Beer enhancer or brewing sugar

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jaytee1

Beer enhancer or brewing sugar

Post by jaytee1 » Tue Apr 24, 2007 9:00 am

Hi All
Back to posing another question.

About to transfer a Fixby Gold to the keg for conditioning and was wondering if instead of using 80grms of brewing sugar I could use 80grms of beer enhancer which I believe to be 50% DME and 50% dextrose (this is brewing sugar isnt it?).

Any thoughts as ill be transfering later today.

Cheers

JT

delboy

Post by delboy » Tue Apr 24, 2007 12:16 pm

Shouldn't be a problem either way (80g is a very small amount and will impart no differnce to the flavour of your brew). I'd say use whatever you have handy, the one caveat is that the DME in the beer kit enhancer is slighlty less fermentable than dextrose and so you could up it every so slightly say 85g to compensate and acheive the same level of carbonation as 80g of brewing sugar/dextrose, that said the 5g either way will make very little discernable difference (long story short, 80g of either would be fine :D )

Chris The Fish

Post by Chris The Fish » Tue Apr 24, 2007 1:53 pm

The little brewing knowledge has leant me to believe that

1 - Spraymalt
2 - Beer Enhancer
3 - Brewers Sugar (dextrose i think)
4 - Normal Sugar

in descending order of priority. As has been mentioned above, the small amounts used to prime make little difference so id go for the fully fermentable brewers sugar to push the alcoholic envelope to your advantage. :D

i think this is about right, Daab et al may have more informed advice.

Hoppkins

Post by Hoppkins » Tue Apr 24, 2007 2:01 pm

I agree with the above.

I would never use cane sugar anymore.

Brewers sugar gives a much cleaner taste compared to table sugar but still lacks something for beer. It's good for ciders and fizzy wines though.

Beer enhancer is ok, it adds some body as it has some malt in but if you want body it's not the greatest.

Spray Malt is the best if you really want a great brew. Not sure about LME.

jaytee1

Post by jaytee1 » Tue Apr 24, 2007 2:17 pm

So really i need to invest in some spray malt for the final conditioning stage of beers then.

Do you simply replace the 80grms of brewing sugar with 80 grms of Spray Malt?

JT

Hoppkins

Post by Hoppkins » Tue Apr 24, 2007 2:22 pm

Sorry i've explained badly and possibly out of context.

Spray malt will be ok to prime with and possibly better than sugar (though i cant confirm this)

The context of my post was more for additional fermentable at the very start of the process. If you have picked a 3kg kit then it really doesn't apply since you don't need to add more fermentables to these kits.

I guess priming with spray malt can only be a good thing but it possibly may be a bit OTT as in my experience the addition of sugars in the keg is to produce C02 to pressurise the keg. I doubt such small quantities of malt would make a difference to the flavour. So i would be tempted to say sugar would suffice in this case.

jaytee1

Post by jaytee1 » Tue Apr 24, 2007 2:35 pm

DaaB wrote:I always use brewers sugar as the quantity is relatively small, if for any reason I wanted to add a larger amount i'd probably go with spray malt. Brewers sugar also prouces less sediment which is something to consider when bottling.
Thanks daab,

On another point I will be starting a Woodfordes Great Eastern ale to tonight and want to make sure that it get off to a good start. I did see a link to produce a good yeast starter, the one made up in a PET bottle, but cant seem to find it now, can you point me in the right direction..

thanks

jt

jaytee1

Post by jaytee1 » Tue Apr 24, 2007 3:40 pm

DaaB wrote:Is this what you meant http://www.18000feet.com/brupaks/my_met ... s_kits.htm ?

Don't want to put you off but have you seen this post regarding Woodfordes Great Eastern?

viewtopic.php?t=4293&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
Yes thats the one daab, right well i havent got any spray malt to hand so its either wait a day or two as an online order comes through or be impatient and make the damn pack up as usual and pray for a complete fermentation....

yeah i bought the great eastern before realising that woodfordes are a little dodgy, i do fortunately have some better dried yeast in the fridge so do have a back up. Also as i am about to transfer a primary frementation of a brewpacks 'fixby gold' tonight aswell i was wondering about keeping some of the yeast cake in the bottom and using this perhaps to start the great eastern off...

what do you think.....

jt

PieOPah

Post by PieOPah » Tue Apr 24, 2007 3:46 pm

Chris The Fish wrote: 3 - Brewers Sugar (dextrose i think)
Brewing Sugar is glucose.

I find this a perfect primer. I have found that it gives a slightly tighter head than regular table sugar. I also think that the CO2 produced lasts much longer (this may just be perception).

As DaaB has previously mentioned, the amount of sediment produced is greatly reduced which is fantastic when bottling.

Although I have never tried DME to prime, I think that the cost means I wouldn't bother trying DME over glucose.

jaytee1

Post by jaytee1 » Tue Apr 24, 2007 3:49 pm

Yeah looks like the brewing sugar in the cupboard will be used again... :lol:

sparky Paul

Post by sparky Paul » Tue Apr 24, 2007 5:45 pm

PieOPah wrote:
Chris The Fish wrote: 3 - Brewers Sugar (dextrose i think)
Brewing Sugar is glucose.
You're both right. :wink:

D-Glucose and Dextrose Monohydrate are the same thing.

jaytee1

Post by jaytee1 » Tue Apr 24, 2007 6:36 pm

DaaB wrote:
jaytee1 wrote:
DaaB wrote:Is this what you meant http://www.18000feet.com/brupaks/my_met ... s_kits.htm ?

Don't want to put you off but have you seen this post regarding Woodfordes Great Eastern?

viewtopic.php?t=4293&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
Yes thats the one daab, right well i havent got any spray malt to hand so its either wait a day or two as an online order comes through or be impatient and make the damn pack up as usual and pray for a complete fermentation....

yeah i bought the great eastern before realising that woodfordes are a little dodgy, i do fortunately have some better dried yeast in the fridge so do have a back up. Also as i am about to transfer a primary frementation of a brewpacks 'fixby gold' tonight aswell i was wondering about keeping some of the yeast cake in the bottom and using this perhaps to start the great eastern off...

what do you think.....

jt
These kits seem a little hit and miss, even when steps are taken to give the yeast the best possible start they can suffer stuck fermentations. On the other hand Sparky Paul made one up as is and it turned out fine :?
I think that maybe its in the hands of the brewing gods... :o

jaytee1

Post by jaytee1 » Tue Apr 24, 2007 11:56 pm

DaaB wrote:Aerate the wort like mad, this is beneficial for yeast growth and a healthy fermentation.
I am tempted to sanitise my plasterers mixing paddle and drop that in on 500 rpm :D

jaytee1

Post by jaytee1 » Wed Apr 25, 2007 3:02 pm

DaaB wrote:You wont be the first...(chromed ones are available :=P )
i feel a purchase coming on!

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