Feeding fermentation with more sugar

I'm planning on brewing a Belgian Golden Strong Ale with Wyeast 3787. The recipe call for 1 Kg of clear candy sugar and the batch size is ~20 liters. Last time a friend and I brewed this recipe, it gradually got cidery. We attribute this from the amount of candy sugar used even though it's not that much (~10-12%). Otherwise, we don't know what caused this off flavor. Wyeast 3787 description say that "This type of yeast benefits from incremental feeding of sugars during fermentation, making suitable conditions for doubles and triples to ferment to dryness." I'd like to try that this time but I'm not sure at all how to do this. Is there a particular method for adding 1 Kg of candy sugar to the fermenting beer without compromising sanitation too much?

Thanks in advance for any help.

dissolve it in a small amount of boiling water then chill it as closely as possible to the temperature of the beer in your fermenter before adding it.

The method above for incremental feeding is great, but I'm finding it hard to believe that the "cidery" flavor came from adding that small amount of sugar before. I use 3787 a lot, don't do incremental feeding and have used far more sugar than that without issues. Also, if it was the sugar, I can't think of a reason it would go "cidery" gradually.

I think cidery flavours tend to be produced by low pitching rates of yeast in combination with the large amounts of sugar.

10% sugar in a Belgian should not cause cider flavours.
I've never had the problem but I'm guessing if you do it correctly you could get away with 20% plus.20

acetaldehyde can cause cidery flavors. acetobacteria also. the bacteria would cause a gradual "cider"ing if it was present.

Hmmm... This time I'll have a fairly large starter... I'd say we used half last time. This is a 1.092 OG (with the candy sugar) and I have a ~4 liters starter. If possible, I'd prefer to not have to fuss with incremental feeding as I don't have a real good way to do it.

Thanks!

Paco said:

Hmmm... This time I'll have a fairly large starter... I'd say we used half last time. This is a 1.092 OG (with the candy sugar) and I have a ~4 liters starter. If possible, I'd prefer to not have to fuss with incremental feeding as I don't have a real good way to do it.

Thanks!

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If you are intermittently shaking your sarter or using a stirplate, you'll be slightly overpitching with a ~4 liter starter. With your 1.092 SG, MrMalty calculates ~3.5 liters for shaking, and ~2.5 liters with a stirplate, that is for using 1 vial or package of yeast. However, if this is washed yeast or the yeast viability is reduced for any reason, I think you'll be just about right with your pitching rate. Having said that, I see no real problem underpitching slightly when making a belgian style, it promotes some of the estery funky flavors, and personally, I allow my belgian brews to slowly rise to room temp (~78F) after the first 2-3 days of fermentation. Classic belgian brewing technique. Yeasties like the warmth!

I intend to save of my starter for more brewing with this strain.:rockin:

Thanks all!

Still, I'd like to know what's the beast/right way to incrementally feed the fermentation with candy sugar. Dissolving in water would require a fairly large volume which would affect the beer profile... I'm trying to think of a way to "seal" 0.25 Kg block when they're burning hot so they're "sanitized" when needed.

Paco said:

I intend to save of my starter for more brewing with this strain.:rockin:

Thanks all!

Still, I'd like to know what's the beast/right way to incrementally feed the fermentation with candy sugar. Dissolving in water would require a fairly large volume which would affect the beer profile... I'm trying to think of a way to "seal" 0.25 Kg block when they're burning hot so they're "sanitized" when needed.

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In terms of sealing the block:

What about dropping the boiling hot sugar into a pot of sanitized, ice cold water? Would it crystalize fast enough to fish it out and throw it into a ziplock/foodsaver/mason jar?

...or maybe just dump the boiling hot sugar into a sanitized mason jar, cover loosely, and the foodsaver seal the lid once it's cooled enough?