Brewing sugar calculation.

[Eskimo John]

Can anyone point me at a good calculator to help me with the addition of brewing sugar prior to fermentation?
I made a wheatbeer a while back and had difficulty extracting sufficient sugars from the grain to give me the alcoholic content I wanted.
My solution was to add brewing sugar prior to fermentation to raise the OG.
However I had to do this by guestimation and slightly over cooked it.
The resulting beer was very good and is disappearing fast but it came out at 6% not the 5% I wanted and was a tad on the sweet side.
What I am looking for is something I can use to estimate how much brewing sugar to add to raise the OG to where I need it to be should the mash not quite get enough sugar.
So I guess this will need to be able to look at the current gravity at a given temperature and the required gravity at that same temperature and tell me how much sugar to add to make the change.

 

[Druncan]

Try this; Brewing with Sugar.

and 'Points per Pound per Gallon. That is, if your sugar is 46ppg, then one pound of that sugar in one gallon would give you 46 points, aka 1.046 gravity.'

I use Dextrose all the time as I like ice cold blonde beers in the summer!

 

[Eskimo John]

I have only made the one beer with dextrose but I will be using it again where I think it's needed. An interesting article which I will sit down and read in full when I get a chance.
Has anyone used non-fermentable sugars to improve body/head/mouth-feel?
I read that the addition of maltodextrin can do this without significantly changing the beers flavour.

 

[Jim Brewster]

I prefer using pale dry extract to make up the difference when low on grain unless it's a beer that calls for adjunts

The amount to add (in Lbs) = deficit in OG at 20C x batch volume in gallons / PPG
Divide by 2.2 to get the weight in kg

 

[moto748]

These damned things are always in horrible Imperial units!

Mind you, on the rare occsions when I've felt the need to do this, because a hydrometer reading is a bit low, I've largely done it by trial and error anyway: check reading, then add say 200 g of sugar. Stir well, check again. Is the reading more to your liking? Bit stronger still? Add another 100 g.

There's really no mystique to it. And yes, I could track down a tool on my laptop, or get out a pencil and paper and calculator, but really...

 

[Eskimo John]

Add and check is much what I did before.
The issue is temperature. The hotter the liquid sugar is added to the quicker it dissolves. So it seems that it might be a good idea to add the sugar at the end of the boil but the gravity will be off if measured at say 80°C and not the 20° that the hydrometer is calibrated to.
So I was hoping to find a calculator that would allow me to understand the sugar I need to add at a given and higher temperature so that when it is cooled to fermentation temperature it will be as I want.

 

[moto748]

I get that, but I don't see the downside of waiting until the wort has cooled to pitching temp before you add the sugar. Then you are comparing 'correct' hydrometer readings that don'r need to be tweaked for temperature. The amount of sugar added will be relatively small compared to the volume of liquid, so dissolving it won't be a problem. There's no harm in giving it a good stir.

 

[Jim Brewster]

You can use this to convert the gravity at a given temp back to the gravity 20C, although it only goes up to 71C
https://www.brewersfriend.com/hydrometer-temp/

 

[RoomWithABrew]

I have only made the one beer with dextrose but I will be using it again where I think it's needed. An interesting article which I will sit down and read in full when I get a chance.
Has anyone used non-fermentable sugars to improve body/head/mouth-feel?
I read that the addition of maltodextrin can do this without significantly changing the beers flavour.

I have used Monk fruit extract which is a non fermentable sugar to add body to a weldwerks fitbits low calorie ( brut ) hazy ipa ( recipe and discussion in Craft beer and brewing)
Special Ingredient: Monk Fruit.

Worked really well. I also used it to back sweeten a ginger beer. I used 0.9g / litre

On the doin the most you tube they like using erythritol ( might have misspelled it ) they say good flavour and no tang. I have no experience with that.

 

[RoomWithABrew]

@Eskimo John
You could of course dive a bit deeper into your all grain process to work out where you could improve mash efficiency and brew house efficiency, and or compensate with a bit more grain. Once you know your numbers you will be able to plan for it and you won't be short on gravity points.
I'd look at crush, pH, water salts and volume to grist ration, temp control and mash time / type ie step mash a wheat beer ( you should anyway ) . Also as wheat beers are a bit sticky think about rice hulls or glucanase / glucabuster if you can get it.

 

[crescent city Mike]

https://www.yobrew.co.uk/calculators.php
Scroll down and find the calculator that applies to your needs. I've been using it for a number of years.

 

[Festival Man]

Try this; Brewing with Sugar.

and 'Points per Pound per Gallon. That is, if your sugar is 46ppg, then one pound of that sugar in one gallon would give you 46 points, aka 1.046 gravity.'

I use Dextrose all the time as I like ice cold blonde beers in the summer!

If ! pretty big IF. household sugars vary between 1.035 and 1.0375. Most ppl guesstimate 1036.