Belgian Strong Ale

[Margwar]

Morning all,

I brewed over the weekend and decided to give a Belgian Strong Ale a go... I was going along nicely and it was smelling awesome. I then did my pre-boil gravity and noticed I was 10 points down or so. Recipe said I should be at 1.083 and I had around the 1.070 mark. I had more wort as than normal as I had to do a 90 minute boil as per the recipe. So I just thought as I am still fairly new to the AG scene that I just expect to miss my numbers a bit.
Put my wort into the no chill and brew day was all done, but I now know why I missed my numbers. The recipe called for Cane Sugar and I just forgot to add it to the boil...! D'oh!!

Can I just disolve it now in some hot water and then add it to the fermenter when I go to pitch my yeast? Or did it really need to be boiled? I am figuring that the Cane Sugar is there just to get the gravity up and wont add much to the taste, as it will be all fermented out, so adding it to the fermenter shouldnt be a problem??? Or does it get caramalised in the boil and add to the flavour??
Otherwise I will just pitch into what I have and have a 8% beer instead of 10%...

Thanks again...

 

[AndrewQLD]

Morning all,

I brewed over the weekend and decided to give a Belgian Strong Ale a go... I was going along nicely and it was smelling awesome. I then did my pre-boil gravity and noticed I was 10 points down or so. Recipe said I should be at 1.083 and I had around the 1.070 mark. I had more wort as than normal as I had to do a 90 minute boil as per the recipe. So I just thought as I am still fairly new to the AG scene that I just expect to miss my numbers a bit.
Put my wort into the no chill and brew day was all done, but I now know why I missed my numbers. The recipe called for Cane Sugar and I just forgot to add it to the boil...! D'oh!!

Can I just disolve it now in some hot water and then add it to the fermenter when I go to pitch my yeast? Or did it really need to be boiled? I am figuring that the Cane Sugar is there just to get the gravity up and wont add much to the taste, as it will be all fermented out, so adding it to the fermenter shouldnt be a problem??? Or does it get caramalised in the boil and add to the flavour??
Otherwise I will just pitch into what I have and have a 8% beer instead of 10%...

Thanks again...

You don't need to dissolve the sugar in water, simply add it at pitching time and stir really well. Quite often the sugar is added later on during the fermentation in this style of beer so yours will be fine.

Andrew

 

[gap]

Some people advocate putting the sugar into the fermentor
in stages a few days after fermentation has commenced, so
it should be OK. It may slightly skew the hops utilisation but
not to any noticeable degree.

Regards

Graeme

 

[Margwar]

Phew....!!
Thanks heaps... I was annoyed at myself for forgetting it, but I usually forget something during the brew day.
Someting to do with the Porter I was having at the time me thinks....
Sounds like it will turn out fine.

Thanks for the quick replies!

 

[Swinging Beef]

For Belgian "digestibility" add the cane sugar to a small volume of boiled water. say 1ml water:2g of sugar
boil it for 5 or ten minutes, stirring so it doesnt stick
hoik the mix into the fermenter when your gravity has dropped about 2/3 or 3/4 of the way fo FG

 

[hoohaaman]

For Belgian "digestibility" add the cane sugar to a small volume of boiled water. say 1ml water:2g of sugar
boil it for 5 or ten minutes, stirring so it doesnt stick
hoik the mix into the fermenter when your gravity has dropped about 2/3 or 3/4 of the way fo FG

As above