throwing bottling sugar into wort?

[Andyoesq]

So I think my next batch is going to be the Northern Brewer Cream Ale extract kit. I figure if I make a summer beer, it has to get warm out right?
When I got the kit, I ordered the 5 oz bottling sugar pack too. I have since bought a kegerator and some kegs, so I'm going to keg this one. I have 2 priming corn sugar packs left over. Can I just throw them in to raise the alcohol in the Cream Ale?
I think in theory is should be fine? 10 ounces of sugar (without changing anything else) wouldn't change the taste too much would it?

 

[azazel1024]

It'll be a bit drier, but not by a lot. 5 gallon batch? At 5 gallons I tend not to notice the influence of added sugar if it is 8oz or less (corn or table). At around a pound, I can generally notice that the beer is a bit drier.

At around 2lbs it is a lot drier and I can start to taste some "off" flavors (IE lots of simple sugar got fermented). Depends a bit on the grain bill though. Its a bit more about % of sugar vs sugars from malt. I tend to notice it if the gravity contribution from the sugar is >10%. In the 5-10% range it just tastes a little drier, but >10% and I start to notice (to me) "off" flavors from added sugar.

So if this is going to be a rather light Cream Ale, in the 1.040-1.050 range, I'd only dump a single 5oz packet of corn sugar in there. 2 if you want to intentionally dry it out more and you likely won't really get off flavors at that.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Generally, I don't notice a contribution <5% of fermentables from simple sugar. ABV's a little higher, and IBUs would change a little if not adjusted for, but besides that not much changes. Up to 10% from sugar would dry it out nicely and you'd notice the impact, and is fine to go into the boil. You can go up to 20% (or even slightly more if you're careful) of fermentables from sugar (very common in Belgian beers), but is only good for when you want very high attenuation, so that a high gravity beer can still finish very, very dry (such as a Belgian Golden Strong Ale or Tripel). If I'm going in that 10-20% sugar range, I will hold off on the sugar in the boil, and instead wait until after fermentation has almost entirely completed, and then boil the sugar in a small amount of water, boil it down be pretty thick, let it cool a bit, and add it directly to the fermenter. Wise idea to put on a blowoff when you do it. If I'm going 10-15% sugar, I'll do it all at once. If I'm going 15-20% sugar, after fermentation dies down I'll add half the sugar as above, then 2 days I'll do it again with the other half.

Reason being, if you feed the yeast too much simple sugar, you can force a metabolic change in the yeast where they lose their ability to properly ferment maltose. This can be very bad for your beer, so you want to make sure the yeast ferment the maltose first so that you still get proper attenuation. And then if you add too much sugar at once later, you can shock the yeast and create off-flavors (cidery and what not) in the process.

 

[Andyoesq]

It is for a 5 gallon batch.
The ingredients in the extract kit are:
0.75 lbs Gambrinus Honey Malt
0.25 lbs Belgian Biscuit
6 lbs Pilsen malt syrup
1 oz Cluster (60 min)

So I guess try the one 5 ounce pack of sugar? It had an original gravity of 1.040, which has me a little worried

 

[Qhrumphf]

With that grain bill, 10 oz of sugar should be fine. I would just toss it all in.