I have gotten some crazy high attenuation numbers recently. My last 2 runs with the Chimay yeast, and my latest dubbel with the Lueven Pale have gotten 90% attenuation. I got 80% with my last run of 1968, which isn't outrageous but high for the strain. I mashed these in the normal range 152-154. The dubbel and the chimay blonde got a little sugar (5%), but the others had all malt grain bills. ''ve had high number with my saisons too, but I used 3711 so they don't count. I assume the possible explanations are...
- inaccurate thermometer
- over-pitching
- infection
I don't have any off flavors associated with infection, but I suppose its possible. I can check my thermometer, but I feel like I did recently and it was on target. As for over-pitching, I'm using stored slurry and assuming a cell count of 1B cells per ml when I calculate my starters. I used that number based on Woodland's experiments with slurry counts. Maybe that assumption is too low?
- inaccurate thermometer
- over-pitching
- infection
I don't have any off flavors associated with infection, but I suppose its possible. I can check my thermometer, but I feel like I did recently and it was on target. As for over-pitching, I'm using stored slurry and assuming a cell count of 1B cells per ml when I calculate my starters. I used that number based on Woodland's experiments with slurry counts. Maybe that assumption is too low?
