Quick question about when to add Extracts and Sugars, etc.

[thanantos]

Just about to boil a brew with a grist containing 6.9 lbs of sorghum, 1lb of candidates sugar, 1lb rice solids and 4 oz of maltodextrin.

Other than adding at least some of the sorghum late to reduce twang, do you toss in the rest for the full 60 minutes?

Thanks in advance!

 

[thanantos]

Stupid phone....should be 1lb candi sugar, dark.

 

[igliashon]

Yeah, I'd say do 3 lbs sorghum plus the candi sugar, rice, and maltodextrin in the boil, and add the last 3.9 lbs of sorghum at flame-out. Should be fine.

 

[thanantos]

Thanks!

I ended up spreading the sorghum throughout the boil (40, 25 and 15 minutes).

The wort tasted good and she's bubbling away in the basement right now.

 

[KevinM]

I'm kinda lazy and actually add all the sugars to the fermenter, add in some lukewarm water & stir, then cold water, then for the last gallon, I add in what was boiled. (Hops & spices)

 

[thanantos]

I'm kinda lazy and actually add all the sugars to the fermenter, add in some lukewarm water & stir, then cold water, then for the last gallon, I add in what was boiled. (Hops & spices)

Wow, that's a neat approach.

As a new brewer it's interesting to see how people can take vastly different approaches but get the same result.

 

[KevinM]

It was a progression of all boiled, then part boiled, then hops only boiled (this was after doing a no-boil mead or two). I didn't really notice any difference in taste. Just less work to do. Though admittedly, dissolving in the stir can be a bit annoying if I don't get the water warm enough (not hot) into the fermenter. But I use a drill mounted stirrer to deal with it anyways.

There's a relationship between boil volume, hops and sugar that I don't have quite down, so there may be some differences there. For example, higher sugar concentration in the boil is less hops contribution, and less boil volume may (or may not) have something to do with hops contribution. But since it's just water and hops, I don't think there's as much restriction without the sugar. My vocab's failing there. I know there's some word for it.

 

[igliashon]

There's a relationship between boil volume, hops and sugar that I don't have quite down, so there may be some differences there. For example, higher sugar concentration in the boil is less hops contribution, and less boil volume may (or may not) have something to do with hops contribution. But since it's just water and hops, I don't think there's as much restriction without the sugar. My vocab's failing there. I know there's some word for it.

I think the word you are looking for might be "utilization"?

Anyway, you can use Beer Calculus to figure out how to get your target IBUs in a hops-and-water-only boil. Or just mark all your sugar additions as "late-boil", and it should compensate the utilization automatically.

 

[KevinM]

That's the word!