Late Addition of Sugar: When?

Hey All

I made an IIPA on Wednesday morning that was ~1.073 and I withheld the 1,25lb of sugar to get the yeast to go to town on the malt. It worked... and its been going crazy since about 4 hrs after adding the yeast until right now (midnight Friday)

In the past, I have waited until the fermentation subsided greatly. However, this time I am leaving for 5 days tomorrow morning.

So my choices are to add the sugar right before I go... Or wait 5 days ... and by then the fermentation will likely have died to nothing.

Thoughts?

I'd add it before you go. I doubt you'd have any problems waiting 8-9 days to do it, but after three full days I'd guess most of the fermentation is finished. (Unless you substantially under-pitched.)

Thanks for the input... What do some others think? For what its worth, I made a 3L starter with a 3 week old pack of pacman yeast... And its still cranking like mad now (saturday 8am)

I am leaving within an hour so was hoping for a little more input if anyone is out there!

It doesn't really matter, as adding the sugar will wake the yeasts back up whenever you add it.

oops you're prolly gone. Whatever you decided will be fine.