Adding Dex To Carboy During Fermentation

[Pete2501]

I've got a recipe I winged which I've topped up to 21 litres in the carboy. I'd like to do a gravity reading and taste test tonight to see how it's going but my thoughts are with the high IBU I could up the alcohol content and have myself an IPA?

Amount Item Type % or IBU
1.70 kg Dark Liquid Extract [Boil for 15 min] Extract 50.00 %
1.70 kg Wheat Liquid Extract [Boil for 15 min] Extract 50.00 %
15.00 gm Pearle [8.00 %] (60 min) Hops 9.2 IBU
20.00 gm Pearle [8.00 %] (20 min) Hops 7.4 IBU
30.00 gm Simcoe [13.00 %] (10 min) Hops 10.8 IBU
20.00 gm Pearle [8.00 %] (10 min) Hops 4.4 IBU


Est Original Gravity: 1.046 SG
Measured Original Gravity: 1.010 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.005 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.45 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 0.65 %
Bitterness: 59.1 IBU Calories: 90 cal/l
Est Color: 10.2 SRM

My thoughts were boiling a kilo of dex to a kilo of water and adding it to the carboy. To work this out in beersmith I added 1.3kg of Lyle's Golden Syrup added at 1min to get a rough idea of the impact. Then after the dex is all fermented I'll dry hop the rest of the Sicome 70g for a real hop kick.

Looking for some feedback because either way I'm liking the smell of this beer so it'll get drunk either way.

 

[Pennywise]

Adding Dextrose mid/late ferment, or any other simple sugar is common with high gravity beers like Belgian's. This tends to dry the beer out a little and gives the yeast a chance to eat up the more complex sugars so it doesn't get lazy and go straight for the simple ones (which tends to give you stalled ferments).

 

[Pete2501]

The first thing that came to mind when thinking of doing it was Belgian candy sugars.

After your post I realise that I'm interested in the effect it has on the finished product. Cheers for the hot tip HB.

 

[Bribie G]

In similar gravity UK Special Bitters I often add 300g or so of sugar in the boil, where a bit of caramelisation happens as well, but no problem in adding to fermenter instead. I regularly do that with 250g white sugar in milds as they are caramelly enough, and 500g moist brown sugar in brown ales and Foreign Extra stouts. However I think a kilo would be OTT, maybe 600g max to avoid putting it out of whack and even getting fume-type alcohol heat that may be a bit too noticeable.

 

[Pete2501]

Awesome. I'll reign it in then. But if it's tasting on track then I don't think I'll be playing with it anyway.

 

[Dazza_devil]

I've actually got an American IPA planned to brew within the next couple of days and contemplating when to add the dex with this one. I have added the dex late in the fermentation before with an APA and it turned out a great beer at around 6% alc I think. This AIPA will end up around 7.5% with about 750g of dex which is around 20 percent of the simple sugars (a limit recommmended by Jamil and Palmer in the AIPA section for a drier finish). I was going to add the sugar before fermentation but perhaps this one is a little high gravity at 1.070. I have a huge 3 litre starter of 1272 ready which should do the trick, so I'm undecided. I would dry hop with around 1g/litre after the dex has almost completed fermenting or otherwise toward the end of fermentation if the dex goes in pre-ferment. As far as I can see the only drama could be a stuck ferment but the end result would the same if fermentation progresses well and finishes around 1.016.

 

[Pete2501]

I could just freeze my beer again and up the alcohol content that way. :lol:

 

[cdbrown]

Were those early addition hops boiled in just water like the recipe says or did you add some of the extract at th begining for hop utilisation?

I'd just have the dry hop addition although I'd probably only put in 30g.

PS - You'll be proud of me pete, I finally joined WCB

 

[Pete2501]

As the recipe says. The 15g addition was done in just water otherwise the liquid malt darkens too much.

Hahaha bout time.