Adding sugar during boil?

[Ragman]

Watched a video the other day from clawhammer where they made a juicy neipa. He added sugar to the boil. Was a coarse grit yellowish brown type sugar. Couldn't tell what it was. Has anyone else heard of doing this? I'm trying to replicate what some breweries have done with hazy ipas by adding lots of hops but with sweetness as well.
A couple of brews I've had that have this style are: Citra Dreams by Captain Lawrence, Bird God by Finback and IT came from Seneca Lake by WarHorse Brewing. I keep trying more brews to find ones like this as they are my favorite style, sweet, thick, and hoppy with plenty of mouthfeel.

I would love any help anyone can give me in replicating this style. Thanks guys

 

[bobeer]

Adding sugar to the wort will dry the beer out and make it thinner. It won't add sweetness. You can mash at a higher temp to make a less fermentable wort to balance it out but that could be considered a more advanced technique because you'd have to play with it to get it right. A higher mash temp will give you a sweeter finished beer.

Oats, flaked wheat, and flaked barley are what give the neipa's their soft mouthfeel and id say a lot of their character also comes from the yeast and of course the copious amount of hops that go into them. A lot of these beers are 'no boil' as well which adds to their smoothness and maybe sweetness you're looking for. Building the water is also another aspect that makes these beers what they are.

Most will tell you that oxygen exposure is by far your greatest issue. You don't want to spend all that cash on all those hops just to expose the finished product to oxygen.
Id go for a hazy pale ale over an neipa just because its easier to accomplish with my setup and I could accomplish the same juicy, soft, beer id be going for.

I would find a good recipe and not worry about the sugar unless it says to add it. I never add any to my ipa's. If I want a dry beer I mash low and use a high attenuating yeast like sa05 or wlp001.

 

[Kickass]

Adding simple sugar will not dry your beer out. It’ll add alcohol.

Imagine a batch of beer that calls for 10 pounds of malt that hypothetically finished at 1.010. Now, you add 1 pound of 100% fermentable sugar, your final gravity is still 1.010. Its no dryer than the the batch without sugar.

Substituting for malted grain with simple sugar will leave a drier beer.

I assume Clawhammer added sugar to boost alcohol content. Which is something that can be done while still preserving a high amount of residual sugar.

 

[day_trippr]

The sugar was turbinado. It is commonly added to neipas...

Cheers!

 

[McKnuckle]

Imagine a batch of beer that calls for 10 pounds of malt that hypothetically finished at 1.010. Now, you add 1 pound of 100% fermentable sugar, your final gravity is still 1.010.

Because the sugar ferments completely and is replaced with alcohol, and alcohol is less dense than water, it will have the effect of lowering the final gravity in your example above. The FG would be lower than 1.010. That is what people generally mean when they say that adding sugar "dries out" beer.

 

[Ragman]

So you guys are sayin lactose is the way to go? When is that added? During boil or fermentation?

 

[McKnuckle]

Lactose is white and fine grained. It's not coarse and yellowish-brown. @day_trippr already pointed out that the sugar used in the video is probably Turbinado.

 

[Ragman]

So. Would what I'm trying to make be considered a milkshake IPA? I've heard this term mentioned but never knew what it meant. After googling I think this is the style I like most. I know it's sounds dumb but one of the beers that I have considered as my favorite style has never included the name "milkshake" in the name

 

[Bobby_M]

If you find disgusting lactose to taste good to your palette then have at it. I think it ruins everything about a NEIPA.

 

[Ragman]

If you find disgusting lactose to taste good to your palette then have at it. I think it ruins everything about a NEIPA.

Thats kind of why I started this thread. Trying to figure out what the big breweries use to sweeten theirs. Ive never tried Lactose and it actually doesnt sound very appetizing, any other suggestions?

 

[InspectorJon]

Using lactose comes down to personal taste and what you are trying to accomplish. Lactose is used in a lot of recipes. Milkshake IPA is one example. Another popular one is milk stout. Some other stout recipes use lactose. It is not fermetable so it stays behind and leaves extra final gravity points resulting in more body and a little sweetness. It is not particularly sweet, not like you imagine sugar would be. You can’t know if you like it unless you taste it. Lots of us don’t find it disgusting.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

i have used lactose in the past for stouts, never tried it in an ipa and never will, not because i wouldnt like it.. but i havent used it since i met my wife (lactose intolerant and beer lover) needless to say we now skip that style and talking about it really makes me wanna brew one haha. anyway, if its what you like. go for it.

cheers

 

[Ragman]

Yeah I guess I need to find a Milkshake IPA and try it to figure it out.

 

[Bobby_M]

Thats kind of why I started this thread. Trying to figure out what the big breweries use to sweeten theirs. Ive never tried Lactose and it actually doesnt sound very appetizing, any other suggestions?

Mash at temperatures upwards of 156-158F will lock in unfermentable dextrines.

 

[JacktardBrewmeister]

I use sugar frequently with beers but I need to explain.

Turbinado sugar is the standard and I do it at about 15 minutes left in the boil when I use it, but I have subbed it out for a better option.

Coconut sugar (specifically coconut palm sugar) is the most superior sugar to use outright in my opinion. There are a lot of nutrients that yeast love in Coconut sugar so you get the ABV boost and I save on adding yeast nutrient and get really good and happy fermentation every time. So sugar is good for beefing up ABV and I have not really noticed a drying out effect when using coconut sugar, been a while since I used turbinado and Amazon sells coconut sugar rather cheap at 4.50 for 1.5 lbs. I usually but two and that gives me three beers worth of sugar at about 9 bucks, breaking the cost down to 3 bucks a beer in sugar. I am looking into more bulk options with Anthony's Organic Coconut Sugar at 20 bucks for 5 lbs as it is brewing season for me now, but I could get four 1.5 lbs containers for 18 so it is a bit cheaper. Ghahahahaha!

As far as what breweries use to sweeten beer, I'd say they toss in some non-fermentable sweetners like:

Xylitol (Not Common)
Erythritol (Less Common)
Lactose (very Common)
Maltodextrin (Very Common)

So chances are if you're getting a pretty strong sense of sweetness, I'd say they are adding this stuff in the mix.

 

[Bobby_M]

Malto-dextrine is exactly what you make when you mash at higher temperatures. I have added up to 4oz of malto-dextrine granuals in NEIPAs that over attentuated on me and felt a little thin in the mouthfeel, but that's a corrective measure that I would never prescribe in a recipe.

Long story short, if you add simple fermentable sugars, you boost alcohol without boosting mouthfeel therefore the final beer will feel dry and thin. You can add non fermentable sugars (or design your mash schedule to make them for you) if you want the final beer to be thicker and sweeter.