How do commercial breweries get such consistently high attenuation?

[OlDirtyBrewer]

I'm brewing the Pliny the Elder clone and Vinnie gives an OG of 1.072 and an FG of 1.011. By my math that's about 85% attenuation. I hit all my numbers except FG (currently at about 1.018). Looked on White Labs and they state WLP001 attenuates between 73 - 80%. How is Vinnie getting 85% consistently?

 

[Yooper]

I'm brewing the Pliny the Elder clone and Vinnie gives an OG of 1.072 and an FG of 1.011. By my math that's about 85% attenuation. I hit all my numbers except FG (currently at about 1.018). Looked on White Labs and they state WLP001 attenuates between 73 - 80%. How is Vinnie getting 85% consistently?

The attenuation rate is an average. If you use a ton of fermentables, or less fermentable malts, you'd get even lower attenuation. By the same token, if you use simple sugar (like Pliny's recipe), mash low, use mostly two row malt, you can get 85% attenuation.

 

[TallDan]

I frequently get attenuation over the yeast maker's range with a low mash temp. I interpret their ranges like "In most cases you'll usually have attenuation in this range", not as absolute limits.

 

[OlDirtyBrewer]

Thanks everyone. I did follow Vinnie's recipe to a T. Mashed at 151, used mostly 2-row and added .75lb of Dextrose. I'm pretty sure my yeast is finished at 1.018. I didn't oxygenate (just bought the O2 kit but haven't used it yet) and I don't have a way to keep my temps steady at the moment. I did however create a decent sized starter at 3 liters. Perhaps when I start O2ing (word?) and buy a fridge, I'll get better attenuation. Thanks again.

 

[Lefou]

Want a dry ale or lager?
Use well-modified base malts, mash 145F-150F, and use amylase in conjunction with a healthy, vigorous yeast. If you do this, even less attenuative yeasts can effect a lower finishing gravity in highly fermentable wort.
I pulled this trick on my blonde ale. The calculated finished gravity was almost 1.004 from 1.046 when I bottled. In case my yeast petered out, I made a priming starter with extra WLP001 and added at bottling. At first I was worried some sanitation problem had caused an infection, but after taste-sampling, there was no obvious souring, so I went with it. The beer didn't sour and carbed perfectly ...
LOL It's actually the best one I've made yet.

 

[Lefou]

I've pushed S-05 to a calculated 91% attenuation rate. It's a strong performer anyway, but under certain conditions, it can work harder than advertised.
New brewers can be surprised when a yeast does this. I was.
If you understand your yeast's environment, the behavior of yeast can be anticipated and even controlled under the right circumstances.

 

[madscientist451]

Thanks for linking the article by vinnie and the recipe. Lots of good tips there including his recommended ferment temperature.
The only thing that I can add is to try sevomyces from White labs:
http://www.whitelabs.com/other-products/servomyces
I've been using this in my big beers the last few years and it seems to help, although I've never done a side by side comparison so I don't really know for sure how much it changes anything.

 

[day_trippr]

[...]How is Vinnie getting 85% consistently?

Huge pitch rates?

Cheers!

 

[Dcpcooks]

What yooper said!

 

[helibrewer]

I'm brewing the Pliny the Elder clone and Vinnie gives an OG of 1.072 and an FG of 1.011. By my math that's about 85% attenuation. I hit all my numbers except FG (currently at about 1.018). Looked on White Labs and they state WLP001 attenuates between 73 - 80%. How is Vinnie getting 85% consistently?

Tightly controlled process. He is also pitching from a yeast brink and knows his yeast health and count.

 

[MrPowers]

Proper oxygenation, proper nutrients in the wort, lower mash temp, good temp control, and proper pitching rates. It's not hard to exceed the manufacturers expected attenuation, I do regularly. I actually find it harder to keep yeasts from attenuating too much.

 

[Qhrumphf]

If your yeast is regularly under-attenuating first places to look are pitching rate (proper starter, and no, a shaken liter starter is better than nothing but usually not enough), aeration (air is better than nothing but forcing in pure O2 with a stone is ideal), and nutrition (a well comprised wort with decent water is usually fine, adjunct heavy grain bills with low calcium water can be an issue). Then poor fermentation control can lead to yeast floccing out early.

If all of those are sorted out, then look to your thermometer. You'd be surprised how innacurate many common/popular thermometers are. Just because it's accurate at freezing and accurate at boiling doesn't mean it's accurate at strike or mash temps where it matters. I recommend the ThermaPen from Thermowerks.

 

[ALExanderH]

Fermentables
Oxygen
Pitch rate
Temperature control