Addition Of Sugar During Fermentation

[rwmingis]

I had the chance to speak to the head brewer at Murray's on the weekend. During our brief chat, I said I was thinking of making a Belgian Dubbel and he mentioned that I should try adding cane sugar to the beer 1-2 days after primary fermentation begins. (maybe it was Candi sugar, can't remember) As he was in a bit of a rush, I didn't get a chance to get him to explain. How would this be different than adding it to the boil? Is it that the yeast would handle the low nutrient sugars better after they had multiplied and started fermenting, or would it be some kind of ester thing? I think he recommended that after I had mentioned the use of Candi Sugar if that helps...

Cheers,

Rob

 

[Trent]

rob
Adding the sugar a few days into primary will allow the yeast a good headstart on all the malt before feeding it simple sugars. The way I understand it, yeast can get pretty lazy and be more inclined to eat the simple sugars first (if added to the boil) and then lose the motivation to make all the muscles required to ferment the more complex maltose, possibly leading to a less active ferment, maybe under attenuation, and a lesser beer all round.
Allowing them to develop the muscles needed for malt first will let them chew through the sugar that is added on day 2, then get back to the maltose with their "malt muscles" still intact.
I too heard this from shawn, and I have had nothing but success using this method. My understanding of "why" may be a little out of whack, but tasting the Murray's beers shows me that if it works for them, and doesn't make my beers worse, then it is worth doing.
Plus, being a tightarse, there is no sugar lost to trub at the bottom of the kettle!
All the best
Trent

 

[Adamt]

That's the main reason, and it also helps PR with the yeasties if you don't give it a huge OG to start off with.

EDIT: Oh yeah, dissolve the sugar in water and boil before adding to get rid of any nasties... candy it if you wish.

 

[rwmingis]

rob
Adding the sugar a few days into primary will allow the yeast a good headstart on all the malt before feeding it simple sugars. The way I understand it, yeast can get pretty lazy and be more inclined to eat the simple sugars first (if added to the boil) and then lose the motivation to make all the muscles required to ferment the more complex maltose, possibly leading to a less active ferment, maybe under attenuation, and a lesser beer all round.
Allowing them to develop the muscles needed for malt first will let them chew through the sugar that is added on day 2, then get back to the maltose with their "malt muscles" still intact.
I too heard this from shawn, and I have had nothing but success using this method. My understanding of "why" may be a little out of whack, but tasting the Murray's beers shows me that if it works for them, and doesn't make my beers worse, then it is worth doing.
Plus, being a tightarse, there is no sugar lost to trub at the bottom of the kettle!
All the best
Trent

Makes perfect sense. I think I'll give this method a go, sounds pretty solid. Thanks for the explanation Trent.

Cheers

rob