Hopville beercalcus Q: Table sugar not lowering fg

[rtb178]

I was under the impression that table sugar lowers finishing gravity (e.g., for DIPAs), but beercalculus does not appear to think so. Am I wrong on this?

 

[DocScott]

Adding table sugar will dry out your finished beer (in comparison to finishing sweet). Table sugar is completely fermentable by your yeast, whereas malted barley, brown sugar, honey, etc are not. This means that it will increase your OG and therefore the ABV, without leaving the unfermentable sugars behind which would sweeten your beer. The addition of table sugar only increases the OG, but does not affect your FG.

Be careful not to add too much sugar as the final product can end up tasting cidery. I hope this helps!

 

[rtb178]

Adding table sugar will dry out your finished beer (in comparison to finishing sweet). Table sugar is completely fermentable by your yeast, whereas malted barley, brown sugar, honey, etc are not. This means that it will increase your OG and therefore the ABV, without leaving the unfermentable sugars behind which would sweeten your beer. The addition of table sugar only increases the OG, but does not affect your FG.

Be careful not to add too much sugar as the final product can end up tasting cidery. I hope this helps!

I see; well, oops. I added 5 oz of Table Sugar to a 3.5 Gallon DIPA recipe, in order to dry out and hopefully bring the FG down (from about 1.02). Hopefully it won't be too much.

Thanks for your help Doc.

 

[Yooper]

Most brewing calculators don't account for the fermentability of the ingredients, or the lack of fermentability. In the old Beersmith, 100% crystal malt gave the same projected FG as 100% honey. Which we all know is not going to happen. They just give you a certain % as an attenuation number.

Most of us have had that experience with dealing with software, and just guestimate the probable FG on our own.

 

[rtb178]

Just took a measurement at 10 days: my gravity is at 1.016, rather than 1.024. Go sugar.