New All Grain Simple IPA with REALLY LOW FG

[Build]

Hi Everyone!

I brewed my first all grain last week and it seems like it's finished, but at 1.005 FG which seems very low.

It was a simple IPA, OG was 1.054.

The recipe
10 lbs 2 row pale
1 oz Summit @ 60 minutes
2 oz Cascade at end
Danstar Nottingham yeast

I mashed BIAB with 3.75 gallons of water at 154F for 60 minutes. The temp had dropped to 150F at 45 minutes so I turned up the heat a little and let it mash for 90 minutes total. It was 151F at the end.

I did a sparge with 180F water for 20 minutes and let the bag drain until it had stopped.

I increased with water to 6 gallons then boiled for 60 minutes in 10 gallon pot adding 1 oz of Summit. I finished with 5 gallons then chilled it with an immersion chiller down to 70F and took gravity reading of 1.054. I rehydrated the yeast for 1 hour then pitched and put it in a room at 63F. The room temperature rose to 70F and the next morning it seemed finished since the airlock activity was decreasing. I left it for a week and now took a gravity reading of 1.005. I plan on moving it to secondary and dry hopping with more Cascade.

It smells fine, tastes a little bitter. This seems like a very low gravity. I guess it converted too much and lost it's sweetness? Ideas? Thanks!

 

[LovesIPA]

That's a warm mash for an IPA. I usually shoot for 148 when I make hoppy beers. You get less malt flavor and it lets the hop profile come through. Although since you're only using 3oz of hops you may not be shooting for a super hoppy beer. The FG is fine, don't even worry about it. The beer will be a little dry but perfectly drinkable.

A secondary isn't necessary for this beer IMO.

 

[Bobby_M]

I'd never mash a standard IPA at 148. Sure, a IIPA requires it to really dry out but I like my IPAs to have a balancing sweet backbone so that I can crush it with hops.

I suspect the issue with the OP's batch is that he actually did mash in the 140's due to a questionable thermometer perhaps. I'd check it to see if it measures 32F in a icewater slurry and 212 at boiling.

 

[Build]

Thanks for the ideas, LovesIPA and Bobby M. I checked the thermometer and it's accurate. It has no real malty flavor, just very dry and slightly bitter.

Would the bitter taste be from the 1 oz of 17.5% AA Summit vs it's lack of sweetness? I thought 1 oz would be a good balance with the sweetness I thought I would get, but now think it may be too much.

I had planed to dry hop 4 oz of Cascade for a few weeks, but I'm not sure what this would be like with such a dry beer. Ideas?

 

[stvo]

I plan on moving it to secondary and dry hopping with more Cascade.

It smells fine, tastes a little bitter. This seems like a very low gravity. I guess it converted too much and lost it's sweetness? Ideas? Thanks!

Sounds like its done.... If it were me I'd dry hop in your primary leave it for a week then bottle...
I may even brew this I'd like a low abv IPA to drink on brew day!

 

[Build]

Thanks stvo.

I think I'll dry hop it and see how it tastes in a week or two.

I calculated the abv to be 6.4% based on OG 1.054 and FG 1.005. Is this correct?