Can I use table sugar to correct my low SG

[wookiemofo]

I completed my first partial mash this weekend and attempted my first whirlpool. The amount of hop sediment that was being sucked up into my siphon scared me and I stopped, which left a decent amount of wort in the kettle. Maybe a couple quarts. And because of my noobness, I topped off at 5gal and THEN took my reading, instead of lowering my top off amount.

This gave me a SG of 1.032 vs the targeted 1.042.

I have done some searching on here and elsewhere, and have read of people adding cane sugar to the primary to boost ABV.

Is this something I can do to correct my mistake? Or will it result in something undesirable? The beer is a cascade pale ale PM kit sold by MW. From what I've read, 1lb sugar will bring me up to 1.042.

And how/when would i do this? Just dump a pound in the primary a day or two after i brewed? Is it even worth it? I just don't want to have a few cases of a beer that's lower then a 3.2% !

 

[ChshreCat]

The sugar will also thin your beer giving it more of a watery characteristic and since you added too much top off water for your volume of wort, it's already going to seem a bit watered down. You could get some extra, boil it in as small a volume of water as you can get it to dissolve it and pour that in if you want. Or just let it go and have a lawnmower beer for the spring. I'd probably just let it go and start a new batch if it were me, but it's your beer to do with as you please.

 

[wookiemofo]

That was my other thinking. Seeing as it's my first PM, i kind of want to see how it turns it without any modifications.

Just thought if I could boost ABV yet maintain flavor/body, that I would.

 

[DFoster]

I'd let it go. It'll be something you can drink and probably enjoy. The alcohol content shouldn't be a huge issue, especially for a solid summer brew.

 

[ChshreCat]

And next time, don't worry about the hop particles. I just pour my wort from the kettle after cooling through a big kitchen strainer into my fermenter. Strains out the big bits of hop but lets smaller bits, break material and everything else pass through. It all settles to the bottom in the end.

 

[wookiemofo]

So are there any formulas out there to determine how much extra water I added?

If the target SG was 1.042-1.046, and it's a kit... is there a way to know how much extra water was used to drop SG to 1.032?