question about my first brew

[Pirotec]

Ok, so i decided i wanted to attempt to brew so i went to the local shop and got one of those all in one kits for the first attempt. The chick behind the counter said i would need that and a pound of sugar but it actually called for 2 lbs, what would the shortage do for the finished product?

 

[madman960]

What are you brewing? All grain or Brew In a Bag? List of ingredients? I am sure there is more info needed but that will be a good start to get answers.

 

[unionrdr]

Well,it depends on the exact recipe. but generally,1lb less sugar would mean less ABV,& less dry from using less sugar. What beer kit is it, ingredients, recipe?

 

[Pirotec]

Its an american light lager, i wanted to start with something im more familiar with. The brand is muntons, the malt came in a can with a yeast packet packaged on the top. 5 gallon yield which i take to be the norm. Thats all it called for (malt, yeast, sugar)

 

[unionrdr]

Well,you would want a light lager to be dryer than an ale,generally. But if they gave you lager yeast,it'll have to be fermented down around 50-53F as a general rule. what was the yeast packaged in the false lid?

 

[Pirotec]

Yah, the yeast was in a false lid. Im allready 5 days in, i figured once iv opened the package there was no going back. The local shop isnt that local if you catch my drift. I just wanted to know if maybe i could add extra during the bottling process or if anybody would know how if would effect the taste or alcohol content on the finished product

 

[Tobiasosir]

I have limited experience--my first batch will be ready to bottle in a couple weeks--but I too got a different amount of sugar than called for in the recipe. The guy at the store said it's because we're at a higher altitude--need a bit more sugar to make it right. For your first brew, I'd stick with what they're telling you, until you feel comfortable enough with the process to mess around with the recipe.

As for the finished product, more sugar when priming can lead to more CO2, more residual sugars, and more ABV. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but more sugar could also lead to a 'thicker' mouthfeel, right? If you don't want your lager to be more viscous, it might be best to leave it as they recommend.) Of course, the priming sugar isn't the only factor for any of those, so for a newcomer to the hobby it would be difficult to tell how it affected it, unless you ran a second batch by the letter and compared.

 

[woozy]

...Im allready 5 days in, i figured once iv opened the package there was no going back. ... I just wanted to know if maybe i could add extra during the bottling process ...

No, you can't add it during the bottling process. The time to add it was at the beginning so it's too late now. If you were to add that much sugar the fermentation process will start up again and you'd need to wait it out for a few weeks.

But no biggee. You'll have a good beer which your LHBS prefered for some reason.

This type of pre-hopped LME which you add 2 pds of sugar is often called a "kit and kilo". Lots of folks here like to substitute the sugar with DME.

 

[unionrdr]

I have limited experience--my first batch will be ready to bottle in a couple weeks--but I too got a different amount of sugar than called for in the recipe. The guy at the store said it's because we're at a higher altitude--need a bit more sugar to make it right. For your first brew, I'd stick with what they're telling you, until you feel comfortable enough with the process to mess around with the recipe.

As for the finished product, more sugar when priming can lead to more CO2, more residual sugars, and more ABV. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but more sugar could also lead to a 'thicker' mouthfeel, right? If you don't want your lager to be more viscous, it might be best to leave it as they recommend.) Of course, the priming sugar isn't the only factor for any of those, so for a newcomer to the hobby it would be difficult to tell how it affected it, unless you ran a second batch by the letter and compared.

If you use table sugar or dextrose you won't have any residual sugars if the yeast pitch was healthy. They ferment out 100% ideally. So you'll get more ABv & a bit drier beer. But no more mouthfeel.

 

[chickypad]

You could add it if you wanted to, you would boil the sugar in as little water as possible, cool it, and add it to the fermenter. It's a pretty common technique on bigger beers like some Belgians to add the simple sugars partway into fermentation to help the yeast out. At this point I'd probably just let this one ride though.

 

[woozy]

You could add it if you wanted to, you would boil the sugar in as little water as possible, cool it, and add it to the fermenter. It's a pretty common technique on bigger beers like some Belgians to add the simple sugars partway into fermentation to help the yeast out.

I've always been a little curious about this technique and how one determines when to add and what effect it will have at different times. I guess the key is "to help the yeast out".

I wanted to say you can't add it at bottling time because it will kick up a new fermentation and it will no longer be bottling time but the start of another weeks long fermenting period, but I didn't figure I knew enough about about this technique to bring it up.