Raising ABV with prime sugar

[Pyg]

Just brewed a spiced ale for the holiday season, recipe is below:
I my SG came in at 1.062, which was slightly less than I wanted.
I used some priming sugar to raise the SG up to 1.066
Now that the yeast is in, I kind of regret my decision as it could throw off the taste.
How much does using prime sugar to raise ABV change the flavor?
And should going from 1.062 to 1.068 make that much of a difference?

1# Crystal 60L,
2 oz Black Malt
3.3# Light LME,
3# Light DME,
1# Honey

2 oz Cascade hop pellets (11 AAU) bittering hop 60 min..
1 oz Cinnamon Stick, 10 min
1 oz Sweet Orange Peel, 10 min
1 oz of Ginger Root last 10 min
½ oz Saaz pellets aroma hop last 5 min

Nottingham dry yeast.

(Sent from IPhone)

 

[twistr25]

I don't think it will make that much difference. And technically speaking, the yeast should consume all of that sugar, which will leave the beer a little drier, but I don't think will really change the flavor.

 

[unionrdr]

The sugar/honey will ferment out, leaving it a bit drier. But that 1kb of crystal 60L should offset that a little.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

You tried something different. No worries, just record what you ACTUALLY did, so when it turns out the greatest beer ever brewed in the history of man, you can do it again

FWIW, I keep 3 LBS of DME on hand to do yeast starters and touch up OG at the start of the boil if I'm a little low. Just gotta do the boil off calculation to make sure I don't over compensate.

 

[Pyg]

Thanks for advice. I need to stop compulsively try to raise the ABV of every batch.
Must learn to be content with 6% !
Is there something that can be added prior to bottling to combat "drier"

I don't think I can relate to te concept of dry in beer.
Wine I understand dry, you just sweeten a little.

Is this something I could put a minimal amount of lactose to take off the dryness?

 

[unionrdr]

In other words, it'll just be a little less sweet on the malty side. Maltodextrin can also be used.

 

[Pyg]

In other words, it'll just be a little less sweet on the malty side. Maltodextrin can also be used.

Would you advise sweeting with a touch of lactose sugar?
Or would that just throw everything off balance?

 

[solbes]

Lactose adds sweetness while maltodextrine adds body. I believe you may want more body, not more sweetness (1 lb of crystal is plenty).

Malto may not be needed however. I would only add 3-4 oz at bottling if you feel your beer is too thin. Also note it can cause beer farts, as its undigestable sugars to the yeast, but not your digestive system.

 

[unionrdr]

That pound of honey won't change things enough to where you need to add anything. But lactose, or milk sugar, would change the flavor a lil bit, moreso than maltodextrin.

 

[GuldTuborg]

Please taste you beer before you go making yet more changes you'll regret. Adding sugar to a beer does not necessarily make it taste dry. It will only likely make it drier than it would have been without the sugar. Maybe that's a good thing. Or bad, or maybe you wouldn't be able to tell either way.

You added a small amount of sugar. Roll with it. If you make 15 changes to a recipe, you'll never know what change had what effect, and you'll never really learn anything.

 

[pdog44450]

Just brewed a spiced ale for the holiday season, recipe is below:
I my SG came in at 1.062, which was slightly less than I wanted.
I used some priming sugar to raise the SG up to 1.066
Now that the yeast is in, I kind of regret my decision as it could throw off the taste.
How much does using prime sugar to raise ABV change the flavor?
And should going from 1.062 to 1.068 make that much of a difference?

1# Crystal 60L,
2 oz Black Malt
3.3# Light LME,
3# Light DME,
1# Honey

2 oz Cascade hop pellets (11 AAU) bittering hop 60 min..
1 oz Cinnamon Stick, 10 min
1 oz Sweet Orange Peel, 10 min
1 oz of Ginger Root last 10 min
½ oz Saaz pellets aroma hop last 5 min

Nottingham dry yeast.

(Sent from IPhone)

I don't think you'll have a problem especially since you're raising it only 4 points. I used to have my BeerSmith efficiency at 80% (who knows why) when I was only getting about 70% so my SG was always low. I'd throw in some regular old table sugar to get my gravity up. I did this twice and noticed no off flavors or substantial dryness. However, this did not make up for the lost body and and thinness of the beer, just added more alcohol. The beer was still good, nothing wrong with it at all. Supposedly adding too much causes cidery flavors but only 4 points shouldn't add any off flavors.

 

[Gerry_P]

Many breweries add sugar for the purpose of raising ABV/lowering FG without adding flavor or body. I've seen Belgian recipes that called for over 20% sugar in the grain bill, so I think yours will be fine. (I can't say this for sure, but it might even make your non-malt flavors stand out a little more.)