WhiskeySam
Well-Known Member
I imagine this is debated quite a bit. My thought is that Belgian beers, dubbels, Tripels, Strongs, etc that utilize candi sugar needs to have that sugar added to the fermenter after three or four days of active fermentation. Thought being that the simpler sucrose needs to be added after the maltose is gobbled up, creating the flavor profile. If both the sucrose and maltose are present at the same time, the yeast will preferentially gobble the sucrose in the initial fermentation. Given the high OG of most Belgian ales, that leaves a nice chance that you'll have a less than complete fermentation.
But this is a pain in the ass. It throws off my OG calculations if the sugar isn't present at pitching time. I can correct for this, but I'd rather not. Plus, the process of boiling the sugar in water to sterlize everything and then adding it, it's just tedious.
Am I overthinking this. Given that the sugar is only about 10% of the total, if I just added it to the boil and pitched an extra super-duper slug of yeast, wouldn't that alieviate the concern?
But this is a pain in the ass. It throws off my OG calculations if the sugar isn't present at pitching time. I can correct for this, but I'd rather not. Plus, the process of boiling the sugar in water to sterlize everything and then adding it, it's just tedious.
Am I overthinking this. Given that the sugar is only about 10% of the total, if I just added it to the boil and pitched an extra super-duper slug of yeast, wouldn't that alieviate the concern?