I got scared

[Kiana]

I don't want to rehash history or anything, but after reading the thread that started the EAC acronym I got a bit frightened as to the content of the recipe for my next brew.
I found the Respect Imperial Stout recipe in the database and it calls for one pound of cane sugar. Is there something wrong with this? I'm not in it for the ABV, I thought this look fairly easy for my first stout.

Here is the full recipe so you don't have to search:

Default Respect Imperial Stout (Extract)
Recipe Type: Extract
Yeast: Ale yeast of your choice. I believe I used Nottingham's
Yeast Starter: If liquid yes if dry not necessary
Batch Size (Gallons): 5
Original Gravity: 1.104
Final Gravity: 1.024
IBU: 66.0
Boiling Time (Minutes): 60
Color: 11.0
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 1 week
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 2 weeks

10lbs Dark dry malt extract

1Lbs Cane sugar

1/3 Lbs Molasses

12oz Crystal Malt

10oz Chocolate Malt

3oz Roasted Barley

3oz Black Patent

2.5 oz Target Hops (bittering)

1oz Target Hops (flavor)

1/2oz Target Hops (aroma)

Bring 2 gallons of water and grains to 155 degrees and steep for 30 minutes. Bring this to a boil. Remove from heat and add all malt extract, cane sugar, and molasses. Allow wart to boil for 45 min. Add your flavoring hops and boil an additional 10 min. Add aroma hops and boil and additional 5 minutes.

This beer is right around 10.3% abv. It's best aged as long as you can wait. I believe my best tasting batch yet of this brew I aged for about 4 months. I'm sure you could easily age this beer a year or longer. I just couldn't wait that

Thanks for any advice, I think I'm going to start this around Tuesday and any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

-K

 

[DeadYetiBrew]

Don't be scared... all you had to do was ask about it...

1lb seems like a lot but all it is there for is raising ABV... I'm not sure if cane sugar acts like corn sugar does but it may give it a kind of dry taste... What i would do is increase the DME a bit maybe a little Brown Sugar (for a little sweet taste) and then add some cane sugar...

Cane sugar is the same as Sugar in the Raw, i think it's the same thing as Turbinado sugar... but don't take my word on that...(EDIT: I was correct Turbinado is Cane Sugar that's steamed, kind of like brown sugar but paler)

The one thing you can always count on a HB'er to say is "Experiment". Try it, if you don't like the results that's where i'd start when you try to batch again.

 

[Kiana]

Thanks for the info, and reassurance. Do you think a 50 50 ratio between brown and raw sugar would be good? I do like the brown sugar idea, it somehow seems more safe. This is only my second exparament in brewing (the first goes to bottles on Tuesday) so I'm a bit tentative to change things around to much yet, but I figure that's what homebrewing's all about.

Thanks again
-K

 

[DeadYetiBrew]

Thanks for the info, and reassurance. Do you think a 50 50 ratio between brown and raw sugar would be good? I do like the brown sugar idea, it somehow seems more safe. This is only my second exparament in brewing (the first goes to bottles on Tuesday) so I'm a bit tentative to change things around to much yet, but I figure that's what homebrewing's all about.

Thanks again
-K

You hit the nail on the head.. Homebrewing is all about experimenting, and of course beer. 50/50 would work, though the original would work too, it's just i've used brown sugar before in beer and, though it needs a week or two extra to get rid of any flavors it might add that're undesirable, it's a pretty safe adjunct. Plus you got a stout beer there, it'll be forgiving.

 

[mrk305]

Absolutely experiment! Keep good notes and if you don't like it, don't do it again. If it works well tell others. I think I would have used corn sugar instead of cane sugar, but I have tried all kinds of adjuncts in my beers. I just racked my second batch of a Molsen XXX clone into the secondary and that recipe used 1 pound of corn sugar late in the boil. I have used corn sugar, honey, karo syrup with vanilla, bavarian rock candy. Heck, look at Edwort! He posted a recipe with apple juice and two pounds of corn sugar and he is a legend!

 

[Brewsmith]

In large beers like Russian Imperial Stout, Barleywines, Double IPAs, and Strong Belgians, sugar is almost a necessity. With the amount of malt in the recipe, depending on the starting gravity, it becomes very difficult to get the final gravity down low enough to not leave the final result not too thick and sickly sweet. In big beers sugar is not a problem. It's the normal ones that people try to make out of corn sugar that are the result of threads like the one mentioned.