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Author Topic: Sugar  (Read 5514 times)

Offline dons

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Sugar
« on: February 01, 2011, 08:25:39 am »
I just made a batch of pale AG.  Due to being an idiot, I noticed as I was into the bottling process that I had run low
on priming sugar.  I live in a place that is 1.5 hours away from a brew store.  So, I decided to supplement with regular
household granulated sugar.  In fact, of the half cup total, all but 3 tablespoons was granulated.

So, I'm Day 8 tasting.  The hops are unnoticeable, but worse yet is that this brew is reminiscent of Dogfish 120.  For
those who have not tasted it, it has a cloying sweetness to it that is not very pleasing to me personally.  I have never
had a batch that tasted like this - and I'm hoping that it will calm as it ages.

Question then is:  did I really screw up by this substitution?

Thanks!
I've finally figured out my problem.  I have Cenosillicaphobia.

Offline tygo

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Re: Sugar
« Reply #1 on: February 01, 2011, 08:36:48 am »
No, table sugar and corn sugar are interchangeable and both will ferment out completely.  How long ago did you bottle the beers?  It may just been that it's not done carbonating yet.
Clint
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Offline bluesman

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Re: Sugar
« Reply #2 on: February 01, 2011, 09:22:11 am »
Granulated table sugar is a good priming sugar. What was your OG and FG of your beer? What temp are you currently conditioning the beer?
Ron Price

Offline denny

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Re: Sugar
« Reply #3 on: February 01, 2011, 09:23:16 am »
Granulated table sugar is a good priming sugar. What was your OG and FG of your beer? What temp are you currently conditioning the beer?

And what was your fermentation schedule?
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

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Offline dons

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Re: Sugar
« Reply #4 on: February 01, 2011, 09:44:09 am »
OG:  1.044 at 75 deg F
FG:  1.016 at 67 deg F

Brewed on 1/1
Racked on 1/8
Bottled on 1/23

Beer being conditioned at 68 deg F

Strange part is that when I tasted the first bottle on 1/28, it had some hop taste and no sweetness.
3 days later, the hops seemed to disappear and the sweetness began.
I've finally figured out my problem.  I have Cenosillicaphobia.

Offline stlaleman

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Re: Sugar
« Reply #5 on: February 01, 2011, 09:46:14 am »
Sounds like perhaps you did not have your priming sugar evenly distributed.

Offline tschmidlin

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Re: Sugar
« Reply #6 on: February 01, 2011, 10:08:23 am »
OG:  1.044 at 75 deg F
FG:  1.016 at 67 deg F
That's not a great attenuation either, so the beer might be on the sweet side from the start.  Plus it might not be long enough for the beers to fully carbonate, give them another week and try again.

If the sugar is not evenly distributed, put them in boxes or something in case you get some bottle bombs.
Tom Schmidlin

Offline majorvices

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Re: Sugar
« Reply #7 on: February 01, 2011, 10:15:09 am »
I have a hard time understanding how a 1.044 OG beer can taste anything like DFH 120 min.... even with that type of low attenuation. Can you post a recipe? What yeast did you use? What was your fermentation temp?

Offline kgs

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Re: Sugar
« Reply #8 on: February 01, 2011, 10:33:12 am »
OG:  1.044 at 75 deg F
FG:  1.016 at 67 deg F

Brewed on 1/1
Racked on 1/8
Bottled on 1/23


Hmmm, one week on the yeast cake. With that FG, sounds like it needed more time with the yeast.
K.G. Schneider
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Offline dons

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Re: Sugar
« Reply #9 on: February 01, 2011, 10:38:30 am »
I'm sorry, I misworded my original post.  What I MEANT to say is that this brew was reminiscent of DFH120 in that there is (to me) overwhelming sweetness that I do not associate with normal pales.  I don't mean to imply that I accidentally brewed a DFH120.  I'm sorry for the error.  Given that here is the recipe:

10.5 pounds domestic 2-row malt
 .5 pounds Crystal 45
 .5 pounds Cara pils malt
1 ounce Perle pellets 90min
4 ounces Nugget pellets 15min
2 ounces Cascade whole hops 1min
1 ounce WL001  White Labs Calif 001

Mashed with 3.5 gallons at 155 deg F for 1 hour.  
Sparged with 2.5 gallons at 160 deg F

I have a feeling that the "answer" is what was previously mentioned - I had a poor distribution of sugar.  Having previously been strongly warned that aeration should be kept to a minimum during transfer to bottling bucket, I dumped the sugar (after boiling it for 5 minutes) into the bottom and just ran the siphon on top of it.  I'm thinking that I should have not been so worried about aeration and should have done a good stir job before starting to boil.  And thanks for the warning of detonation - in FACT, I lost 6 22oz bottles due to explosions on my last batch.  I then put it down to the unwise bottling into the thinner 22 ounce bottles, but I'm thinking now that it was a bad sugar distribution even then.

Thanks guys!!!  Still learning.
Don


I've finally figured out my problem.  I have Cenosillicaphobia.

Offline dons

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Re: Sugar
« Reply #10 on: February 01, 2011, 10:44:53 am »
To answer KGS:

Yup, a week does not sound like much.  What happened is that after 2 days in the primary, activity when to absolute zero.  I have never had this happen and put it down to a bad sparge process (addressed in another thread I posted entitled "do i need a rest?") that resulted in too little sugars in the wort.  No, I did not take hydrometer readings to verify the yeast death - I know now that I should have.  However, to test it out, I put a solid cork on the carboy for 6 hours, and then removed it - and it had not even a hint of sound as I took it off.  I took that to mean that the yeast was exhausted.

I've finally figured out my problem.  I have Cenosillicaphobia.

Offline bluesman

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Re: Sugar
« Reply #11 on: February 01, 2011, 10:55:05 am »
What temp did you ferment?  I calculate 64% attenuation which is really low for WLP001 even considering A mash temp of 155F. It's likely your fermentation was incomplete. That coupled with lack of bottle fermentation would give you a relatively sweet beer at this point.
Ron Price

Offline jamminbrew

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Re: Sugar
« Reply #12 on: February 01, 2011, 10:57:31 am »
Another question is how much sugar did you prime with?  Did you mix in the bottling bucket, or add ugar to each bottle?
« Last Edit: February 01, 2011, 11:05:03 am by theantipunk »
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Offline jeffy

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Re: Sugar
« Reply #13 on: February 01, 2011, 10:59:37 am »
 "And thanks for the warning of detonation - in FACT, I lost 6 22oz bottles due to explosions on my last batch.  I then put it down to the unwise bottling into the thinner 22 ounce bottles, but I'm thinking now that it was a bad sugar distribution even then."

Or bottling a bit too soon.  You seem to have quite a lot of unfermented sugar at a FG of 1.016 for a low gravity beer.  Next time wait a bit longer or add more yeast or aerate the cooled wort better so that the yeast gets a chance to finish its work before bottling.
Jeff Gladish, Tampa (989.3, 175.1 Apparent Rennarian)
Homebrewing since 1990
AHA member since 1991, now a lifetime member
BJCP judge since 1995

Offline denny

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Re: Sugar
« Reply #14 on: February 01, 2011, 11:20:35 am »
OG:  1.044 at 75 deg F
FG:  1.016 at 67 deg F

Brewed on 1/1
Racked on 1/8
Bottled on 1/23


Hmmm, one week on the yeast cake. With that FG, sounds like it needed more time with the yeast.

Just what I was thinking.
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

www.dennybrew.com

The best, sharpest, funniest, weirdest and most knowledgable minds in home brewing contribute on the AHA forum. - Alewyfe

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell