Help over sugared!!!

[Doghouse-gav]

Made a batch today. A hambleton bard old English ale. It's a dry extract kit and asked for 2 pounds of White sugar and 1 pound of brown sugar. Well I added 2 kg of White and 1 kg brown. Never had a kit in pounds before!! Just realised what I've done. I've pitched yeast and everything. Og was 1.078.
What's guna happen??? Will I end up with a super sweet sickly ale? If so is there anything I can do to reduce the sweetness apart from learning to bloody read!!!

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[ayoungrad]

You will probably get a very dry, high alcohol beer. Depending on how much extract you used, you might be ok.

 

[ACbrewer]

Welcome to an unbalanced beer - I just made one of those because I was 'winging it' with the receipe....

My suggestion would be to look into dry hopping. Maybe an oz or so... You could try a boil with just a little water (or wort if you want to avoid dilution) and have the bitter counter the sweet.

 

[slomo]

What type of yeast did you use? Did you make a starter?

 

[ayoungrad]

Sugar ferments almost completely. Sugar does not add sweetness unless you get a stuck fermentation. Sugar is an ABV booster.

The issue is that you might get "cidery" off-flavor from too much sugar or that you will have a beer that tastes like alcohol rather than hops and malt.

Just to reiterate - fermenting sugar does not cause sweet beer. It causes high alcohol beer.

 

[VoodooManX]

I added 1lb of sugar to a muntons wheat kit on week 2 of fermentation. It added alcohol, and a dryness that my wife and I both like. Like everyone else said pure sugar will attenuate out. Maybe you'll like it.

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[JLem]

That seems like a lot of sugar in the original recipe. Adding kilograms instead of pounds made it an extraordinary amount - that's 6.6 pounds of sugar! I've never added more than one pound to a batch before. What size batch was this and how much malt extract did you use?

I get a feeling, unless this was for a large volume, you are going to end up with a very thin, not very flavorful beer. I guess you won't know though until it is done.

 

[DregAddict]

Let it ferment, bottle it, wait a couple weeks, invite over some friends, and have a good time.

 

[Doghouse-gav]

It is a Uk 5 gallon batch. The kit included hop extract and 1kg dried malt extract.
Am I just wasting a fv here? Should I lob it and start again?
Brewing this for my holiday so if it's guna be bad I'd rather start again so it's ready on time.

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[JLem]

It is a Uk 5 gallon batch. The kit included hop extract and 1kg dried malt extract.
Am I just wasting a fv here? Should I lob it and start again?
Brewing this for my holiday so if it's guna be bad I'd rather start again so it's ready on time.

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So, 3 kg of sugar plus only 1 kg of malt extract? That means 75% of your fermentables are non-malt based. I'm sorry but this is going to taste awful and I can't imagine it is worth your time and effort to continue with it.

And what kind of kit was this? Even the original recipe - 1kg of malt extract plus 3 pounds of sugar - would have tasted awful - that's still over 50% of the fermentables coming from simple sugars.

 

[Doghouse-gav]

It's called "hambleton bard" English ale. Looking at the box it actually had 1.4 kg dried malt extract. So throw away and start again is advice?

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[DregAddict]

I agree with JLem. This really doesn't sound like it's going to turn out very good, and it will most likely taste very little like beer. The kit you had does sound odd in its large % of non-malt sugars. I'm not sure what resources you have near you but you should probably check out the venders on this site and see if they can ship you a different kit. Especially if you are going to be serving the final product to others.

 

[JLem]

It's called "hambleton bard" English ale. Looking at the box it actually had 1.4 kg dried malt extract. So throw away and start again is advice?

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That extra 0.4 my of extract doesn't change much - your brew is still 68% simple sugars and the original would have been close to 50%. Generally I would avoid using over 10% simple sugars and then only for high alcohol beers to help dry it out.

 

[ACbrewer]

That extra 0.4 my of extract doesn't change much - your brew is still 68% simple sugars and the original would have been close to 50%. Generally I would avoid using over 10% simple sugars and then only for high alcohol beers to help dry it out.

I think some of the numbers are wrong here.. he said he had a Hopped Malt E plus 1.4KG of DME, I'd guess based on US cans that it is 1.5KG of HME for a total of about 3 KG of Malt and originally 3lb=about 1.4 KG of sugar that ratio is closer to 2 to 1 Maltto Sugar, and now it is closer to 1 to 1...

Right it will come out pretty 'hot' and strong... After it finished, it will need to sit for a long time to be any good.

If you have the space I say let it ride for a while - Month + before you even attempt tasting or anything. But them I'm from the school of 'let it go as long as you can wait'... others would tell you (and me) that it was a waste of time.

As a last option, you coudl look up how to make hard alcohol with this. In the US they sell kits at austin and middwest that are for making homemade liquire and flavorings and such...

I take most of it back - looking it up, it seems the kit was just some DME ... That does seem a lot of sugar for a beer. Sounds like it is headed towards a Malt Liquor...

 

[Doghouse-gav]

Just to clear up the kit had a packet of yeast a packet of black tar like hop extract and 1.4kg of dry malt extract.

I've had an after thought. What if I went and got another kit and made another batch without any sugar then split the over sugared batch and top up wi the non sugared batch. Would that work? Given that the over sugared batch would have Been fermenting for around 3 days by the time I get the second batch!???

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[dfc]

That would definitely even out the beer. I have no idea if it would be any good though.

 

[VoodooManX]

The muntons wheat can kit i was talking about earlier called for 2.5 lbs of sugar added to the wort. After 1 week in the fermenter i added another lb.
It made an excellent dry wheat beer. Very high abv with a finish almost like champagne.
I would set this batch aside and just start another. You might be pleasantly suprised.

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[Doghouse-gav]

I'm guna split the batch with another of the same but with out the sugar. Question is by the time I do this it will be day 5 of fermentation. Will this still be ok?

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[VoodooManX]

After 5 days it will getting pretty close to finishing basic fermentation even with all that sugar.

What's it gravity now?

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[Aschecte]

my friend you have yourself some super brew on hand now that is an insanelly high amount of sugar. As stated many times before sugar will ferment out completely but may leave a odd taste ( maybe). My biggest concern for you is the yeast being stressed. what was the original gravity projected to be ? if you are using a kit I would assume you are using dry yeast which means no starter. in higher gravity beers you need a starter to increase yeast count and to ensure fermentation gets off to a good start. if your yeast wasn't up for it you may have a lower attenuation and may not fully ferment all that you could have.

 

[ThePearsonFam]

It may work out if you split it up and add more of the DME... The problem is that the yeast will attack the simple sugars first and not work on the more challenging sugars.

Try it and see what happens, or let it ride and see what the final product is. I'd hate to see you buy another kit, brew it, add it to the first adn ruin both...

 

[Doghouse-gav]

You know what sod it I'm guna let this batch just go for it! It's bubbling like a good un! I'm either guna have a near 9% rocket fuel beer on my hands or a horrible drink and die batch. In which case I'll give it to the mother in law might take a while to ferment out tho! Lol
I'll put this batch down to experience!!!

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[Doghouse-gav]

day 5 and just taken a hydromiter reading, were down to 1.036 and the yeast is going stong! still tastes very very sweet, think i melted a filling tasting it! lol
will take another reading on sat and keep you updated on my rocket fuel!!

 

[danlad]

day 5 and just taken a hydromiter reading, were down to 1.036 and the yeast is going stong! still tastes very very sweet, think i melted a filling tasting it! lol
will take another reading on sat and keep you updated on my rocket fuel!!

Good!

I'd let it go too. You might have accidentally doubled the sugar, and it will take a while to mature, and it won't be what the kit was intended to be... but with patience and time it might be alright. Bit closer to Tennant's Super than you started out making, but hey

I'd leave it a month before even thinking of bottling it, then leave it 3 months after bottling before even thinking of drinking it to let it mature.

 

[Doghouse-gav]

Day 8 and hydrometer readings at 1.018.
That yeasts a hungry bugger!!!


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[Doghouse-gav]

Ok so bottled my rocket fuel brew after just over 2 weeks in fv. Fg was 1.010 so should be around 9%.
Guna leave now for a good month and try it! Will only need a few bottles a night!!

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[ThePearsonFam]

cool. let us know how it turns out.

 

[ENS]

glad you let it ride, be interested to see how this comes out. Did you brew another kit?

 

[Doghouse-gav]

Yeah I brewed another of the same so I could compare the 2 once there finished!!
Thanks for all the help and encouragement.
Will keep you posted.

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[VoodooManX]

Very cool. Sometimes the accidents lead to some good stuff.