Should I add sugar to my barleywine??

[dbavenger]

This is my 3rd batch, so I'm a noob. I'm doing the barleywine recipe from John Palmer's How To Brew book. (I know, I should have done a few simple beers, but couldn't help myself My wort is in the primary for 11 days now. OG=1.094 (recipe said 106 but I was a tiny bit short of DME). Today=1.038. Temp=69F, and produces a bubble every 7 sec or so.

I've been reading about people adding sugar (dextrose?) to barleywine at the boil, or at fermentation start, or when moved to the secondary. I'm worried because my recipe says nothing about adding sugar! (Obviously I'm not talking about bottling sugar.) This is a partial mash (I think that's the term) -- 5lb LME in boil, 8lb DME after boil. 1lb grains steeped before boil. Should I be adding sugar at this point, and in what form?

Also, I was originally planning on moving to a secondary at 14 days, but have read a bunch of things that say secondaries are not really necessary, and do more harm than good, but maybe that's not true for a "big" beer like this. My thought was if I rack to the secondary, that might be a good time to add the sugar.

Any thoughts?

 

[hunter_le five]

If the original recipe did not call for sugar, then I see no reason to add it.

Secondaries are fine, just be very careful not to introduce oxygen or contaminants to the beer. Or you could just leave it in the primary longer. You pretty much get the same result in the end.


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[bobeer]

I agree if the recipe didn't call for sugar then you don't need it. However, sugar, honey and other syrups are often added to barleywines to dry them out and to ramp up the abv. I'd do some reading about adding simple sugars to your beer if you want to add some because if you add too much you can really thin out your beer and make it very boozy. If it were me, I'd just let it ride and see how it turns out and add to it next time you brew it. Or maybe split the batch and add sugar or a syrup to it and compare them. Part of homebrewing is about experimenting!

Everyone will have an opinion on using a secondary or not. I've brewed some big beers and I've never used a secondary. I've left beer on the yeast for months at a time and I've never had any issues at all. I'd let your beer sit for about a month, maybe even up to 6 weeks, then bottle and age it for at least a few months. I'd put a 6er away in the cellar for a year from now too, or even longer. It's always nice to have a cellar'ed beer collection of big brews!!

 

[frazier]

Before adding sugar, the question you need to ask yourself is, What problem am I trying to solve?

Your OG does not sound that low to me. That much extract in a 5.5 gal. boil gives 1.096 on my calculator. A lot depends on how much you topped up, how you took your reading, etc etc etc.

Also, I seriously doubt that you have reached FG yet: big beers take a long time, I've had beers ferment actively for 18 days. The last thing you want to do with a big beer is to take it away from its yeast cake before it's done. I'd give it another two to three weeks before even checking the gravity again.

Cheers!

 

[dbavenger]

That's awesome advice guys. I think I'd prefer to leave it in the primary, and not add sugar. Only reason I was questioning the recipe is because I've seen other things that have changed in the 10 years or so since the book was published, and want to follow the best practices of the day Learning a lot every day.

Thanks!