Oh Dear.... Can I save the day for brew # 3?

[morebeer]

I thought I managed a good brew day but wondered why I hadn't achieved hydrometer readings. My brew was a 23lt 'Old Speckled Hen' GrahamWwheeler brew and pre-boil was 1031 and after boil 1040. I wondered why my readings were so low then realised I forgot to include the sugar in the boil. I am thinking I may be able to save the day by disolving some sugar and pitching it into the FV but would really appreciate some sound advice on how I can save this brew.

 

[PD]

yes as a second best you can add the sugar to the fermenter. Make sure you mix it really well, beware of splashing etc. If poss add before the yeast but if too late for that add the sugar in smaller amounts over a day or two.

 

[PD]

Wheeler seems to like adding sugars to a brew. I nevewr add it. I just up the amount of Pale Malt I add to compensate.

 

[jonnymorris]

Rather than sugar you might consider heating up some golden syrup with some water and adding that to your brew (when cooled). GW doesn't include syrup in his recipe but many other recipes I've seen for OSH do and it does give the brew something extra.

 

[Dr Mike]

My version of GW's book (1994 edition) includes Invert Cane Sugar in the OSH recipe which is what Golden Syrup is.

 

[kev]

Wheeler seems to like adding sugars to a brew. I nevewr add it. I just up the amount of Pale Malt I add to compensate.

Exactly my thoughts.

I can only assume he adds sugar to so many recipes as he's been brought up on the tight-**** UK homebrew mentality of "cheapest is best".

K

 

[morebeer]

OK..... some good options, which pose further questions from a complete newbee to brewing.

If I add golden syrup as suggested, how much, considering the original recipe quoted 570g of cane sugar?

Should I wait one or two days to allow the Nottingham yeast to build, so it can handle the additional sugar?

If I leave and accept a weaker beer, which I am happy to do and finish with a beer with lower AG and ABV, as long as its a decent pint. whats is the safest option.... having spent 6 hours getting everything right..... well almost! :thumb:

 

[jonnymorris]

You'd normally add the sugar to the boil but when adding honey, for example, you do so after the initial fermentation has taken place, a couple of days in. I think it fair, therefore, to assume you could do the same with the syrup.

 

[calumscott]

Wheeler seems to like adding sugars to a brew. I nevewr add it. I just up the amount of Pale Malt I add to compensate.

Exactly my thoughts.

I can only assume he adds sugar to so many recipes as he's been brought up on the tight-**** UK homebrew mentality of "cheapest is best".

K

Nah, it's to cover the discrepancy between what the brewery said the recipe was and the ABV of the finished product. I reckon a load of breweries do it, probably to keep the ABV constant in the face of varying grain year on year and subtle differences mash to mash...

 

[morebeer]

I had just about decided to accept an ABV of somewhere close to 3.8 - 4.0. And then you go and make a suggestion that has got me thinking differently. If it was you..... how much syrup would you add my friend?

Thanks

 

[Dr Mike]

Nah, it's to cover the discrepancy between what the brewery said the recipe was and the ABV of the finished product. I reckon a load of breweries do it, probably to keep the ABV constant in the face of varying grain year on year and subtle differences mash to mash...

I think the main reason his recipes have sugar in is that the commercial breweries themselves use it so if you want to clone their recipes exactly we would need to do likewise. If we assume that the original OSH is made by Greene King with sugar, then a version in which the sugar has been replaced by malt will probably be a very fine drink but will be less like the original than it would otherwise have been (will be sweeter and lower in alcohol)

Another reason brewers use sugar is that dark invert sugar can be used to add colour to a beer with a flavour that is quite different from that they'd get from roasted malts.

The method GW uses to calculate sugar amounts by comparing OG and ABV doesn't take account of different yeast strains (some breweries he thinks are using sugar may just have very attenuative yeasts). Also (in my edition at least) he deduced that London Pride pride had a lot of sugar because it looks as though he was comparing the ABV of the bottled version (4.7%) with the OG of the cask version (1042).

Sorry for taking your thread off-topic morebeer. For the amount of syrup, just take the amount of sugar in your recipe and multiply be 1.25 (syrup is about 80% sugar).

 

[morebeer]

The result of this brew was a little disappointing..... my fault. I was wondering whether it was still salvageable? I finished up adding 60gms to the bottling vessel but I didn't give it a good enough stir and I wonder whether I added sufficient sugar. The end result was clear flat beer! Would it be worth pouring back into a bottling vessel and adding more sugar?

Please advise a dumb **** novice.

 

[morebeer]

An update for those that are interested. Brew 3, which was the brew I forgot to add sugar at the 90 minute boil, turned out to be a big disappointment.... But more importantly, a big learning curve. Although I tried to correct the mistake and made mistakes trying to do that, it finished at a low carbonation and only 2.9 ABV.

Since then my knowledge has improved, following lots or reading and questions being answered from you guy's.

The actual brewing of the beer is less of an issue for me, but the fermenting and bottling was something I hadn't got my head around..... But not any more.

One of the important things I have learnt is temperature after bottling. Keeping it at room temperature has made a dramatic difference to carbonation and gives any remaining yeast a chance to finish doing its job.

Brews 4 (Old Speckled Hen) & 5 (Courage Directors) have turned out beautiful although the Directors is a little hazy, which doesn't bother me... But I do not use any finings.

Made a small error on brew 6 yesterday, in that I forgot to add the filter to the boiler and realised it about 30 seconds after I added the sugar and hops! I So I scooped out most of the hops with a flour sieve, pumped the wort into my FV, fitted filter and returned all to the boiler. Which took about 10 minutes, Reduced my boil time down to 85 minutes. The AG turned out to be spot on (1046) so I think all will turn out ok. :pray:

I had produced a brewing list of things to do but think I need to add reminders like check boiler filter is fitted! :party:

 

[fermentall]

:lol: no matter how many reminders i put in place i always manage to forget something in at least 1 out of 3 brews :sulk: but it all works out in the end :