a rough calibration check.