I brewed NB's Pliny extract/partial mash clone yesterday. What a fun brew day with the massive amount of hop additions! I don't know why I was surprised at the amount of trub left in the kettle after going to the primary. Before the late LME addition, it looked like someone had poured their lawnmower bag into my brew kettle! This wort tasted phenomenal from my hydrometer test and I can't wait to smell it when I dry hop in a few weeks. This is only my 4th beer and my 1st from NB. My OG was 1.073 so should I expect FG to be 1.013-1.015ish as this wasn't included with the instructions?
Pliny finishes at 1.009-1.010 but you'll probably not get that low with extract. FGs can vary a lot depending on yeast health, aeration, wort composition, nutrients, etc so you never really know unless you repeat recipes and control your variables.
Let's assume that yeast strain US 05 was used. It attenuates to about 80%*. Take your 80% or .80 and multiply it by just your original gravity points (73 points). This is how much gravity the yeast will chew through: .8 (attenuation)X73 (gravity points)=58.4 (gravity points removed by yeast: attenuation) .8 X 73 = 58.4 73 (OG) - 58.4 (attenuation) = 14.6 (final gravity points). 73 - 58.4 = 14.6 Expect to run a few points high D/T using extract. I think this would be a good thing to land around 1.016 * Sources https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=12473.0 http://www.fermentis.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/SFA_US05.pdf http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/safale-us-05-attenuation-52146/
Congrats on a successful brewing session. I agree with the above postings that the FG can vary from the recipe's expected number, but that number is only a target anyway. Your hydrometer will tell you when the beer is done fermenting. Reaching the expected gravity as a basis for fermentation being finished is not the intent of that number. After you think fermentation may be complete, if you're way off from that number when you take a reading, then that tells you that you have a significant malfunction in the process that you need to investigate. That's why copious notes during the brewing process are so important.
Great information as always guys. Yes, I did use US 05 so thanks for the insight, inchrisin, as to calculating FG. This is at least one thing I've done right! Thanks all
This doesn't really answer your F.G. question, but I recently brewed a big IPA and eliminated almost all of my hop trub with a few hop socks in the boil. Works great! Just make sure they're large enough to account for the hop expansion when putting them in the boil. I usually just lay my mash paddle across the top of my boil kettle, and tie the hop bags to the paddle handle. That way the hop bags hang freely in the kettle and aren't getting scorched on the bottom/sides of the boil kettle. I've had around a gallon of beer lost due to hop trub before, and it sucks!
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/nylon-hop-bag-8-x-9-1-4.html Here are the reusable kind that Lukass mentioned...I wouldnt brew a batch with that much late addition hops without using fine mesh bags. There is no drop off in effectiveness/alpha acid utilization, saves beer and makes it easier to clean up the fermentor without the hot side hops going in. The Pliny clone from NB is a good IPA/DIPA, but doesnt really taste like Pliny IMO.
