I'm going to brew a Belgian Tripel and add the candi sugar on the 3rd or 4th day of fermentaion. How can I determine my "true" original gravity? Is it the reading when the chilled wort goes into the primary fermenter on boiling day? Is it the reading after I've added the candi sugar? Do I even need to be concerned with my OG?
Original gravity and post-boil additions
- Thread starter jmf143
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Hmmm, BeerCalculus has Belgian Candi Sugar at around 35 gravity points per pound, which seems low but anyway using that value:
Take your OG - lets say 1.060 for example. That's 60 gravity points in 5 gallons, or 300 GPs. If you add a pound of candi sugar, you now have 335 GPs in the wort. divide by the 5 gallons, you get 1.066 as your effective OG (regardless of the fact that some of the fermentation has already happened).
Another (possibly simpler) way to think of it is that each pound of candi sugar will raise the gravity of a 5 gallon batch by .006.
Take your OG - lets say 1.060 for example. That's 60 gravity points in 5 gallons, or 300 GPs. If you add a pound of candi sugar, you now have 335 GPs in the wort. divide by the 5 gallons, you get 1.066 as your effective OG (regardless of the fact that some of the fermentation has already happened).
Another (possibly simpler) way to think of it is that each pound of candi sugar will raise the gravity of a 5 gallon batch by .006.
Justibone
Well-Known Member
I've never brewed this style, but...
You need to know your OG and then your SG after the sugar. All sugar you add increases the ABV% -- even carbing sugar -- so if you want to know the alcohol content then you need to know. It's also helpful to know for attenuation purposes, but if you're not worried about that then there's no essential reason to measure it all, I guess.
But I've never brewed a big beer like that myself.
You need to know your OG and then your SG after the sugar. All sugar you add increases the ABV% -- even carbing sugar -- so if you want to know the alcohol content then you need to know. It's also helpful to know for attenuation purposes, but if you're not worried about that then there's no essential reason to measure it all, I guess.
But I've never brewed a big beer like that myself.
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