Starting a new recipe

[flars]

I've cold brewed coffee to add to each glass to fix a bottled stout. I cold brewed to prevent possible extraction of oils which may affect head formation. This would not be a huge concern when adding some to each glass but I did it anyway.

[knoticalbrewer]

In some other threads I have seen where some people have added table sugar to boost the abv. Is this really an accepted practice, or are there some inherent problems that come with it?

[flars]

Table sugar will boost the ABV and produce a drier beer with a thinner body because it is 100% fermentable. High ABV and a thin body is the style of some beers. ABV of almost any style can be boosted with a moderate sugar addition addition without the alcohol taste and thinner body becoming too noticeable. Enhancing ABV may be better accomplished with an addition of DME to keep the recipe more in balance with the original ingredients.

[knoticalbrewer]

Sorry, newbie here. But DME?

[porkchop]

Dry Malt Extract.

It's certainly legitimate to increase the ABV by adding sugar, but it will also change your final gravity, hops balance, mouthfeel, etc. Like @flars says, a better option may be increasing the amount of malt, either through extract or using more grain when you're mashing.

Sugar is useful for a style where you want it to be particularly dry, such as a saison or IIPA. Without the addition of some sugar, you could have too much residual sweetness.

I guess the next question would be, what do you want to accomplish by increasing the ABV? Depending on your answer, there may be better ways to achieve this.

[flars]

Sorry Dry Malt Extract. Other acronym that you will see often is LME for liquid malt extract.

[knoticalbrewer]

Thanks for the clarification.

In my research to put together my first custom recipe (oatmeal coffee stout) I am wanting to learn from the small failures I experienced with my recent brew of the double batch of 1 gallon rum runner stout. In checking the gravities pre and post fermentation I had calculated the abv to be about 2.3%. Of course I could have been off when I took the readings as I used a fractometer and may not have used it correctly, so the abv could have been higher.

The reason I say a small failure is that the brew still turned out fine taste-wise, it just may have been a little low on the abv.

I was contemplating using a liquid malt extract in this new recipe, which I have learned the trick on how to add it to the wort without scorching it; is it really better to use a dry over liquid?

[porkchop]

For an oatmeal stout, or any stout for that matter, I would not use sugar. Or maybe I would, but only if it's a dark invert sugar. But that's neither here nor there. To me, an oatmeal stout is rich, smooth, with some chewy texture to it. Adding sugar will push the beer towards the opposite area.

As far as the difference between DME and LME? I wouldn't say one is superior to the other. Only real issue with LME is freshness, as it will stale much more quickly than DME. If it's fresh, though, they're pretty much equivalent. You need to use a bit more LME to hit your gravity due to the water content in it, but that's easily calculated.

You're going to want to do a partial mash with the oats, though, to get some conversion. Otherwise you'll just extract starches.

[uberculture]

Depends... a lot of brewers prefer dry because it stores well. Older liquid can be a little stale. Depending on where you get your supplies, the liquid extract may have sat on the shelf for a while. I personally like using liquid for extract only brewing because of the variety you can get. Something like the Marris Otter syrup from Northern Brewer is tasty, and I trust that Northern Brewer goes through it quick enough to keep it fresh. A canned extract from some no-name vendor, I'd be wary of.

[knoticalbrewer]

Another aspect I have been considering, since I am trying to do this on the cheap, is using a dry active yeast for fermentation. All of the kits I have used in the past come with a packet of brewers yeast. I am just wondering if there really is a difference and is there anything I could consider if I do use the dry active yeast you can find at the grocery store.

[uberculture]

Don't do that. It will be very funky. US05 isn't that much more expensive. Look into harvesting yeast to save money.