Rescuing low OG with sugar, do I need to add further sugar for conditioning?

[Sea brewer]

Hi All

8 brews into my new hobby of homebrew (brew in the bag). Having slight mare with latest batch. I think I was mashing at a lower temperature than my new temperature device was reading and ended up at an OG of 1029 instead of 1050. I was making an Amarillo pale ale. I used these forums to deduce that I could slightly recover the situation by adding sugar before fermentation started. I got an OG of 1036 (for a 5 gallon volume).

After 8 days it smells fantastic and tastes much less bitter than my brews usually taste at this point. The gravity is now reading 1008 and still gradually decreasing. Before I bottle next weekend, do you think i still need to add brewery’s sugar into the bottling tub to initiate carbonation? Or is it possible that it’s got enough already. I’m assuming it is still needed as the current gravity suggests the fermentable sugars are being taken up and dealt with, it’s just the slightly sweet (or not bitter) taste that is making me think twice.

Thanks.

 

[Agentgonzo]

Hi All

8 brews into my new hobby of homebrew (brew in the bag). Having slight mare with latest batch. I think I was mashing at a lower temperature than my new temperature device was reading and ended up at an OG of 1029 instead of 1050. I was making an Amarillo pale ale. I used these forums to deduce that I could slightly recover the situation by adding sugar before fermentation started. I got an OG of 1036 (for a 5 gallon volume).

After 8 days it smells fantastic and tastes much less bitter than my brews usually taste at this point. The gravity is now reading 1008 and still gradually decreasing. Before I bottle next weekend, do you think i still need to add brewery’s sugar into the bottling tub to initiate carbonation? Or is it possible that it’s got enough already. I’m assuming it is still needed as the current gravity suggests the fermentable sugars are being taken up and dealt with, it’s just the slightly sweet (or not bitter) taste that is making me think twice.

Thanks.

If the gravity is still reducing, then there is sugar still in the beer that will get used for carbonation in the bottle. But you don't know how much so it'll be a lottery as to how fizzy your beer is.

Most people let fermentation compete (SG remains stable) then bottle with a known amount of sugar to get the desired level of carbonation. (You'll also get less yeast sediment in the bottle as most of it will have settled in the fermenter and been left behind)