How much cane sugar is safe to put into the boil (%)? I know after a certain percentage it is best to add it to the fermenter after the first day or so but cannot remember how much. I want to say if it's above 25% it is best to add to the fermenter.I am brewing "It's All In The Details" from BCS tomorrow and the recipe calls for 3# (26.3%) of cane sugar and am not sure when to add it.

SpiderWrangler I know you know the answer, help a brotha out on short notice...and short $$$!!!!

When in doubt, add to the fermenter. Remember, the problem is that the pure sugar is easier for the yeast to consume than maltose. Yeast, being almost as lazy as homebrewers, will consume all of the simple sugar first, and "forget" how to consume the maltose. If you add the simple sugar after they have eaten most of the maltose, you make the yeast do the hard work first.

Boil your sugar in enough water to dissolve it, cool, and add to the fermentor once fermentation starts to slow down.

stupid, forgetful yeast.....if I ever forget how or what to eat, who is gonna be there to help me?!?!?!? Idiots!!!

thanks for the help!

Bugeater has recently posted about adding additional simple sugars (sucrose) to the primary fermenter at peak krausen or just before peak krausen for best attenuation. I have always added after 4-5 days into fermentation to give the yeast plenty of time to first consume the more complex sugars in the malt.

Bug's local brewpub has had excellent results with using this style of timing sugar additions in high gravity beers. Reason has it that the yeast will reproduce in an all malt wort and be prepared to ferment that fully, and when you add the sugar around peak kraussen the yeast are in an in between phase of fermenting and reproducing still so they can adapt to feed efficiently on both simple and complex sugars in the wort. Definitely worth a try. at least search the forum for his posts for better explanations. Good luck. I will be brewing this one up as well before the end of the month.

The numbers I seem to recall hearing were above 20% you may have issues with what was described above, basically the uptake of maltose is inhibited if glucose levels are high enough that the yeast are able to 'specialize' on metabolizing it. Any numbers that you find though are going to be highly dependent on the size of yeast pitch, temperatures, and strain of yeast. I'd go ahead and let them get started, then add more simple sugars to the active fermentor. As for adding sugar at high krausen vs. after it slows, I haven't done a side by side to see if there is a difference I can tell.

I'm very skeptical of how important this actually is in practice. I'm sure it's true that in the lab yeast fed sucrose eventually lose the ability to metabolize maltose, but IIRC, Destruisse, Moorgarat (Duvel), many of the Trappist breweries, and Ommegang all add sugar to the boil and make great, well fermented beer.

In my own experience, I've fermented a golden strong with 25% sugar from1.070 to 1.005. Heck, I did an experimental beer that was 48% sugar from 1.058 to 1.007. With a healthy yeast pitch I just don't think it's the issue that the homebrew lore says it is.

That's certainly possible, but again, strain may have a large role in determining how important this is. A strain that you'd use for a golden strong may be able to tear through the glucose and keep on with the maltose easier than an English strain.

A few years back I focused on brewing an award winning tripel. My first attempt I added all the cane sugar to the boil (2.5#) and the beer finished at 1.022 even with champagne yeast added. My second attempt I did the same (stupid me) but made sure to calibrate my thermometer properly thinking my thermometer was to blame. Still ended up with a 1.020 FG.

Third attempt was the charm. Only added .5# to the boil, then at day 5 or 6 added half of the remaining sugar and 2 days later the rest. The beer finished at 1.012! Perfect. And it was an award winner...ABOUT TIME! So, I will never add anymore than 1# of sugar to the boil after my learned experiences. Now off to brew a Belgian Golden Strong!