Sugar

[Relax]

The main thing is that you get started, then you later will see some small differences in this and that.

Rubbish! By all means try a few kits made up with beer kit enhancer (I am currently swilling a tweaked cheapo Geordie bitter kit made up with a kilo of BKE which is very tasty) but don't use all sugar. My first kit was a Cooper's Real Ale made with sugar and was dreadful, the second was Brupaks Best Bitter made with 50/50 spraymalt and brewing sugar and was yummy![/quote]

"If you try it all, you know it all"

My point was that if he is a newbee, he should get started. He should try with sugar, without sugar, with different kind of malt etc and that way get experiences
We are all different when it comes to taste. The beer I have made with some sugar has a better taste , I think
He should test more types and find what he likes...

[CrownCap]

The only kit I've ever made with a significant proportion of sugar (additional 300g dextrose / 700g DME) was the worst tasting I've made. Now that may have been just bad luck, but the evidence would suggest otherwise and its not a 'mistake' I'm going to make again

[booldawg]

As a newbie myself with only one FV and averaging about one brew a month I'd prefer to gain knowledge from the more experienced brewers on here as I can ill afford to stuff up a brew in the name of self experimentation! If I hadnt joined a forum I no doubt would've used all sugar and untreated tap water.

[Burner]

Another vote for spraymalt, I used it a lot with good results in kits - Go with spraymalt and you'll get better kit results.

[Petrovitch]

We are all different when it comes to taste. The beer I have made with some sugar has a better taste , I think Wink
He should test more types and find what he likes... Very Happy

Well you're just weird aren't you The consensus is that high sugar (of any kind) content in the majority of beers is just never a good thing and will not produce anything worth drinking, certainly nothing that justifies the effort. If you've got the time and the money to spare then fiiine got for it, but when it's 40 pints a go and you've just started a new hobby...

[Dave d]

The main thing is that you get started, then you later will see some small differences in this and that.

Rubbish! By all means try a few kits made up with beer kit enhancer (I am currently swilling a tweaked cheapo Geordie bitter kit made up with a kilo of BKE which is very tasty) but don't use all sugar. My first kit was a Cooper's Real Ale made with sugar and was dreadful, the second was Brupaks Best Bitter made with 50/50 spraymalt and brewing sugar and was yummy!

"If you try it all, you know it all"

My point was that if he is a newbee, he should get started. He should try with sugar, without sugar, with different kind of malt etc and that way get experiences
We are all different when it comes to taste. The beer I have made with some sugar has a better taste , I think
He should test more types and find what he likes...

As a new brewer myself I would say the 1st kit is a bit of an effort. From reading the forum it seems most people myself included worry about mistakes they've made in their 1st brew. So I believe rather than just starting you should get your very 1st brew off to a flying start ie using spraymalt treating water etc because by the end of a long 3 month wait you end up drinking cidery watery tasting beer you may very well not want to brew another !!!

[Sheepy]

In the interests of experimentation I have just bottled a brew buddy bitter (6 quid from Wilko's) which was made up to 15l not 23l and with nearly 2kg of glucose. It had a very alcoholic nose to it , i will reort back when i have dared to sample it......

[booldawg]

The rule of thumb being first bottle....rank, second bottle...lovely...hic!

[Relax]

We are all different when it comes to taste. The beer I have made with some sugar has a better taste , I think Wink
He should test more types and find what he likes... Very Happy

Well you're just weird aren't you The consensus is that high sugar (of any kind) content in the majority of beers is just never a good thing and will not produce anything worth drinking, certainly nothing that justifies the effort. If you've got the time and the money to spare then fiiine got for it, but when it's 40 pints a go and you've just started a new hobby...

Yapp,I am proud to say I am weird
If we agree, that's nice and cozy, if we disagree that brings development

( mostly for me )

Anyway, there can be things I've misuderstood here and of course I could very wrong ...but my thinking is ....if the kits contains 1,5 kilo or even 1,8 kilo nalt and stuff in the starting place....adding 1 kilo sugar is not the majority in the brew??

BUT...if I've got it wrong somewhere and his kit doesn't include that much malt in the starting point ..then my answer is down the drain

Enlighten me , please!

[Aleman]

A lot of the cheaper 1.5Kg and 1.8Kg kits, are not pure malt extract they are often adulterated with sugar syrups and the such. Then you add and additional kilo of sugar . . . . so can easily end up with more than 50% of the fermentables being provided from sugar . .. thin watery cider like beverage results.

Of course I don't include the Brewferm range in this category, they are designed to make smaller volumes, and IIRC are all malt (To which you add a lot of sugar, but thats Belgian beer )