83% Apparent Attenuation w/ 1056 - in an extract beer?

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by DunkelFester, Mar 17, 2016.

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  1. DunkelFester

    DunkelFester Zealot (607) Aug 24, 2004 Pennsylvania

    Hi all,

    ~ 10 days ago, I brewed a 10 gallon batch using Briess Pils light DME, wheat DME, and a pound of crystal 45 (steeped). It's my first extract batch in more years than I can remember - so take that fwiw.

    Everything went fine. Hit my target OG (1.050), and split the batch into two buckets. Hit each with some O2, pitched one with 1056 and the other with ECY14 - each from decanted 1.5 liter starters I'd made (because I'd originally planned to step them up and use them in separate 10 gallon all-grain batches but... well... it's a long story. Suffice to say that events beyond my control led me to choose a quick extract brew session over nothing at all). Anyway...

    Lag times were short for both, and things were churning away as normal by the next morning.

    Finally got around to checking the gravity last night and was surprised to see that the 1056 half finished @ 1.008 (2 pts lower than the ECY14 half!).

    I was not expecting 83% AA from 1056, particularly in a DME batch w/ no added sugars or other highly fermentable adjunct. But, then, it's been a long time since I've used the strain. I know it's a go-to for a lot of people, so I'm just wondering what kind of attenuation other people see in-practice. I know that the specs usually have it at 73 - 77%.

    What gives?

    Other info: The 1056 production date was sometime in Dec 2015 (iirc). Starter was fed O2 and placed on a stir plate. If the calculators are to be trusted, that means I pitched somewhere in the neighborhood of 169 billion cells. A slight underpitch vs. the 175 billion recommended for 5 gal of 1.050 wort (or slight overpitch if Kai Troester's model is more accurate).
     
    #1 DunkelFester, Mar 17, 2016
  2. Jduche17

    Jduche17 Initiate (0) Dec 4, 2015 Canada (QC)

    I have a pale ale in the fermentor at the moment that i brewed last Saturday with 1054 production date is around the same and i also did a 1.5L starter my OG was 1.051 , I will check the FG in a few days and give you my results to see if they are similar , I do not have an oxygen tool though and my ferm temp is steady at 64F , I did a 5.5 G batch
     
    #2 Jduche17, Mar 17, 2016
  3. billandsuz

    billandsuz Pooh-Bah (2,097) Sep 1, 2004 New York
    Pooh-Bah

    Who knows what shit they put into that DME?
     
    #3 billandsuz, Mar 17, 2016
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  4. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,375) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    “INGREDIENTS

    99% Pilsen Malt

    1% Carapils® Malt

    Water”

    http://www.brewingwithbriess.com/Assets/PDFs/Briess_PISB_CBWPilsenLightDME.pdf

    I visited the Briess booth at the 2014 NHC and I had the opportunity to conduct a side-by-side tasting of two Pilsners. One was brewed all grain using Briess Pilsner Malt and the other was brewed using 100% Briess Pilsen DME. Those two beers tasted identical to me.

    Cheers!

    Edit: I brew using Briess Pilsen DME. It is a high quality malt extract IMO.
     
    #4 JackHorzempa, Mar 17, 2016
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  5. mikehartigan

    mikehartigan Maven (1,421) Apr 9, 2007 Illinois

    Going off a bit on a tangent, but that was my go-to extract in my younger days. It produced amazingly consistent beers for me.

    Regarding 1056, I was able to tweak US-05 down to 85% by adding 5% simple sugars to extract brews. 83% from 1056 doesn't seem out of line for that strain.
     
    #5 mikehartigan, Mar 17, 2016
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  6. machalel

    machalel Initiate (0) Jan 19, 2012 Australia

    As above, I've had US-05 get down to around 82-83% (and that was without a starter etc) so definitely not out of the question.
     
    #6 machalel, Mar 18, 2016
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  7. billandsuz

    billandsuz Pooh-Bah (2,097) Sep 1, 2004 New York
    Pooh-Bah

    I too use Briess DME. Extra Light. Mostly because it is available. And yes it will make a very good beer. A lazy all grain with a half assed grain bill is never going to match a simple 7# DME. I like Briess DME, and not just for starters.

    A published study was completed a while ago where a bunch of extracts were analyzed for content. The authors refused to divulge the specifics other than to say that adjunct was common. I want to believe it was published in BYO or something similar and was a big deal. The publisher didn't want to piss off their supporters/advertisers. The chances of me finding this article is slim because let's face it...

    It is good to see that Briess publishes the data. I am not sure I believe them 100%. Maybe it is truly all grain. The temptation to toss in 5% adjunct would seem to be tremendous. They aren't required to label the specifics of the product as far as I know. But I am skeptical.
    Cheers.
     
    #7 billandsuz, Mar 18, 2016
  8. MarkGP

    MarkGP Initiate (0) Jan 28, 2015 Rhode Island

    Back when I was brewing with extract and 1056/US-05/WLP001 I was getting 80-85% attenuation consistently so no surprise there.
     
    #8 MarkGP, Mar 18, 2016
  9. Brew_Betty

    Brew_Betty Initiate (0) Jan 5, 2015 Wisconsin

    The attenuation range specified by yeast mongers are broad estimates determined many years ago and they are often significantly wrong with respect to the current state of the strain they sell.

    This seems like something I shouldn't have to say to a science minded brewer with ribbons in his closet, but I certainly appreciate this opportunity!

    [​IMG]
     
    #9 Brew_Betty, Mar 19, 2016
  10. DunkelFester

    DunkelFester Zealot (607) Aug 24, 2004 Pennsylvania

    i could deal with the snarky condescension, but the moonwalk gif is just plain tacky.

    Silly me for assuming that said yeast mongers would have, you know, updated their specs once every decade or so to reflect changes in strain performance given that they employ lots of sciency types whose job it is to monitor the quality of their product offerings.
     
    #10 DunkelFester, Mar 19, 2016
    Last edited: Mar 19, 2016
  11. billandsuz

    billandsuz Pooh-Bah (2,097) Sep 1, 2004 New York
    Pooh-Bah

    Oh man, Chris White and what's his face at Wyeast are going to hunt you down Betty.
    White's book Yeast claims, with a fair amount of authority, that their strains are pretty much the same forever. So much so that he says one reason they will label by number and not brewery is because it is in fact the brewers strain that has changed compared to White Labs. Who am I to argue?

     
    #11 billandsuz, Mar 19, 2016
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