How much sugar in IIPA grain bill?

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MrIPA

MrIPA

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I've looked on the forums and can't find a specific answer to this question so here it goes:

I recently brewed a IIPA. The original recipe was set to produce an OG of around 1.082. For whatever reason I had horrible efficiency and the OG came out as 1.070. I also added a 3L wort starter which brought down the OG to about 1.066. Normally I would just leave the brew alone and say to hell with it but the ibus as of now are around 130. I want to add some sugar to the fermenter to get the SG to around 1.076 and drop the ibus but to do that would require 1.33lbs of sugar. That is 7.1% of the overall grainbill. Is 7% too much in the grainbill? I don't want to use dme to boost the SG because I am hoping to have the beer finish dry and I heard IIPAs should have some portion of sugar in it. Thoughts?
 
7% is a little on the higher side than I would typically use in an IIPA, I'm usually in the 4% range. The Pliny clone recipe has 5%. Why not use a little sugar and a little DME?

Edit: you also might take into account other factors like mash temp, the rest of the recipe, in terms of predicting how low it will finish. I assume there was no sugar in it originally?
 
I mashed low at around 151. I did not add any sugar originally to the recipe. Last time I mashed low the beer did not finish any lower than a regular mash temp.
 
I don't know, I'd probably just let it ride. If you're worried about it being too bitter you might want it to finish a little higher anyway, if it gets thin and boozy it might compound the problem. I know there's supposedly a ceiling above which you can't perceive increasing IBU's, I once made a calculation error going from metric to imperial and bittered a red ale to 199 IBU calculated. It was a little harsh at first but surprisngly mellowed just fine.
 
I just re-read your post, I don't think adding sugar will decrease the IBU's now anyway unless you were talking about adding enough volume to dilute. You would have needed to up the boil gravity to have an effect on IBU.
 
Adding ABV will lower IBUs

Learn from it, adjust next time, LEAVE THIS ONE ALONE.

I have seen too many "fixes" that ruined beer.

Leave it be and adjust next time.
 
cheezydemon3 said:
Adding ABV will lower IBUs

Learn from it, adjust next time, LEAVE THIS ONE ALONE.

I have seen too many "fixes" that ruined beer.

Leave it be and adjust next time.
Click to expand...

I'm not really worried about sanitation if that's what you're saying. I have very good sanitation techniques. I also don't think i'll ruin it by adding a small amount of sugar. I spent quite a bit of money on this beer and don't want to wait to adjust it next time because I'm not sure when next time will be. Not to be rude but I'm looking for specific advise on how much sugar to use.

If I cut it down to 1lb of sugar it would be 5.4% of the grain bill. The gravity would then be 1.073 and I could use a little bit less water to dissolve the sugar (1.25 cups vs 2 cups) which would be good. I could live with that. I did mash low (~151) and I would be adding the sugar 4 days into primary fermentation which will hopefully rouse the yeast again. If it finished lower than brewers friend's predicted 1.018 (hopefully around 1.012-1.014), the beer would turn out more like its originally designed 8% abv and around 115 IBUs.

I'm just looking for some thoughts and advice on the sugar amount because i'm looking to do this tonight. I brewed on Friday afternoon and fermentation started very fast after (~10 hours). It has been about 4 days since I brewed and would like to add the sugar as soon as possible.
 
cheezydemon3 said:
Adding ABV will lower IBUs
Click to expand...

But only in the boil, right, due to effects on utilization. I just checked in beersmith and if you add sugar to the boil it drops the IBU, check the box for add after boil and the IBU are unchanged though the gravity goes up.
 
Up to 10% sugar in the grainbill for a dry IPA / IIPA does not sound like a problem to me. 5-8% even less of a problem.

I bet your plan to add 1lb, get OG 1.073 and FG around 1.014 (80-81% attenuation) will work just fine. What yeast, BTW?
 
chickypad said:
But only in the boil, right, due to effects on utilization. I just checked in beersmith and if you add sugar to the boil it drops the IBU, check the box for add after boil and the IBU are unchanged though the gravity goes up.
Click to expand...

the IBU's have gone down from the original planned recipe because I did put a 3/4 gallon starter in it (the beer came up a 1/4 gal short before I added it anyway). I'm pretty happy with the IBUs right now. Could be lower, but oh well. The increased alcohol from the sugar should lower the perceived bitterness a tad too.
 
Just for reference, here is the recipe corrected for the yeast starter I added and the sugar I want to add. I use www.brewersfriend.com to make my recipes:

Batch Size: 5.5 gal
OG: 1.073
FG: 1.018
IBUs: 128.63
ABV: 7.34%

Fermentables
14.0 lb Pale 2-Row (75.6%)
1.25 lb Munich (6.9%)
0.50 lb Crystal 40L (3.1%)
0.65 lb Torrified Wheat (3.5%)
0.35 lb Acidulated Malt (2.0%)
9 oz Liquid Malt Extract (3.0%)
1.0 lb Cane Sugar (5.4%)
18.51 lb Total

Hops
2.0 oz Magnum - 60 min (90.93 IBU)
1.0 oz Centennial - 15 min (17.42 IBU)
0.5 oz Cascade - 10 min (5.21 IBU)
1.0 oz Centennial - 5 min (7.27)
1.5 oz Cascade - 1 min (6.63 IBU)
2 oz Falconer's Flight - Dry Hop - 7 days
1 oz Calypso - Dry Hop - 7 days
1 oz Simcoe - Dry Hop 7 - days (after 1st week)
1 oz Centennial - Dry Hop - 7 days (after 1st week)
13 oz Total

Mash Guidelines
5.6 gal mash Infusion 150F 75 min
3.3 gal batch sparge 168F 10 min

Yeast
White Labs - California Ale Yeast WLP001
Starter: Yes
Fermentation Temp: 68°F
 
I don't know where the 10% (or other) figures are coming from. I know Jamil and Palmer have said a rule of thumb is keeping non-mashed ingredients under 20%. Belgian ales will have 15 - 25% sugar. Your IIPA may not be within the BJCP style guidelines, but that doesn't mean it won't make for a good beer.

I routinely add 2lbs of light brown sugar in 5 gallon batches to some of my darker/maltier IIPAs. It depends what your grain bill was though. If you didn't add any crystal malts or other unfermentables it could end up on the dry side with 10%+ sugar.

It also depends on how attenuative your yeast is.

There are a lot more factors than simply saying 5% is too much...
 
The IIPA recipe in "Brewing Classic Styles" contains 11.2% corn sugar. I'm just finishing up a keg of it & can vouch that it is an incredible beer. Clocks in at around 282 IBUs, too.
 
In my experience with brewersfriend, they always estimate the FG too high. All of my beers end in the 1.009-1.013 with most of my yeast. I would definitely keep that in mind. With that, your ABV will end up in the 8+% range.
 
MrIPA said:
I'm not really worried about sanitation if that's what you're saying. I have very good sanitation techniques. I also don't think i'll ruin it by adding a small amount of sugar. I spent quite a bit of money on this beer and don't want to wait to adjust it next time because I'm not sure when next time will be. Not to be rude but I'm looking for specific advise on how much sugar to use.

If I cut it down to 1lb of sugar it would be 5.4% of the grain bill. The gravity would then be 1.073 and I could use a little bit less water to dissolve the sugar (1.25 cups vs 2 cups) which would be good. I could live with that. I did mash low (~151) and I would be adding the sugar 4 days into primary fermentation which will hopefully rouse the yeast again. If it finished lower than brewers friend's predicted 1.018 (hopefully around 1.012-1.014), the beer would turn out more like its originally designed 8% abv and around 115 IBUs.

I'm just looking for some thoughts and advice on the sugar amount because i'm looking to do this tonight. I brewed on Friday afternoon and fermentation started very fast after (~10 hours). It has been about 4 days since I brewed and would like to add the sugar as soon as possible.[/Q

appears you have answered your own question
Click to expand...
 

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