Step feeding questions

[dreaded_rust]

I brewed a pretty big IIPA this last Sunday and it came in at 1.090. I was expecting to hot somewhere around 1.096-1.099 and would have been ok with a little higher. Ive read a bit on here lately about step feeding the wort with sugar....if i do this will it ferment out the sugar or will i just end up with a sweet mess?
I piched about 2.25 packs of rehydrated us05 and its been fermenting at about 64-66 degrees pretty steady.

I was really wanting this thing to reach double digit abv

 

[traveligion]

It will ferment the simple sugars, just dont add too much at one time ( maybe 1/2 pound?). I just did that to my imp stout with no ill effects, 4 times 0.33kg of dextrose raised my og from 1.100 to around 1.125
Just boil the sugar in small amount of water, cool, then add to your beer.

 

[dreaded_rust]

Thanks.
How do i calculate the addition to my original gravity? Can i just plug it into my app as part of the original boil?

 

[dcbw]

You can do that, but you'll need to adjust your final batch size according to how much water you're adding to dissolve the sugar in.

For example if you add 2.5# sugar (37ppg, so 92 gravity points for 2.5#) and don't account for the water, you'll think your OG is 1.108 ((90x5 + 92) / 5). But you've diluted the beer slightly with water, so that number is too high.

If you use 3 cups of water with the sugar, that's 0.1875 gallons (16 cups to the gallon). So now you have 5.1875 gallons of beer not 5 gallons. So ((90x5 + 92) / 5.1875) = about 1.105.

The difference could be up to 1/2% ABV. Though in a beer this big that doesn't really matter and all our calculations and measurements have pretty big margins of error anyway.

 

[dreaded_rust]

UUUUUUGHHH
Math!
Hahaha. Thanks man ill take that into account.
Probably try to do the least amount of water possible.
When is a good time to add this sugar? ..will it mess with my happy little yeasts?

 

[urg8rb8]

I step feed my 1.14 OG barleyeine with pounds of sugar. I got a stove top pot put a couple of cups of water then poured in all the sugar. Heated it up and added small amounts of water until it was all dissolved. This way I know I added the min amount of water.

 

[dreaded_rust]

Ok so I added 17.55 ounces of corn sugar boiled in 1.5 cups of water yesterday.
Odd amount because I was going to do a pound but the 17.55 was what I had on hand.
Was bubbling nicely all night and this morning.
Sure hope I dont end up with a sweet mess

 

[urg8rb8]

Ok so I added 17.55 ounces of corn sugar boiled in 1.5 cups of water yesterday.
Odd amount because I was going to do a pound but the 17.55 was what I had on hand.
Was bubbling nicely all night and this morning.
Sure hope I dont end up with a sweet mess

You won't. What yeast did you use again?

 

[dreaded_rust]

You won't. What yeast did you use again?

Safale us-05. About 2.25 packs rehydrated

 

[dcbw]

I think your OG will now be 1.096.

((90x5) + 40.5) / 5.0938

 

[dreaded_rust]

So if this does end up finishing too high what can I do to lower the gravity? More yeast? Different yeast?

 

[m00ps]

all you can really do to lower the gravity at this point would be to:
- rouse the yeast somehow through movement or warming
- add amylase enzyme to hopefully get them moving
- add a higher attenuating yeast (any saison yeast should do the trick. Lots of people use belle saison or WY3711)

 

[urg8rb8]

So if this does end up finishing too high what can I do to lower the gravity? More yeast? Different yeast?

Have you been periodically measuring you specific gravity?

 

[dreaded_rust]

Have you been periodically measuring you specific gravity?

Not since the original

 

[dreaded_rust]

Figured id wait til it looked like it was nearly done

 

[urg8rb8]

Figured id wait til it looked like it was nearly done

I would check it to make sure the yeast didn't stop fermenting

 

[dreaded_rust]

Its only been 11 days and it still looks like there is some activity in there.

 

[urg8rb8]

Its only been 11 days and it still looks like there is some activity in there.

I think you'll be fine! Keep us updated.

 

[dreaded_rust]

Checked the gravity today.
Came in at a nice 1.014.
Taste great.

 

[urg8rb8]

Checked the gravity today.
Came in at a nice 1.014.
Taste great.

Awesome!!