Ist time with kit - want to do it right!

[vandici]

Hi all, just registered and eager to get going with today's purchase. I've bought a Tooheys classic dark ale kit, reading the instructions it says to use BREWING SUGAR, which I didn't buy - how important is it to use this? or can I just use ordinary household granulated sugar? what is the difference between the sugars? it also mentions using malt in replacement of sugar - which type & how much? the kit instruction say 1KG of sugar is necessary.

any help would be appreciated
cheers
Richard

[vandici]

Brewing sugar is marginally better than table sugar but you will get much better results if you use spray malt (from the homebrew shop). Brewing sugar will give your beer a cidery taste a leave it a little thin.

Saying that, it's not quite so bad in lagers, some people get on with it, this link may help

http://uk-homebrew.tripod.com/id12.html

Thanks for reply - If I use spray malt is it just a matter of replacing the 1KG of sugar with 1KG of spray malt?

[vandici]

thats great, I'll get some monday and give it a go i'll keep you posted on results, good/bad!

[MightyMouth]

Good Luck

[Horden Hillbilly]

Brewing sugar will give your beer a cidery taste a leave it a little thin.

This is more likely to happen with the cheaper, 1.5kg size kits on the market. Mrs H is more than happy with the results from the 1.8kg size kits with brewing sugar added.

vandici, just for a suggestion, why don't you buy two identical kits, but use spraymalt in one of them & brewing sugar in the other? That way you will be able to make a direct comparison between the two & be able to pick your personal preference.

Good luck with your brew, let us know how you get on.

The link which DaaB gave you is to my brewing website. I have recently added a few more pages to it. Here is the link to the home page, UK-Homebrew

[booldawg]

Yep. Mix the spray malt in when you have topped up with cold water, it dissolves better in cold liquids.

I can testify to this. I pitched a load of spray malt into the hot contents of the tin and it immediately turned into rock hard clumps, like honeycomb. Complete nightmare!

[vandici]

Thanks for all the advice, its great to be able to come to a resource like this and ask a question and get lots of help from people who have had similar thoughts/problems.

Can't wait to get going, will probably try both methods with the same kit but not at the same time, running out of storage space. I've got 3 gallons of wine & 2 gallons of cider close to being ready to bottle and a further 3 wine brews on the go - only started homebrewing as a result of our cycle rides last year, we picked so much fruit from the hedgerows we had to use it, we've got cupboards of jam & jelly and wine and soon 5 gallons of beer!!