The 'Cider Flavor' Experiment

Homebrewing friend and fellow Zymurgeek member Mark C. is participating with me in an experiment to put to rest, once and for all, the idea that adding excessive amounts of sugar to a recipe will impart a distinctive 'cider' flavor to the beer. We will both be brewing an identical recipe for a 5 gallon batch of pale ale, employing sugar as 50% of the adjunct. The recipe is as follows:

5.25 lbs. 2-row pale ale @1.037


assuming 80% efficiency = 155

.5 lbs. crystal #60 @1.034


assuming 80% efficiency = 13 total =168

3.75 lbs. cane sugar @1.045


assuming 100% =168



Total gravity = 336 divided by 6 gallons. = 1.056

We will be mashing at 158f. to hopefully leave some unfermentable sugars for body in the finished beer.

We will boil for 60 minutes with the following schedule of hops:

1 oz. Amarillo (8aa) for 60 min =29 ibu's

.5oz Cascade (7aa) for 15 min. = 6 ibu's

1 oz. Cascade (7aa) for 1 min. = 0 ibu's
--------------------------------------
total IBU's 35

Ferment with US05 dry ale yeast at 68f.
Check back for the tasting results in a couple weeks.

What is the most sugar you've ever used?