Table Sugar

bwarbiany · Post by **bwarbiany** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 10:21 pm

When Dustin and I brewed our impy stout for the bourbon barrel, I ended up taking the second runnings to brew about 3.5 gallons of a "kitchen sink" beer.

Brewing that beer, I realized the starting gravity would probably be in the 1.030 range, and rather than making a small beer (like I should have), I got the crazy idea to throw about 3 lbs of table sugar in there... Bumping the OG to about the 1.060 mark.

I just got it kegged and carbonated, and I can say that this was a BAD idea. When people talk about too much sugar providing a "cidery" flavor, I know what they're talking about. It definitely has WAY too much alcohol heat for a beer of this gravity.

Just my advice, but as someone that had never tasted that "cidery" flavor in any of my beers which used sugar, it's definitely apparent if you overload it...

backyard brewer · Post by **backyard brewer** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 10:29 pm

Post by **brahn** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 10:31 pm

I'd say around 20% by weight is about as high as I'd go on sugar. If I read your post right that's 50% by gravity which I'm guessing would equate to maybe 35-40% by weight in a "normal" beer. Yikes, that's a lot of sugar! I love the experiment, my only question is are you going to dump it or drink it?

backyard brewer · Post by **backyard brewer** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 10:45 pm

brahn wrote:I'd say around 20% by weight is about as high as I'd go on sugar. If I read your post right that's 50% by gravity which I'm guessing would equate to maybe 35-40% by weight in a "normal" beer. Yikes, that's a lot of sugar! I love the experiment, my only question is are you going to dump it or drink it?

I guess I should elaborate on my yup a little. IMHO, I think 20% is too much as well, unless it's a Belgium that should have a little of that character.

I wouldn't dump it unless you need the keg. Let the thing sit for a while, you may be surprised how much it mellows.

Post by **brahn** » Tue Aug 05, 2008 11:04 pm

Backyard Brewer wrote: I guess I should elaborate on my yup a little. IMHO, I think 20% is too much as well, unless it's a Belgium that should have a little of that character.

I was thinking of a Belgian when I said that as well. In most beers I think 20% would be too much.

bwarbiany · Post by **bwarbiany** » Wed Aug 06, 2008 8:09 am

brahn wrote:I love the experiment, my only question is are you going to dump it or drink it?

I'm probably going to hang on to it... The only beer I've dumped (so far) was infected. Heck, I've got some bad beer in bottles that I probably need to dump, and probably won't ever drink, but I still have too much pride to call it a loss...

If I hang on to it, and put it into storage for a few months, would you recommend cold or warm (room temp) storage?