Best Time To Add Sugar To The Boil?

[mje1980]

I brew a lot of bitters, and to get the most out of my grain ( i just had a baby,so the brewing budget is a little smaller now! ), i add about 7-10% sugar to them. I usually just add it at 15min, but i was wondering if i added it for the full boil, would i get more gravity points than at 15??. Cheers

 

[Malnourished]

I can't see any reason why you'd get any more extract from boiling for any longer, but it might slightly affect your hop utilisation for the worse (though I doubt it'd change much in a bitter.)

 

[Trent]

MJE
I dont think it matters when you add the sugar, it will still give you the same OG no matter what you do, as long as you hit your target volume. I used it for the first time in a mild 2 weeks ago, added it at about 5 mins, but I it was a PITA, cause I felt if I dumped it in, it may fall to the bottom and scorch, so is there any special way to add sugar to the boil? All you will do by adding the sugar for the full boil is to increase your boil gravity, thus decreasing your hop utilisation, needing more hops to get the same bitterness, so it is best left at 15 min, or later, IMHO.
All the best
Trent

 

[warrenlw63]

Just get a pot of boiling water from the kettle (say 500ml to a litre) add your sugar in, stir it up to dissolve, then dump that into the main boil.

Warren -

 

[mje1980]

Thanks fella's, looks like i'll just keep doing the 15min thing. I just dump it in the kettle, and stir with my big brewin spoon. Dissolves fairly quickly.