Charlottesville Area Masters of Real Ale

I made the Belgian Golden Strong recipe by Jamil in BYO's March/April '11 issue. 2 changes I made to the recipe:  Running short on sugar on brew day, I only added 2.25lb in the wort and I added 10oz more after fermentation began to slow.  I also used Wyeast VSS 3725 Bier de Garde, the supposed Fantome strain. I recently kegged this beer on Sunday and I took a tasting and gravity reading while I was racking. I could hardly believe my eyes when my hydrometer would hardly float. I had to practically fill the cylinder to get a reading.  Final gravity reading was 0.998!!! Hitting below 1.000 was a first in my brewing experience, although I've heard it happens regularly with wines and can happen with ciders too.  Just to be sure my hydrometer was accurate, I calibrated it to water (1.000).  I think it's safe to say this beer attenuated more than I EVER anticipated. Despite the extremely high attenuation, it tasted great during racking and I can't wait for it to get fully carbonated. This was a first for me, so I thought I'd share.

I have never had that happen on a beer before.  Even the clone I did of Bam Bier was 1.006 or something like that.  I had it happen on wines, when I used to make them, and it happened with me with my first couple of batches too.  I am glad the flavor is solid, as I would have been concerned it would taste watery - though with that recipe, it would be just about impossible.