Success! My new technique works!

[Bugeater]

Some time back I posted about adding sugar to a big beer right at high krausen rather than in the boil or towards the end of fermentation. This is a technique used by Tyson Arp at Nebraska Brewing on his big beers.

I tried this on a wee heavy I brewed recently. The last time I brewed this recipe with a boil kettle addition of sugar I could only get the FG down to 1.030. The last 5 points took almost 3 months sitting in a keg at room temperature. This time I added the sugar at high krausen. Gravity dropped from 1.122 to 1.026 in just 25 days fermenting at 66°F. Drinking the hydrometer sample as I post this. Definitely needs to age several months, but I think this is going to be one of my best big beers. I will be doing the same type of sugar addition on the barleywine I will be brewing this weekend.

Wayne

[straight cash homey]

hmmm. i like that your doing this experiment because i think the techniques up to this point are mostly speculation. it also makes sense to me that this would be a good time to add simple sugars. its always good when a technique makes sense.

[bcmaui]

I too have had success on a new technique.

I saw Saco's tips on using gelatin for fining and he answered a few followups that I PM'ed him and I am enjoying my first glass of gelatin bright beer.

It is amazing how such simple changes or additions to the process can make big differences.

Even more amazing is the generosity of fellow BNers to share in successful techniques.

[straight cash homey]

ive got a new technique in the works, its not beer related, but still worthwhile. you buy a sportscar and blast rap music while driving around the local high school looking for chicks smoking cigarettes during lunch break. i'll keep you posted

[Weenie Boy]

Sorry Bug... gotta wave the bs flag on this one! You have an og of 1.122 and you are calling this a "wee heavy"?! I think maybe it should be a "holy shit batman, sledgehammer, I'm gonna get fucked up" Heavy.

Just my .02.

Weenie Boy

[brewinhard]

Some time back I posted about adding sugar to a big beer right at high krausen rather than in the boil or towards the end of fermentation. This is a technique used by Tyson Arp at Nebraska Brewing on his big beers.

I tried this on a wee heavy I brewed recently. The last time I brewed this recipe with a boil kettle addition of sugar I could only get the FG down to 1.030. The last 5 points took almost 3 months sitting in a keg at room temperature. This time I added the sugar at high krausen. Gravity dropped from 1.122 to 1.026 in just 25 days fermenting at 66°F. Drinking the hydrometer sample as I post this. Definitely needs to age several months, but I think this is going to be one of my best big beers. I will be doing the same type of sugar addition on the barleywine I will be brewing this weekend.

Wayne

Way cool results! Thanks for posting. Do you think this process would work well with belgian candi syrups as well? So the sugar should be added at PEAK krausen or initial krausen time? Just trying to clarify the process for my future big brew days.

[Bruce G]

[quote="bcmaui"]I too have had success on a new technique.

I saw Saco's tips on using gelatin for fining and he answered a few followups that I PM'ed him and I am enjoying my first glass of gelatin bright beer.

I searched for gelatin and did not find any posts by Saco looking back to August. Wast it on the BN forum?

Bruce

[Bugeater]

Way cool results! Thanks for posting. Do you think this process would work well with belgian candi syrups as well? So the sugar should be added at PEAK krausen or initial krausen time? Just trying to clarify the process for my future big brew days.

The theory is that you want to have the fermentation of the sugars from the malt well underway but still have some reproduction taking place at the time you add the more complex sugars. This allows the newly created yeast cells to adapt to the new type of food and allow fermentation to finish out.

I was discussing this again with Tyson at NBC last night. He said that in his experiments he started with the sugar once fermentation was nearly complete. On subsequent batches he added the sugar earlier and earlier and kept getting better attenuation. He thinks the "sweet spot" is just before high krausen. He has been winning awards all over the country (including GABF) with his big beers using this technique so I think he is on to something.

This should work just fine with belgian candi syrup or any type of sugar even if it is the same composition as the malt sugars. The original point of adding sugar during fermentation is to decrease the amount of osmotic shock to the yeast at the time you first pitch the yeast. Late sugar additions (regardless of the type) keep the gravity from rising high enough to do as much damage as adding all the sugars at the beginning.

This is all based on subjective observation in the brewery. It would be great if some yeast lab geeks could evaluate this technique to find out what really goes on.

Wayne