Adding corn sugar during fermentation

For an all-grain IPA recipe that has corn sugar for part of the fermentables to dry it out, would it be better to add it part way through fermentation compared to flame out? I would think a lower gravity wort at the beginning would make it easier for the yeast to do their thing. Once it has reached something like 50-75% attenuation, add the corn sugar to keep them going. I'm talking corn sugar equal to or less than 10% of the grainbill.

That sounds like a mater of opinion. I have never done it at flame out.

when i have done it at the beginning of the boil it seemed good to me.

and when i have done it after a few days in the feremntor it seemed to taste fine as well.

i would suggest splitting your batch and do half one way and half the other. then let us know what you think.

dstar26t said:

For an all-grain IPA recipe that has corn sugar for part of the fermentables to dry it out, would it be better to add it part way through fermentation compared to flame out?

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If you're pitching the appropriate amount of healthy yeast from a starter, it shouldn't matter.

I'm thinking of doing this when I brew a chimay red clone (not with corn sugar, but still) because I hate making starters of the appropriate size, so the one I'm making is a little on the low end.

Just make sure you sanitize the corn sugar if you're going to add it outside the boil. Dissolve it in a small amount of boiling water, or something.

dstar26t said:

For an all-grain IPA recipe that has corn sugar for part of the fermentables to dry it out, would it be better to add it part way through fermentation compared to flame out? I would think a lower gravity wort at the beginning would make it easier for the yeast to do their thing. Once it has reached something like 50-75% attenuation, add the corn sugar to keep them going. I'm talking corn sugar equal to or less than 10% of the grainbill.

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your assumptions are correct. do it. it'll be cleaner and more attenuated with less work.

The last 2 IPAs I made used the same grain bill but a different singe variety of hops. Both started at 1.062, both ended at 1.015. Both fermented at 68F and both finished in the exact same amount of time. Both were 6 gallon batches using a decanted 1 gallon starter (Mr. Malty recommended) of WLP001. One mashed at 150F and one at 148F, both for 90 min. Hopefully the corn sugar will get me more than the 75% attenuation I've been getting so those hops come out more without any undesirable flavors.