calculating OG with adding sugar

i brewed a belgian strong ale on sunday and for the partial mash/extract portion (6 lb. golden extract and 2 lb. pilsner malt), i got an SG of 1.052.

in a few days, i will be adding one pound of candi sugar and 2 lb. of table sugar.

first question, how much water should i dissolve this in and second question, how can i calculate what the total gravity would be if i had added it all during the boil?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/sweetening-sugar-92271/

Let me explain.

Table sugar has an OG of approximately 1.046. I'd guess your candi sugar is the same? Maybe not, I know nothing about belgian sugar.

Anyway, add these points together. But treat them as .046 instead of 1.046. So, 2 * .046 for your table sugar is .092, plus your (presumed) .046 for your candi sugar is .138. So that's how many gravity points you added. But you must divide that by your gallons, which I presume is 5. So .138/5 = .0276. So add .0276 to your OG and there you go. 1.052 + .0276 = 1.0796 or 1.080.

As far as dissolving water, sugar is very soluble in water. Even more soluble if you boil it. I wouldn't be surprised if you could get this dissolved in 2 cups of water. What I do, at room temp, add enough water to the sugar so it's just over 1/2 dissolvable, then bring it to a boil while constantly stirring (to prevent carmelization). This will allow you to dissolve it further and prevents unnecessary dilution.

so that's .046 for each pound of sucrose?

thanks a ton for the nice explanation. and thanks for the link, i hadn't seen that one. i guess i'll try as little water as possible and if i need more, i'll add more. i definitely want to limit the dilution factor.

android said:

so that's .046 for each pound of sucrose?

Click to expand...

Yeah, that's what I've read. I'm sure different varieties are slightly different but shouldn't be far from .044 to .048.

wonderful, thanks again.

i added the 2# of table sugar and 1# of white candi sugar. the fermentation had slowed down a little and the krausen had mostly reduced.

i boiled about 500 mL of water and the table sugar dissolved immediately; the candi sugar had to be stirred a bit but dissolved pretty easily. i boiled the mixture for 10-15 minutes and cooled it in an ice bath to 70 deg. within an hour of adding, the krausen was reforming and the airlock activity was rocking again and producing some really nice apple and pear fruitiness.

:rockin: