Turbindo Sugar

[RAtkison]

I'm going to make a wheat fruit beer this weekend and the recipe calls for a late addition of turbindo sugar. I've read you can add this at the end of the boil or during peak primary fermentation (assume that would be about 3-4 days in), does anyone have any experience and suggestions of what works best? If I add during fermentation does it the sugar need to be boiled or dissolved in water? Thanks for the help!

 

[Nosybear]

Since there are no really volatile flavors in raw sugars, either way works. End of the boil is more convenient. And yes, if you add during fermentation, make a syrup and boil it.

 

[KC]

If the sugar puts your gravity over 1.060 points, it may also help to add near the end of primary to avoid a blowoff situation.

 

[Nosybear]

If the sugar puts your gravity over 1.060 points, it may also help to add near the end of primary to avoid a blowoff situation.

There is that.... And yeast, exposed to too much simple sugar early on, can get lazy leading to attenuation problems.... Cancel my earlier comment (if you're going big, as KC mentioned), make a syrup of the sugar, cool it and add it around the middle of the fermentation.

 

[RAtkison]

Thanks for the help. This is a 1.058 post boil beer so I will wait until 4-5 days into the primary to add. Is there a rule of thumb concerning how much water to sugar to make the syrup?

 

[KC]

A simple syrup is 1:1 by volume but there's no solid rule about it. More water makes the sugar easier to dissolve; less water cools down faster and avoids diluting the other beer flavors.

 

[RAtkison]

Does the sugar affect the taste at all? First time putting it in there but I am a little hesitant because I don't want it to turn sweet.

 

[KC]

Generally, no. Taste will be much more affected by the priming yeast.

Some people argue that sucrose in table sugar is less fermentable than dextrose in corn sugar, and leaves a residual flavor. However, sucrose easily inverts to glucose and fructose in acidity. Both of those are highly fermentable. Most beers have a low enough pH for this to happen.

If you're priming with turbinado, you'll pick up the light caramel molasses flavor (not the sweetness). But since you brewed with it, that's already there.