Replacing some DME with table sugar to get a lower FG

[Penghu Brews]

Hello everyone.

I've done about 6 extract brews now (American IPAs) with Light DME. It's producing a lovely colour and flavour, but consistently finished at 1.020 or just below, with a starting gravity of 1.050. It tastes and smells great but I'd really like to be hitting the 5% abv with a little drier finish and am looking at how to achieve this. I understand replacing a percentage of the dme with table sugar can do the trick but can't find much on what that percentage should be.

I'm using about 1.5lb DME per gallon of wort at the moment, which as I say consistently gets me my target 1.050. Can I replace a third of this with sugar? How might this affect Fg? And body? Appreciate your input, cheers fellas.

 

[RM-MN]

What is the fermentation temperature and time? That can affect how well the yeast ferment out.

I'd probably limit the sugar to no more than 1/4 by weight but I don't have experience with that. It should get you a lower FG and thinner bodied beer.

 

[kh54s10]

Sugar will give the beer a thinner mouth feel. It is fairly typical for an extract to finish near the 1.020 mark.

I see that you are looking for a drier beer. In that case sugar will help. What the correct amount is I have no clue. I don't use sugar in that way.

If you want a higher ABV, I would use more DME and if you also want it drier, I guess some sugar also.

If you are using kits, just pick a kit that is more to the ABV and dryness that you are looking for. There is no magic to aiming for a certain OG. The best is to aim for the OG that is right for the beer you are trying to make.

You could also look into using a yeast that give more attenuation thus a lower FG.

 

[Penghu Brews]

Thanks for the tips. I'm not using kits, but rather buying all my ingredients separately and experimenting with different hops. I'd not considered changing yeast. Good shout.

 

[jtrux]

I regularly get 1.010-1.013 fg on 6% abv beers. Trick I found was to add 3lbs DME at the beginning of the boil and the rest at flameout. For those brews I use US-09

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

When brewing with extract (and longer boils), this is is useful: "Tips and Tricks for Brewing Excellent Extract Beers": https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/...dme-equivalent-for-2-row.651298/#post-8324235

 

[Miraculix]

Sugar is fully fermentable so it is easy to estimate your new final gravity. If you replace, let's say 25% of your dme with sugar and your fg without the sugar was 1.02, then your new fg will be approximately 25% lower, meaning it will finish around 1.015.

Also, don't boil the extract, just add it at flame out. Boiling it changes the flavour, colour and fermentability. Unless you really want to have this effect, don't boil it.