Priming Sugar for Fermentation

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by DarrenStory, Sep 12, 2013.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. DarrenStory

    DarrenStory Initiate (0) Feb 11, 2013 Oregon
    Trader

    I will start with the question.

    Can I use priming sugar as a replacement for table sugar or corn syrup you would add during fermentation of a DIPA?

    Here is why I ask.

    I brewed an all-grain DIPA recipe last Saturday. It was on my first all-grain system and only my second brew on it (new mash tun, burner, boil kettle, immersion chiller, etc). The first brew on it, I kinda just went through the motions to get a feel for the new process and, like an idiot, didn't take any readings other than pre-boil volume and final gravity.

    So needless to say, I was way off of my numbers for this DIPA brew. I tried to help by throwing in a pound of light dme, I had just bought for the yeast starter, during the end of the boil. That got me close but I am still a little low.

    I am a few days into fermentation now and I was thinking about adding some sugar to give me another .5% abv or so. Alas, I have no white table sugar in the house but I do have about 4oz of priming sugar.

    FWIW, I also have honey.
     
    #1 DarrenStory, Sep 12, 2013
  2. mattbk

    mattbk Savant (1,111) Dec 12, 2011 New York

    1) yes.

    2) how do you know you came in low if you didn't measure the og?

    just let it go, dont bother with more sugar. three part plan: 1) taste it. 2) see if you like it. 3) drink more if you do. and, next time, dont forget to measure more stuff. cheers!
     
    #2 mattbk, Sep 12, 2013
    Smokebox_79 likes this.
  3. DarrenStory

    DarrenStory Initiate (0) Feb 11, 2013 Oregon
    Trader

    Sorry, I didn't do a very good job of explaining why I mentioned the first brew. It was the first brew on the system that I didn't take measurements of. This led to me having no clue of my actual efficiency. Fast forward to the second brew (the DIPA currently in the fermenter) which I did take much better readings of and missed my numbers. I have a lot invested in this one (relatively), in that I was able to get a bunch of fresh cascade hops that I used for the final hop addition. Since this will be probably my only fresh hop brew until next year, i would like to make it as close to what I am looking for as possible.
     
    #3 DarrenStory, Sep 12, 2013
  4. basscram

    basscram Initiate (0) Mar 29, 2006 Maine

    what was your preboil volume? what was your final gravity? Also, Your grain bill in lbs and also how much total water was used and how many quarts per pound of grain was instituted in the recipe.
     
    #4 basscram, Sep 12, 2013
  5. mattbk

    mattbk Savant (1,111) Dec 12, 2011 New York

    Got it. Yes, you can use corn sugar as a replacement to table sugar, the difference will be negligible as both are fully fermentable. But - again - how far off are your numbers? As in target vs actual OG and expected FG? Posting a grain bill or recipe would help too. If this is only your second all grain brew, I wouldn't worry too much about the beer being screwed up. If anything, with the lower OG/FG, your hops might pop more - which is not a bad thing in a DIPA.... Unless you are really, really far off - I wouldn't mess with it.
     
    #5 mattbk, Sep 12, 2013
  6. DarrenStory

    DarrenStory Initiate (0) Feb 11, 2013 Oregon
    Trader

    Grain Bill
    12# Maris Otter
    2# Vienna
    8oz Crystal 20
    8oz Cara-Pils

    Hop Schedule
    .8oz Centennial (leaf) @60
    1oz Centennial (leaf) @45
    1oz Centennial (leaf) @30
    1oz Centennial (leaf) @15
    5oz Cascade (fresh) @0
    1oz Cascade (leaf) + 1 oz Centennial (leaf) will be used for dry hop.

    Pre-boil volume was 6.5gal. Pre-boil gravity missed by about 18pts. Added 1# DME to boil which gave me back about 9pts. Est FG was supposed to be 1.081, ended up with 1.072 FG going into fermenter. Total water was 8.5gal. Mash was 1.33quarts per pound.
     
    #6 DarrenStory, Sep 12, 2013
  7. DarrenStory

    DarrenStory Initiate (0) Feb 11, 2013 Oregon
    Trader

    Thanks for the feedback. I forgot to mention that I also used Gypsum and Burton Salts to adjust my Portland water (which I guess is pretty damn close to distilled). Hopefully this will help the hops pop as well. Everything I have brewed so far, whether extract or BIAB, has been very heavy handed with hops. I am hoping to try to get something fairly balanced out of this one. Not sure if up'ing the alcohol I tiny bit with sugar will help do this...
     
    #7 DarrenStory, Sep 12, 2013
  8. OddNotion

    OddNotion Pooh-Bah (1,915) Nov 1, 2009 New Jersey
    Pooh-Bah

    I dont see much of a purpose for doing this if its only for .5% more abv. A lot of people will include table sugar (or priming sugar which is dextrose and when is comes down to it for brewing purposes basically just a more expensive version of table sugar) to their IPAs and DIPAs. You definitely can do this, but for such a small bump with no added flavor I would just let the beer go as is.
     
    #8 OddNotion, Sep 12, 2013
    OldPenguinHunter likes this.
  9. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    You're guessing your water is close to distilled? I wouldn't add any salts to any water for which I didn't have the profile. But I hope it works out for you.
     
    #9 VikeMan, Sep 12, 2013
  10. DarrenStory

    DarrenStory Initiate (0) Feb 11, 2013 Oregon
    Trader

    I haven't gotten a report done on the water out of my tap. I am using the data that is loaded into Beersmith 2, a clackamas river water report I found online (this is what feeds my tap) and advice from a very knowledgable guy at my local homebrew store. I know this is not as good as a report from my tap, but I also hedged my bets by adding about 60% of what would be needed to get me to Burton numbers based on my assumptions.
     
    #10 DarrenStory, Sep 12, 2013
  11. basscram

    basscram Initiate (0) Mar 29, 2006 Maine

    DarrenStory I think you did very well and you got a great amount of preboil too even though it was less than what you counted on. Your gravity may not be as high as you would like it but I'm confident your going to have a hit on your hands, it looks like it's going to be a nice beer! I am with oddnotion on not bothering with upping the abv.

    One thing to try is up your qts per lb of grain to 1.5 to see what your setup does. It will def give you more volume and the grains will get more. Try it out, can't hurt.
     
    #11 basscram, Sep 13, 2013
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.