Sugars - New Brewer

[floydmeddler]

Either or. I've been using household sugar since May (good old granulated) and have exactly the same results as I did with brewing sugar (dextrose). Here's a thread I started a while back when i shared your concern: viewtopic.php?f=16&t=23175&hilit=+sugar

Are you brewing a kit? If so, you will get better results if you add 500g - 1kg of dry malt extract to the mix instead of sugar. Sugar tastes of nothing, it just adds alcohol. DME will enhance the flavour (maltier) and give you more alcohol as a bonus! Alternatively you could add a tin of liquid malt extract.

Up to you, just speaking form my experience when I started out and remember thinking I hit the nail on the head when I ditched the sugar!

Keep us posted and welcome to your new obsession

[Barm]

Household sugar and brewing sugar are different chemical compounds: household sugar being sucrose, and brewing sugar being glucose.

They're both completely fermentable; so Floyd's right - they just generate alcohol and CO2 without contributing (in a positive way, anyway) to flavour or body. Although some people say brewing sugar gives a cleaner, drier taste - but more often than not, just using sugar imparts a nasty, thin, cidery taste. So absolutely: use beerkit enhancer or dried malt extract ('spraymalt') as a kg for kg replacement for your primary fermenting sugars. If you must use household sugar - why not try (for bitters, anyhow) instead of 'white' sugar, using raw cane or even something darker eg soft brown. Since they're not so refined as white sugar, they contain 'impurities' that can give nice flavours when fermented out.

Makes zip difference what you use for priming; the quantity is relatively small so doesn't affect the taste,body etc. Since all you're trying to do by priming is produce some CO2 to condition your brew, IMO using spraymalt is a waste of a relatively expensive commodity; hence I always use household sugar (mostly raw cane).