35% sugar--too much for a Tripel?

[climateboy]

Hey, all.

So, due to some instrumentation problems (I neglected to recalibrate my refractometer, and only checked it against my hydrometer after the boil was over and chilled--:smack, I ended up with a chilled 7 gallons of tripel that was supposed to be at 1.076 but was at 1.064. Looking for a quick gravity boost, I grabbed another pound of jaggery (sugarcane jaggery, so delicious, which I was using as my sugar additions), pulled some chilled wort, heated it to dissolve the jaggery, then chilled that down and added it back to the fermenter with the rest of the wort.

Then I realized--that could be a lot of sugar.

The initial recipe had 11.25 pounds of pilsener (Best Malz) and 2.75 lbs of jaggery, for a total of 1.076. The jaggery was originally contributing .018 gravity points, as the extract from the mash, once boiled down (90 min boil) and before the jaggery additions, should have been at 1.058. So the original design had the jaggery at 23.6% of the total gravity. I want this to be a very dry tripel, so that was right on.

But I ended up with wort (mash + end of boil jaggery) of 1.068. I added a pound of jaggery to bring it to 1.076. That means that .026 of the total gravity points come from sugar, or about 35%.

Is this too much? I know a major concern is hot alcohols. I am fermenting with Wyeast 3787, and had made a nice healthy starter, and put yeast nutrient into the boil. I am controlling the fermentation with a start at 68 degrees, and have the fridge set to let the fermenting wort go no higher than 80 degrees. I'll be able to condition for about four months.

Should I do anything? As I see it, these are the options:

1) Add DME or make a small version of the beer with just malt, and add to the fermenter.

2) Make another similar one and blend, eventually.

3) Do nothing, and keep a close watch on fermentation and conditioning temperatures.


Any input most welcome.

 

[Cyclman]

That is a alot of sugar. Brew Like a Monk cites 22% max sugar for a Trippel. If you made a small amount of beer with DME and water, approximating the same OG, and can fit that into fermenter, that might balance it, but I've never tried such.

If it is cidery or solventy, I don't think blending would fix that.

 

[Pratzie]

I don't know anything about that type of sugar but u should try and find out what the molecule make up of it is. Disaccharide, monosaccharide, trisacharide, etc. If the yeast get to worked out or cant process it, it'll be sweet, kinda like a sweet stout as opposed to dry with a high FG.

Doesn't mean u won't have a tasty brew, it just might not conform to the style standards.

 

[climateboy]

I don't know anything about that type of sugar but u should try and find out what the molecule make up of it is. Disaccharide, monosaccharide, trisacharide, etc. If the yeast get to worked out or cant process it, it'll be sweet, kinda like a sweet stout as opposed to dry with a high FG.

Doesn't mean u won't have a tasty brew, it just might not conform to the style standards.

Jaggery is whole cane sugar that has not been centrifuged--basically concentrated cane juice. It is about half sucrose, the rest invert sugars, moisture, minerals, and insoluble matter like protein and plant fibers. I'm expecting it to behave like other simple brewing sugars--Randy Mosher talks about it a fair bit in Radical Brewing, and says it is fully fermentable; it just adds a different flavor profile than other sugars.

 

[Pratzie]

interesting, i'll have to take a look into it. But as long as its fully fermentable, it should break down either way. The only advise i can think of if ur worried is maybe add a little yeast nutrient into the wort to give it a boost.

 

[climateboy]

I'm concerned more about flavor balance and hot alcohols than the yeast--I think they will be fine. I'm considering adding some DME or doing a high-gravity minimash and adding that, to bring the sugar contribution down to 30%.

 

[Pratzie]

Well whats the anticipated FG on the recipe? Once u have that check the difference of the OG and FG, multiply by 131 and it'll give ya a rough idea of the alcohol content and an idea of whether it will burn on the way down.

 

[climateboy]

Thanks. I'm familiar with how to calculate alcohol content. As I said before, my concern is flavor balance and hot alcohols from too much sugar.

 

[Pratzie]

Sorry i guess i misread what u were asking. As far as tripels, i've only ever equated the hot alcohols to the alcohol content.

 

[climateboy]

No worries. Hot alcohols are fusel alcohols, which is the stuff that tastes like solvent and gives you a headache. They are formed by stressed yeast and/or too-high temperatures. It's different from just high alcohol--but being able to taste too much alcohol can seem "hot," that's why with big Belgians you have to balance the sugars and grains.