Lawn Darts...an in experiment sugars. how very scientific.
I want to redefine this experiment for people that may be lurking but are unsure of joining the experiment.
We are planning on brewing a standardized base beer with DME and Saaz hops. Each brewer will add a different sugar to the beer as part of the brewing process. Then report back their findings on fermenation characteristics, flavors and overall impressions.
If this sounds interesting to you and your not sure what to brew next, join us. There will be no need to share samples or give stuff away or share an abundance of personal info to people (unless someone wants to do that). There are plenty of interesting sugars on the list and we could use the help.
Give it a thought.
Oh yeah, I can't brew this weekend. But that shouldn't hold you up. I can brew next week I think. Especially an extract brew.
For the record:
The recipe as we have it now from an extract standpoint:
4lb DME
3lb sugar of choice
This creates and OG of for 5 gallons of 1053-1063, depending on the sugar used (Cane low end, maple syrup is high end).
That gravity range is good, something inside me worries that it might be too high, but I want to open that up for discussion before I really comment too much on it.
I am wondering if molasses is going to bump my OG up a bit more than expected. I have no issue with bottling right out of the primary. I have just gotten used to racking to a secondary. But in hind sight I'd say the less I mess with it the less chance I have of goofing something up. 2oz of Saaz, 1 for the boil 1 for the finish??? I'll be able to order the ingredients in a week and so I should be ready to brew in two weeks at the most. I don't see any reason why we'd all have to start at the same time so long as we keep and post diligent records.
for the sugars, peoples need to be choosing their preferred so we don't get any noses bent out of shape. all that is off the table so far is maple syrup.
as to fermentation procedures: primary only, let's not limit time though. ferment to completion. as we will all be using different types of sugar, this will be inevitably be a variable.
hops: let's do 1.5 oz boil, 0.5 finish oz.
DME: use what is easily available at your local store. if we are all using extra-light DME, the variations in brand can't be so great as to affect it too much. if one company uses 5% more of one grain than another company, i don't think that even chicken little will be concerened.
bottling: i think 10 days will be sufficient. we can discuss this, but if we all bottle with corn sugar those babies will be carbonated in a week (as long as you don't store your bottles in the limestone cavern below your medieval castle).
potential gravity range: let's do it man, let's torch the whole city! i am going to guess this will finish at about the 1.012 - 1.008 range, giving us a respectable 6 - 7% ABV. some will finish better, some will not get an OG as high...no sweat.
as long as ingredients amounts are the same, we will have an idea of how each individual sugar affects the wort. and it is all in the name of science. it will be nice to know that 3 lbs of corn sugar does/does not increase gravity in the wort as much a 3 lbs of maple sugar or confectionary cugar or blueberry pie.
did i miss anything?
i've been thinking the brew session out a bit. if we add that sugar at the last five minutes, we have already added the finishing hops and irish moss. so i am proposing that the sugar get added to our godly stew just before the finishing hops. get it fully dissolved then add our hops at 15 minutes left in the boil. irish moss with 5 min left. cool. pitch. watch the magic, hombres.
bham. we have (what we all hope will be) good beer.
oh and another thing: starter?
are we doing a starter culture? if anyone out there is uncomfortable with doing a starter, or has not done one before, we can pitch straight with a liquid yeast, just to keep things simple.
I am all for your recipe recomendations Krausenator.
I think we already know that different sugars will effect the OG differently when added at the same poundage. Remember that extract potential table I posted a while back with the different sugars. Cane suger has the highest PPG (46) while maple sugar has the lowest (30).
I thought we were interested mainly in the flavor differences in the sugars.
As for yeast starter. I am all for liquid yeast. So far there are only three of us. SO if we can all do starters, then lets go for it. Otherwise, I had proposed the dried safale-04 because its premeasured and two packages would be more than enough for a 1065 range wort.
comments..
If we are all shooting for the same OG in our wort then I think we need to crunch numbers. As not all sugars were created alike. If we are just going for what a specific amount does then I think we are ready to rock and roll. I am down for smack-pack yeast or dry, either one works for me. The sugar addition time is a community call. As for me I'd toss in our individual sugars at flame out. They'd still dissolve in the wort with no problem. If your creeped out by bugs (bacteria), and that would only be an issue in wet sugars, just get a pasteurized product. I mean really we could add all of our sugars at the very start of the boil and cook off all of the inherent flavors and just be left with the sugars. But then why not just all go with sugar???? I vote for minimal time on flame for our sugar addition, or even no flame at all. I wish one of you were close by to see the difference in my light honey ales. One was boiled the prescribed time, as per the instructions, and one was added after flame out. You guess which one I think tastes better. I mean if you hand me a honey ale, by god, I wanna taste some honey.
i think we should just do equal amounts, and not bother with gravity calculations. let's do sugars at flame out.
oh, what sugars should we pick, brewchez? brewskinewbski has got molasses. is there something you have not brewed with and are interested in?
with just us three, we can really do whatever we want with the experiment since we will be the ones learning here. any input, brewskinebski? maybe we choose sugars in a similar family to compare (like brown sugar and maple syrup since molasses is in the mix)?
i am going to brew today, i have to be out of town off and on the next couple of weeks and won't have the time to brew, so today is my opportunity. i am using safale-04 and corn sugar.
Not being able to drink each others product is gonna suck. But I agree maybe we should go with sugars in the same family so to speak. Like Maple, Brown Sugar and Molasses. I think I will wind up brewing all three just so I can know for myself. Being a lil tight on cash right now (saving to get hitched in Vegas baby) I'll have to wait til payday to start and I'll just order the base materials in bulk so I can brew everything at once.
No boil overs Krause.... I have to go ref the fights tonight so I have my evening planed till at least 11pm.
i pitched two packets of safale s-04 at 1530, had bubbles start about 25 minutes later, and am now in the heart of it. i have krausen blow 3/4 of the way up the blow tube (4-ft of 1-inch ID tubing).
i tell you, this is something to see. this is the most vigorous fermentation i have witnessed, and the quickest.
I had thought about the OG impact of a pound of this sugar vs that, but in the end I didn't mention it because it would complicate things. In the end its about comparing the flavor impacts of each sugar anyhow, the OG to flavor component is another experiment.
I'll shoot for some brown sugar in a brew fairly soon... there I picked one. I'll pitch two packets of S-04. I love that yeat.
Hoepfully Krausentators 3lb corn sugar rocket fuel doesn't burn his brewery down before he gets back from his out of town trip.
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