Adding Sugar During Fermentation

[JimL]

Don't be an idiot like me and just add the sugar straight to your carboy.

11oz cane sugar = a shitload of nucleation points

I have 15g of IPA which are winding down and my recipe called for 11 oz of sugar to be added to each carboy during the ferment. I would have just added the sugar to the boil but I didn't have it handy. This method is something I had wanted to try since my last Belgian Golden Strong practically stopped fermenting likely due to the large amount of simple sugars added to the boil.

So how are you guys doing this? The other 2 carboys still need to have the sugar added. I went ahead and covered the sugar with tap water and microwaved it for 5 minutes to dissolve the solution. Once it's cooled down I'll just pour it in, unless you all have some better ideas.

[dstar26t]

I use a ratio of 1 lb corn sugar to 1 cup of water. Heat up the water on the stove and then stir in the corn sugar. Go up to 180+ for 5 minutes. Then add to the fermenter. Don't bother chilling first, it's a very small amount of liquid going into a relatively large amount.

[andy77]

When I used to add the the kettle, I boiled it in just enough water to dissolve (precise ratio doesn't matter as it's all getting added to the fermenter anyway), bring to a boil, cool, pitch.

FWIW, lots of great brewers add the sugar to the kettle. Randy Theil spoke about adding sugar to the kettle while at Ommegang, I remember the guys from Destruisse talking about direct addition to the wort. I've been adding to the kettle for a long time now and not noticed a difference.

This is probably a minority opinion, and I've not done an experiment, but my feeling is that incremental feeding's real benefit is when you're really stressing the yeast, ie DFH 120 or Utopias. But in most circumstances, say 10-20% of the fermentables, I'd be surprised if it made a flavor difference.