IPA's getting FG down

[Bullshivit-brew]

I will say I did not use a starter. I will be next time.

 

[oldschool]

Ugh. You won't catch me putting any corn or cane sugar in any of my IIPAs. I guess it is a matter of taste, though.

Corn sugar (dextrose) typically is preferred over cane sugar (sucrose) because it is more fermentable and because sucrose can leave a cidery off flavor in your final beer. As the others have said, with only a single pound in an IIPA, you should not be able to tell any difference.

However, I am more concerned that you may have a different problem with a different solution. What is your OG, what yeast are you using, and what do you do to ferment the beer? What is your recipe?

If your OG is something like 1.090 or above, you probably are fully attenuated and may be able to simply adjust your IBUs to a better balance. If you are using a yeast that is not among the most attenuative or alcohol tolerant, you just may be able to switch that out. If you ferment in less than optimal conditions, you may be able to fix that. If you use a bunch of crystal or other unfermentables (on top of an extract that may already contain the same thing), you may be able to fix that.

I wouldn't just jump for the sugar before you examine the rest of your process and, maybe, learn something that could improve all your beers.


TL

I'm mostly going to have to agree with this. There are many pros that never use sugar. As someone else also said you should use a higher attenuating yeast and try pitching more. I've had many extract beers that used a considerable ammount of corn sugar and you could taste the cider coming out for sure. Personally, I like a very rich IIPA and would rather increase my hops to balance the sweetness.

 

[moti_mo]

I'm mostly going to have to agree with this. There are many pros that never use sugar. As someone else also said you should use a higher attenuating yeast and try pitching more. I've had many extract beers that used a considerable ammount of corn sugar and you could taste the cider coming out for sure. Personally, I like a very rich IIPA and would rather increase my hops to balance the sweetness.

I'm not saying using corn or sucrose sugar is the only option, but it is a valid option that I think often gets discounted because people have a misconception about sugar giving beer a cidery taste. You say you've had extract beers that used corn sugar that had a cider taste coming through - I've had plenty of extract beers that didn't use corn sugar that suffered from the same problem.

There are many variables that affect the final beer's flavor, as we all know, many that are validly being discussed in this thread. Without knowing the process of the extract brewer from whom you tasted the beer that had the cider off flavors, its impossible to know if the off flavor comes from the use of a simple sugar. And assuming that the sugar is the culprit is probably the number one way misconceptions or stereotypes are perpetuated.

I'm just saying from someone who has tasted beers side-by-side by the same brewer (me) where one used a simple sugar (correctly) and one did not, the ones with sugar usually taste just as good as the ones without, and can taste better because it dries the beer out a bit, avoiding unwanted residual sweetness. And again, if used correctly, the sugar gives NO CIDER off flavors.

The other variables people are discussing - using a starter, making sure you use a yeast with the proper attenuation profile you're looking for, fermentation temperature control, etc. - these are all completely valid and very important factors that should NEVER be overlooked if you're trying to trouble-shoot your process. I just want to make sure people don't knock the use of simple sugars as a fraction of the fermentables bill as invalid because people throw around the common belief/fear of the cider-flavors...

 

[oldschool]

The cider flavored beers that i had used, i think 1 cup per gallon. At least that's what they told me. I know other people that use them incorrectly and the beers kinda suck. I'm mostly wanting to avoid this out of the pride thing of using only malt. school

 

[moti_mo]

The cider flavored beers that i had used, i think 1 cup per gallon. At least that's what they told me. I know other people that use them incorrectly and the beers kinda suck. I'm mostly wanting to avoid this out of the pride thing of using only malt. school

Fair enough if you want to stick to the Reinheitsgebot principles - but for me, learning to do it correctly just means increasing your arsenal of techniques to make quality beer of many different varieties.

I used to swear to never use any crazy adjuncts like fruit or ginger or pepper or other spices or anything like that because of pride (that's not beer, right), but then I realized it just gives you the opportunity to get creative and make things you've never had before. But if you want to keep it to just the barley, hops, and water, there's nothing wrong with that either.