Fullers ESB clone Qs

[Walrus81]

Couple of questions.

Will white sugar affect the taste very much?

Can I add the lme as soon as I remove the grains, then bring to the boil, or should it be added at boil?

Also first time using a single element boiler, tried a test run with water and from 65 degs to 97 degs took about 35 mins, did not seem to go higher than 97.

How long typically does it take to get the water up higher for other people using a single element boiler?

Or is 97 degs ok?

Many thanks.

[prolix]

avoid sugar unless it is posh brown stuff or you are bottling.

LME from a tin yeah add away but make sure all water is treated with a campden tablet (loads of info on that on the search)

97? is the thermometer correct water boils at 100 obviously or is it not boiling? can take a while to boil as latent heat... boiling takes energy, can you insulate the boiler as escaped heat can really slow a boil.

[ADDLED]

Wot Pro said. IIRC those boilers come with a lid so resting the lid on top for a start until you get a boil up might help a lot.
I'm sure I dont need to tell you not to snap the lid on tight tho,.... just rest it loosely on top, use oven gloves when you lift it off tilting it away from you so you dont scald yourself in the face. And don't fall in.

[subsub]

imho white sugar is fine as long as it's cane sugar. Add it to the boil in diluted form and don't use too much of it, otherwise big headaches will arrive

[Walrus81]

Ok,

right ended up brewing at the weekend, boil was not a problem. Anyway OG was 1.030 on Sat evening.

So last night added 200g of sugar to alter the OG. Prior to adding sugar it had gone to 1.020, after adding
sugar it's gone back to 1.030.

So do how do I now calculate the volume?

Do I just add the values up so in effect I have started at 1.040?

Also the frothy,yeasty head had gone but things seem to be bubbling, does this all sound ok?

[wetdog]

your first drop was 10 points. next time it drops from 1030 add the new drop to the first 10 so if it drops to 1022, thats a drop of 8, add to the original 10=18. either add more sugar and do the same again or use the 18 to work out your FG

[Walrus81]

Excellent, check the gravity again, dropped to about 1.05 ish. So I've moved it to the garage for a few days, then I will bottle, leaving for another week.

All looks good!