I just racked a brown ale into my secondary. It finished really dry and I would like to sweeten it up a little. Is it a good idea to add a small amount on non-fermenting sugars in the secondary? Like a small crystal malt addition?
Adding crystal malt to the secondary could be a bad idea, as the grains could have bacteria on them that could infect your beer. But steeping and boiling a small crystal malt tea, and adding that to the secondary, is OK. You could also try adding lactose or malto dextrin directly to the secondary.
Thanks for the response. Yes, I presumed anything I added would be boiled first, cooled and then added.
After researching a little more I found that this technique was called “backsweetening” and there was some good information out there on it, although I didn’t see of anyone using crystal malts. Most people seem to use lactose. Malto Dextrin seems to be more for body and head retention rather than sweetness (but I don’t say that out of experience, I am just parroting what i read).
There were a couple posts about people using Splenda but I just can’t imagine that tasting right.
