OG 1.038, 4.75 gallons.
If the final gravity is 1.014, could cane sugar be added
to lower it to 1.010 or below ?
Thanks
Yes, adding sugar should help, as long as it is concentrated. For instance, ciders, meads, and wines which have mostly simple sugars will often finish as low as 0.992. You can reap the same benefits of gravity reduction by adding sugar in a non-diluted manner. It might be best to make a simple syrup of 50/50 water to sugar by volume, or maybe 2:1 (somewhere in there), bring to a boil until fully dissolved, cool, and then add to your batch, to minimize water addition while ensuring sanitization of the sugar. You could add sugar directly to the fermenter without first dissolving it, but I’m not sure how well it would mix in that way. Even a syrup will need to be stirred or swirled in or it will settle to bottom.
That’s 63% apparent attenuation. Seems pretty low unless the yeast strain or mash temp was out of the ordinary. Do you have any idea why the low attenuation?
Yes, the strike water was way too high, highest ever used.
Lost patience waiting for it to cool down, and stirred grain in.
I think it started off mashing in the 160’s it cooled down after a bit
but not until the damage was done. I knew what I was getting into
and took a chance. Didn’t take it off hot stove, which I should have.
I just tossed in a pound of sugar, lets see where that gets me.
Cheers
Maybe, maybe not. Depends on why it’s high. Remember, adding sugar will effectively raise your OG.
Add ice cubes to cool quickly
Oh, didn’t think of that, so can’t use original OG for ABV calculation.
Based on Brewers Friend calculator a pound of sugar should raise it about 1% ABV.
I doubt adding sugar will change the FG. I believe it will ferment out resulting in higher ABV but will take you right back to the same FG when it’s done.
One teaspoon cane sugar (Florida-Crystals) is added directly in 22 oz bottles for carbonation, with no known issues (4-5 years ?)
Although not sterile, it’s my belief cane sugar has anti-microbial properties, ABV is also a part of it. No different than carb-drops ?
Poured one pound sugar directly in fermenter, dropping to bottom is fine with me, yeast there waiting for it.
Already have strong air-lock activity.
Cheers
Believe or not that makes sense to me ;D
Adding a lb of table sugar will raise the og 9 pts in 5 gallons so you can add appr 10 pts for 4.75 gallons. Your fg will likely remain the same as it was, but you can calculate your abv on the new og (old og + .10) and old fg.
Agreed
Add Glucoamylase
Or just say good enough for this time around
That’s what I would do. Probably brew a bitter crisp beer to blend it with.
….but if you just gotta add something with the anticipation of a reduced FG, I’d add enzymes over sugar.
Yep. Although I’ve screwed up enough batches trying to “save” them that I tend to just let it ride.
Hold up- does it taste too sweet or are you just going by gravity?
I think there are two parts to the theory behind adding some sugar. The first is that the volume of the batch is being increased (albeit a very small amount) with something that is highly fermentable. So the main batch will have a certain FG, plus the sugar addition with a potentially much lower FG, together will result in a lower FG for the entire batch. The other thing is with the second sugar addition the yeast will grow and become active again and could possibly pickup some additional existing sugars that were already there. I don’t recall where I saw the second one. Not sure if that happens or not.
I have see this work in practice though. I brewed a honey wheat ale once. The primary fermentation stop at 1.008. I added honey which brought the SG back up to 1.016. The fermentation picked back up and the FG ended up being 1.006 after the secondary.
If there is a change in FG though, I would expect it to be small.
The reason you see a lower FG is because alcohol has a lower specific gravity than 1.000. Adding something that ferments out fully will put more alcohol in solution, but the unfermented dextrins/sugars are still there. You don’t end up with something that is less sweet, just more alcoholic.
Didn’t taste it, still in fermenter. Gravity is only part of it, if it was a higher OG
a FG of 1.014 would be fine. Since I only brew session brews i found ABV a little
over or under 4 ABV is fine. When I get too close to 3 ABV it starts to feel/taste like
a flavored soft drink. I prefer dry, if it’s a little sweet that’s fine.
I want my ABV. (hint song)
For those with no clue-
Cheers