Sugar addition didn't work as expected

[saltydawg7]

Hello all.

So I gave a tripel a shot today. I realise it was probably beyond my skill level but I came across some high gravity Trappist yeast so thought I'd give it a go.

I put together a recipe using Brewer's Friend which had me hitting an OG of 10.82. I hit my expected pre boil gravity of 1.044 with 70% efficiency. I then boiled and added 1kg of sugar with 15 minutes to go.

I took a sample but didn't read it until after I pitched. I got 10.64.

What have a done wrong? I just dumped the sugar in should I have pre-mixed it? The boil was really going so I didn't make any effort to mix it in, was this my problem?

Also can I know fix it by putting more sugar in the fermenter? and If so how do I work our how much?

Thank for your help.

 

[BigFloyd]

I would not add any more sugar to try to "fix" anything.

Your efficiency was probably off. With a pre-boil of 1.044 and a typical boil volume reduction, without the sugar you were likely around 1.054 or so. Adding 1kg of sugar isn't going to raise the gravity anywhere close to 1.082. Without running the numbers, 1.064 sounds about right for that addition.

Ferment it. Call it a Dubbel.

 

[aiptasia]

More sugar will just dry it out. I'm inclined to do as posted above and just call it a dubbel.

 

[Smellyglove]

Did a quick run in BS and bigfloyd is right. With pilsner malt and 90min boil i got a preboil SG of 1.065. 4L/hour boiloff.

Measuring preboil volume can actually be harder than it sounds like. Sometimes people measure before all the wort has been mixed, often getting a higher reading than the correct one.

 

[saltydawg7]

Well I think the software has lead me astray. If I take the sugar out of my recipe all the numbers add up with 70% efficiency. I guess my reading may have been off. Add the sugar it gives me 1.082.

I'll just leave it then. Thanks for your help.