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Final gravity
I was wondering if there was a FG rule of thumb for different styles of beers. Like, I would assume that a stout, by rule, is supposed to finish higher than say an amber. But what about other styles? The reason I'm asking is because I'm getting ready to brew a DIPA and I've calculated my FG to be around 1.024. Is this about right? Will higher OG beers just typically finish out higher as well? If I'm not in line with where I should be with my DIPA, should I decrease the amount of grains steaped to give my beer a thinner mouthfeel? This will be an extract brew with specialty grains.
Check out the BJCP guidelines to get an idea for acceptable ranges of gravities. http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style14.php#1c
Stouts don't necessarily have to have higher final gravities. Guinness has a low final gravity which makes it lighter and allows it to float on top of heavier beers in a black and tan.
I think 1.024 is too high of a FG for a DIPA. I think a big problem with some DIPA's is that you get this huge hop bomb that ends up being cloyingly sweet and unbalanced. I'd sub some corn sugar for some of your 2 row or malt extract so that the beer will ferment drier.
Jamil Zainasheff just wrote a pretty good article on DIPAs for the last issue of BYO. He suggests making 10% of your grain bill simple sugars and if you're an extract brewer increasing that number a little bit. For what its worth, the recipe he includes has an OG of 1.079 and a FG of 1.013. If you want the recipe to compare, let me know and I'll post it for you.
FG is not necessarily a style specific thing. Dry stout will certainly finish lower than an Amber or a Foreign export stout.
In general, higher OG beers will tend to finish out higher than lower OG beers. But as FitePit mentioned, you can control the FG by using some simple sugars. Which then flies in the face of higher finishes from higher starts. At that point it just becomes an alcohol tolerance issue for the yeast.
Thanks for the responses, guys. I just got to thinking once I saw the amount of grains I purchased seemed to be a lot for only a 3 gallon brew. I think I'll go ahead and decrease the amount of Crystal and Gambrinus Honey. I'm only using 5lbs of pale malt extract w/ a pound of corn sugar. Here's the recipe minus the hops (haven't decided on my hop additions just yet).
batch size - 3 gallons
60 min boil
12oz - Crystal 20L
12oz - Gambrinus Honey Malt
6oz - Victory Malt
5lb - Light/Pale Malt Extract
1lb - Corn Sugar
8oz - Honey (10 min left)
OG - 1.094 (1.084 - 1.099)
FG - 1.024 (1.021 - 1.025)
ABV - 9.5%
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