I was advised to add light spray malt and brewing sugar to a lager kit to make it better what i was thinking would this work on a coopers bitter kit too?
the coopers Australian lager i made i used 250g of brewers sugar and 750g of light spray malt will that work with a coopers bitter kit?
cosmo
bitter??
-
macleanb
Hi
Adding ordinary sugar is OK, and I did a lot of kits like this. Dextrose (aka Glucose/brewing sugar/corn sugar) is the next step up. There is lore that table sugar makes a cidery taste to your beer, and that some brands are better than others (beet vs cane etc). To be honest I couldnt tell the difference, but others might (I'm more of a "necker" than a taster). You should use ~15% more dextrose than sugar for the same level of fermetables (or carbonation if your priming).
Then you get your beer enhancers, which are a mix of dextrose and spray malt in various percentages (I think 50/50 ish). These offer a good mid point re quality vs cost, and are effectively what you are doing (though your %malt is higher). I settled on these for my kit brews as they were good value and convenient (spray malt can be a bugger to handle/clear up if it escapes!)
Lastly you can use all spray malt. This will definately give you a more fulsome result, though weight for weight it is much less fermentable than sugar (could be as low as ~60% of sugar) and your beer will have a lower ABV than with sugar. You could up the amount to 1.7kg (for a pessimistic 60%), but then again, your dont want beer you eat with a spoon either. I dont think you'd be in danger of that with a relatively low ABV kit, but its worth bearing in mind that you might be moving the balance of the beer away from where the kit intends (slightly). That said the all spray malt beer would likely be a better pint.
I assume you mean to add this instead of the sugar, not as well as - in this case I dont think it will make your beer any less bitter/dark - it will be as intended/as it says on the tin, just fuller/more body/malty.
I have to admit that I could never tell an Assie bitter from and Aussie pale ale, they all do a very good thing to a dry mouth on a hot day
Adding ordinary sugar is OK, and I did a lot of kits like this. Dextrose (aka Glucose/brewing sugar/corn sugar) is the next step up. There is lore that table sugar makes a cidery taste to your beer, and that some brands are better than others (beet vs cane etc). To be honest I couldnt tell the difference, but others might (I'm more of a "necker" than a taster). You should use ~15% more dextrose than sugar for the same level of fermetables (or carbonation if your priming).
Then you get your beer enhancers, which are a mix of dextrose and spray malt in various percentages (I think 50/50 ish). These offer a good mid point re quality vs cost, and are effectively what you are doing (though your %malt is higher). I settled on these for my kit brews as they were good value and convenient (spray malt can be a bugger to handle/clear up if it escapes!)
Lastly you can use all spray malt. This will definately give you a more fulsome result, though weight for weight it is much less fermentable than sugar (could be as low as ~60% of sugar) and your beer will have a lower ABV than with sugar. You could up the amount to 1.7kg (for a pessimistic 60%), but then again, your dont want beer you eat with a spoon either. I dont think you'd be in danger of that with a relatively low ABV kit, but its worth bearing in mind that you might be moving the balance of the beer away from where the kit intends (slightly). That said the all spray malt beer would likely be a better pint.
I assume you mean to add this instead of the sugar, not as well as - in this case I dont think it will make your beer any less bitter/dark - it will be as intended/as it says on the tin, just fuller/more body/malty.
I have to admit that I could never tell an Assie bitter from and Aussie pale ale, they all do a very good thing to a dry mouth on a hot day