Attenuation Basics

In judging beers, over carbonation is a frequent problem, and many times it’s caused by poor attenuation. This can also lead to the extreme case where we have bottle bombs.

If you have over carbonated bottles, or if your beers are a bit too sweet, then you may be having an issue with attenuation.

The formula for determining what attenuation you achieved is:
Apparent Attenuation = (Original Gravity – Final Gravity) / (Original Gravity -1)

It’s not too hard to remember, but we like using the attenuation calculators in our favorite software.

We’ve got some pointers in this episode on how to resolve some of your attenuation issues, stuck fermentation, and more.

If you have any questions on homebrewing topics, please feel free to reach out and we’ll give you our answers.

If you have any ideas for show content, or other ideas, feel free to leave a comment somewhere.