mostly cane sugar beer?

[Frankenbrew]

What do you guys think of this beer I am fermenting right now. I was curious to what would come out of a beer that is mostly cane sugar. It may be a wast but it's only a gallon so its not a big deal.


#9 Cheap Sugar Beer

Batch size: 1.0 gal
Boil volume: 1.5 gal
OG: 1.102
FG: 1.025
Bitterness (IBU): 38.2
Color (SRM): 36.6
ABV: 10.0%

[Grains]
Cane Sugar 1.600lb Sugar 65.3%
Brown Sugar, Light 0.375lb Sugar 15.3%
Crystal 135-165L (British) 0.250lb Grain 10.2%
Black Patent (British) 0.125lb Grain 5.1%
Pilsener (German) 0.100lb Grain 4.1%

[Hops]
Magnum 0.20oz 12.0% AA Pellet @ 60 min, 35.3 IBU
Liberty 0.20oz 2.7% AA Pellet @ 10 min, 2.9 IBU
Willamette 0.20oz 4.5% AA Pellet @ Dry Hop

[Yeast/Other]
American Ale yeast 1.0 unit(s), Yeast Used yeast starter from batch #8
Heavy Toast Oak Chips 1.0 unit(s), Flavor .3 oz in half gallon of the batch.

[alms66]

I'm fairly certain it will taste pretty bad. Cane sugar ferments out completely to alcohol. The brown sugar will lend a little bit to flavor, but mostly you're going to get an alcohol-dominant flavor, as I don't believe you included enough of anything else to really counter balance it. A little can sugar goes a long way.

Interesting experiment though, and I'd love to give it a taste, do you plan to bring it to the December meeting?

[GuitarLord5000]

I'm not sure I'd really call that beer. Maybe barley flavored wine (hooch?).

It's going to be thin and super dry. I think it's going to come off as pretty bitter, as well, since there's not really going to be any residual sugar to balance out the bitter aspect.

I think it's going to probably taste like burnt oak and watery alcohol with a really unpleasant bitter aspect... But that's just a guess.

I ain't skeered, though. Bring it to the December meeting, and I'll give her a taste!

[Frankenbrew]

I figured it wouldn't be great and questioning if it would be beer. So, if it is more like beer flavor wine then should I carbonate it or let it age longer like a wine. It this point I will leave it up to the forum. This is your beer now. Give me some ideas on what you think I should do with it. This is an experiment after all. I don't care how crazy it is, let's hear some ideas on what to do with it. (Throwing it out is already on the table but let's save that for last)

There are 2 half gallon jugs. Only one has the oak in it so one won't taste burnt. I made it last Saturday so I don't think you would want to drink it a week later. Tell me if I'm wrong.

[alms66]

Well, you could make a batch of beer 1 gallon less than what you normally brew and toss this stuff in there to make a more pleasant beer.

[GuitarLord5000]

This is your beer now.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
What did we ever do to YOU!



I'm going to disagree with alms66's mixing idea, on account of I think you'd be making this batch of (ahem) 'beer' taste better at the expense of making good beer taste worse. Besides, there's gotta be something fun to do with it, right?

I'd wait until it's done fermenting and taste it before deciding what to do with it. If my guess is right, it's going to taste thin and flavorless (aside from oak and bitterness). If that's the case, then it might be a fun idea to see how drinkable you could make it.

You could try to make it taste more beer-like by adding some Malto-Dextrine for body and dry hopping it. Or maybe add a lot of cold-pressed coffee for a beer version of Jolt Cola. Maybe try something weird like fat-washing some butter in vodka, adding it to the beer, and then sweetening it to make some Harry Potter butterbeer.
Really, there's lots of weird and fun stuff you can do with this batch. Just keep in mind that in the end, the most probable destination for all of this stuff is going to be the drain.

[yeastmeister]

It may be done. With the content being almost 100% fermentable, the yeast should finish it very fast.

[aleguy]

since it's really more of a wine, I say treat it like wine add potassium sorbate and back sweeten it with boiled malt extract until it tastes right. It shouldn't take much, so I would go with DME for the sweetening.

[alms66]

If you do end up mixing the full gallon into a new beer and it doesn't taste good enough, you could always divide that in two and brew/mix in a new batch again, diluting the "cane beer" even more. I suspect the first mixing will be at least drinkable if not a great beer, while by the second blending you'd have something that would be far better.

Of course, if you're brewing all grain instead of extract, you have more control and you can brew a sweet, low gravity beer for the first mixing - which was my original thinking, which should fix it right the first time.

[Frankenbrew]

I'm pretty sure it's done. The FG is 1.000 og 1.091. I tasted it and to my surprise it was not as bad as I thought it would be. I was able to drink a shot and not spit it out. I only reluctantly swallowed it. It does kind of have an after taste of deluded rubbing alcohol (vary faint) . I'm gonna bring it to the party so anyone brave enough can try it. Or, That can be my dirty Santa gift if we have one.

[Frankenbrew]

I had some natural ice and poured some of this batch in the glass and it made the natural ice taste better. So it's better than natural ice at least. .

But seriously, it seems to age well. I think I'll go the rout of barley wine with it and let it age more. Should I worry about oxidization for 3+ month's with it or not?

[aleguy]

Almost anything improves the taste of BMC beers. I wouldn't worry too much about oxidation if you can get some co2 to cover it and keep an airlock on it. Some oxidation is inevitable in all aged alcoholic products. but we try to minimize its effects so the beverage ages gracefully.