Adding extra malt 5 days into fermentation??

[Andyy]

Is it ok to add extra malt when I dry hop? Or when I rack to secondary fermentor? Just curious
Has anyone done this? And what are the pros and cons!

 

[beergolf]

You want to dry hop after fermentation is over so that would not work very well. It would defeat the purpose of dry hopping.

That being said you can add it after a few days of fermentation and it would work just fine. I do a lot of Belgians and often add some of the sugar to the fermenter after fermentation slows, usually 3-4 days. Lets the yeast eat a lot and then gives them a fresh meal to continue working. Just include the amount in you recipe calculations.

 

[stubbornman]

Not sure what you mean by "adding malt"?

Either way, I wouldn't recommend whatever it is. If you are wanting to dry it out / add gravity just add honey or dextrose instead.

 

[terrapinj]

ive done additions of both dextrose and DME about 3-5 days into primary. boil for 15-20min, cool and very gently add so as to not introduce excessive oxygen. as long as the yeast are still fairly active you won't have any problems with it fermenting but it essentially restarts fermentation so as stated above you'd def want to wait for it to completely finish before dry hopping. you also def want to do it in primary when you have the most amount of yeast, and it would defeat the purpose of secondary if added there because it's just going to churn up the stuff you are trying to settle

i added DME to boost gravity when the SG was already lower than I expected and added dextrose when i wanted to boost gravity but wanted to dry it out a little more

 

[BOBTHEukBREWER]

If you are making a beer of 6% or more, it is good practice to hold back one third of the malt and add it on day 3 or 4. I say pour it in fast, and rouse the wort to introduce a bit of oxygen to encourage the fermentation.

 

[tonyolympia]

If you are making a beer of 6% or more, it is good practice to hold back one third of the malt and add it on day 3 or 4. I say pour it in fast, and rouse the wort to introduce a bit of oxygen to encourage the fermentation.

I'm making a 9% old ale, and had considered holding back about 7 gravity points' worth of wort, pitching it with fresh yeast and adding it to my main fermenter at day 3-4 to kick start fermentation. However, brewers in another thread said that wouldn't be necessary, given that I'm using fresh high-gravity yeast (Wyeast 1028), with an appropriate starter, yeast nutrient, and good aeration. What say you, Bob?

FWIW, I'll also be adding about the same amount of easily-fermentable sugars at day 3-4 (Lyle's Golden Syrup). So maybe that would accomplish the same thing.

 

[dcp27]

if its only 9% i wouldnt go thru all that trouble, all the other things you're doing will be enough. and certainly dont add any oxygen when adding more fermentables after fermentation has started. once the growth phase has passed, oxygen is a bad thing

 

[terrapinj]

def don't add oxygen a few days into primary - for big beers you can add it ~12-18 hours after you have pitched to help encourage growth but once you see active signs of fermentation you don't want to introduce more

you may not need to add in primary at all if you pick the right yeast and pitch a healthy amount

if your grainbill has a large % of simple sugar you may wish to add that portion during primary so that the yeast don't go for the simple sugars 1st and leave you with a higher than desired FG but I wouldn't worry about adding the DME into primary in that situation.

the only reason i added DME into primary was because i missed my OG due to lower efficiency and didn't take a reading until I pitched

 

[tonyolympia]

if its only 9% i wouldnt go thru all that trouble, all the other things you're doing will be enough. and certainly dont add any oxygen when adding more fermentables after fermentation has started. once the growth phase has passed, oxygen is a bad thing

Thanks, dcp. It's good to know I can dispense with some of the noodly stuff.

This old ale / winter warmer is already complicated enough. BIAB, reiterated mashing, spices, orange peel, oak chips, Lyle's Golden Syrup...

All part of my growth as a brewer, I suppose. Hope it tastes good!

 

[BOBTHEukBREWER]

I think adding oxygen will multiply up the active yeast cells which will then quickly get into the normal fermentation mode again - But I am not a bio-chemist.