Adding Liquid Belgian Sugar During Fermentation

Hey All -

I have a Gingered Saison that I made yesterday with a starter of 3711 and it took of right away after 6hours and is going nicely now.

I decided to wait to add the 1# of liquid sugar (its in a foil pouch from BMWarehouse) as from my readings it can be helpful to allow the yeast to work on the other sugars (complex?) first... then give em the sugar to eat later as fermentation starts to wind down. Kinda like not giving a kid a sundae with his pork chops and string beans. He'll eat the sundae then stop eating.

I know this is not a super common thread topic so I wanted to see if anyone had any advice.

My thoughts are to watch the fermentation closely and as it seems to be slowing... Which I am thinking in the 2-3 day range as the wort was 1.046 without the sugar so not super big...

(1) Boil the liquid sugar with a little bit of water for 5 minutes.
(2) Allow it to cool a litte (Heard this is not needed - but I am doing it)
(3) Carefully pour into beer.

Any tips on the timing? Boiling? Adding without aerating too much? Tips in general?

Thanks!

If it's a sealed pouch, then it is more than likely already pasteurized or even sterile, then there is no need to boil it. I would just spray the outside with sanitizer, sanitize your scissors, and open the packet and pour/squeeze it in.

As to when to add it. When I am doing it, I wait til the initial krauzen falls out, usually about a week after yeast pitch, then add the sugar. A new krausen should then for. I did an extremely high grav beligian years ago that had 2 of those additions. So I had a total of three krausens over a three week period.

Wow. Thats cool, Rev.

And thanks for the tip. You are saying I should waiting til the Kraussen TOTALLY falls. Not just until it starts to drop?

jalgayer said:

Wow. Thats cool, Rev.

And thanks for the tip. You are saying I should waiting til the Kraussen TOTALLY falls. Not just until it starts to drop?

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That's what I do. That way you know it's pretty much finished eating the malt sugars.

So the kraussen dove and I added the 1# of liquid sugar to about a cup of water and boiled (safe than sorry) and cooled a bit then pitched.

It seems to take off like IMMEDIATELY (could have been from me swirling the carboy to stir up the dropped yeast though.)

24 hours later and nothing.

Is sugar usually a quick job for the yeast?

jalgayer said:

So the kraussen dove and I added the 1# of liquid sugar to about a cup of water and boiled (safe than sorry) and cooled a bit then pitched.

It seems to take off like IMMEDIATELY (could have been from me swirling the carboy to stir up the dropped yeast though.)

24 hours later and nothing.

Is sugar usually a quick job for the yeast?

Click to expand...

It will take as long as it needs to. Relax.

I know it will take as long as it needs to
And I feel super relaxed.

The questions was: Does yeast generally make quick work of simple sugars?

I am not looking to rush, just learn.

I've had entire fermentations finish in 24 hours, so I wouldn't think that it would be too much of a stretch to see a pound of liquid candi sugar fermented in a day if your yeast density was high and very active.

Thanks, River. I had a feeling that was the case.