Could Adding Beer Sugar Help Increase Alcohol Level

Please explain what "beer sugar" is? do you mean Malt extract?

 

corn sugar does not equal malt extract (dry or liquid). Corn sugar will increase alcohol and dry out your beer because it is generally 100% fermentable.

Malt extract will also increase alcohol, but will have some longer sugar chains that are not fermentable as well, and as a general rule won't dry out your beer (not 100% fermentable).

Malt extracts vary, so which particular one you use will make some difference as well. I assume you're talking light or extra light here, but that wouldn't change my comments much. Obviously using amber or dark extracts would significantly change the character of your beer, particularly when compared to corn sugar of equal fermentability. That does not mean I'm against amber or dark extracts, BTW, just that they are not the same as light/extra light, or corn sugar.

Most things that are essentially single unit sugars will be nearly 100% fermentable. Honey, almost completely fermentable. Molasses, many other sugars, mostly fermentable. Some sugars may have a slightly lower % fermentability (perhaps treacle or belgian candy sugar, I don't know the stats off hand), but will still mostly be fermentable. They are all considerably different than malt extract.

 

Two things...

- Sugar additions during fermentation will increase ABV.
Calagione's Imperial Pale Ale recipe is one example.
Duvel is another.

- After fermentation has finished...partial freezing...a la Eisbock...will increase ABV and reduce batch-size at bottlin'time.

 

Sounds like you are saying that your original gravity was low, so you expect your ABV to be low. Therefore, you'd like to boost the abv by adding sugar to the beer during fermentation. Yes that will work. 1.040 OG (roughly 10P) sn't too low for a kolsch, I like 1.048 (roughly 12P) myself. So if you wanted to boost 100L of 1.040 kolsch to 1.048, you'd need to add 2.2 kilograms (4 pounds, 8 ounces) of corn sugar.

 

Malt extract may make your beer taste better than just a bunch of corn sugar. If you are worried about cost, perhaps try a combination.

Whatever you do, you should makensure your additions are sanitized by boiling some water, shut off the heat, then add the malt extract (or sugar) stirring until dissolved, and then allow it to boil again for a few minutes. Cool, and then add to your fermenter.

 

Hello Aljossa,

That product you linked is maltodextrin, which is not fermentable by beer yeast. Therefore it will not increase the alcohol content of your beer. What it is designed to do is increase the body / mouthfeel of the beer by adding loads of dextrins (unfermentable sugars that actually aren't very sweet). I believe what Al Capone Jr was recommending is Dry Malt Extract or Liquid Malt Extract. It is "instant wort concentrate" so to speak. You may have heard of "Extract Brewing" and, if so, the extract used for extract brewing is what I'm speaking of. If you opt to add this, you'd want the "light", "pale" or "extra pale" color one for a Kolsch.

I believe he recommended it because adding 2 kilo's of corn sugar (a fairly substantial addition which will be roughly 10% of your total fermentables) to your 100L batch will have a drying / thinning effect on the beer due to it being 100% fermentable. Dry Malt Extract or Liquid Malt Extract will behave as regular wort will. It will be less than 100% fermentable, adding a small amount of dextrins along with a good amount of fermentable sugars. As for molasses, it will leave a flavor of its own in the beer which wouldn't be consistent with a Kolsch. I wouldn't recommend using it.

 

IMHO, call it a session kolsh, and brew another batch... a low ABV doesn't make a beer "unacceptable"

 

Agree. 10P is not a "ridiculously low OG" for a kolsch. If it was my beer, I'd leave it alone and settle for a slightly lower ABV beer than I planned--not always a bad thing. Adding sugar and pumping up the alcohol might give you a boozy finish that is not at all to style.

 

He might mean unacceptable to his customer. IIRC this is the guy who is already selling his beer in whatever undisclosed craft beer starved country he lives in.

 

So you're a commercial brewer? I would suggest you seek advice from other professionals who are using similar equipment. The kinds of things we would do as homebrewers aren't necessarily going to scale up to professional equipment.

 

I think he's brewing 50 liter batches. Hyper-Nano. If so, I'd say he's in the right place.

 

I recommend following the first advice from koopa: add sugar to boost the OG. Some of the best beers in the world have simple sugar added, consistent with the ratio he advised. Your FG will remain unchanged but your alcohol level will get a boost, I feel no danger of a boozy-beer if you keep it in this moderate range. Adding pale male extract will add alcohol and some body, but the amount will be harder to predict.

If you go the sugar method the time to add is right after high krausen. Boil the sugar (sterilize), cool, and pitch . . . I never bother to stir and on my 20L system the yeast find all of it. Corn sugar is chemically identical to cane sugar, use which ever is available/cheaper.