Questions tagged [sugar]

Any of the class of soluble, crystalline, typically sweet-tasting carbohydrates found in living tissues and exemplified by glucose, sucrose, and in beer production maltose.

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What are the benefits of using brewing sugar over types of sugar?

In many kits I've used, the instructions recommend using brewing sugar. Of course it's okay to use other sources of sugar, but I was wondering whether there are any benefits of using brewing sugar ...
Lewis Norton's user avatar
27 votes
5 answers
93k views

Carbonation Drops vs. Sugar?

I'm brewing my very first batch with an actual kit (I've used Mr. Beer before with decent results and wanted to do it right). I bought a recipe kit from Northern Brewer and I opted for the Cooper's ...
Ell's user avatar
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15 votes
3 answers
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Using honey in beer

This thread is not actually one single question, but a number of different ones. When calculating sugars used in the wort, how much sugar does honey contain? Is it closer to dry malt extracts, raw ...
Tetragrammaton's user avatar
11 votes
3 answers
11k views

Is it safe to open the lid of a fermentation container to stir the yeast and sugar?

Last night I put a batch of wine going (very simple setup - a plastic bucket with a sealed lid and a cork in the top for a plastic airlock). This morning, I can tell the sugar has settled to the ...
kathryn's user avatar
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11 votes
1 answer
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What's a good breakdown of all the sugars in regards to brewing?

I'm a little confused when it comes to sugars. It seems like there are a lot of different kinds and they come in many different forms. What affects to different sugars have on brewing? Do they ...
Room3's user avatar
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10 votes
3 answers
470 views

Priming Sugar Affect on Fermentation

I screwed up took a batch that had only been fermenting for 3 days and started to bottle it before I realized it was the wrong one. [link] During this screw up I ended up added the priming sugar then ...
corymathews's user avatar
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9 votes
4 answers
1k views

How can I prime bottled beer in accordance with the reinheitsgebot?

I so far brew beer using two different beer brewing kits. One required adding honey, the other sugar, for the bottling. First of all - isn't this breaking the reinheitsgebot? As a German I feel ...
Raffael's user avatar
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8 votes
4 answers
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What causes "rush" carbonation when adding sugar?

I've just been playing with some treatments for an undercarbonated batch in bottles. The beer is slightly carbonated, it bubbles up a little when poured, just builds no head & dissipates ...
Mark McDonald's user avatar
7 votes
1 answer
2k views

Why doesn't FG reach 1.000?

My second beer brew has pretty much finished its primary fermentation. It started at 1.044 and is currently at 1.014... I don't expect it will go much further. Having brewed numerous wines I ...
Doug's user avatar
  • 463
7 votes
1 answer
2k views

Substituting brown sugar for corn sugar

An apfelwein recipe I've made in the past calls for 2 lbs of corn sugar for primary fermentation. The next go-round when I make a batch, I'm thinking of substituting some brown sugar (not a lot, ...
JMerritt's user avatar
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6 votes
5 answers
31k views

How do you make a sweeter beer?

Since the yeast will burn sugar away generating alcohol & CO2 for as long as it can (until the % by volume makes the brew toxic, killing the yeast off), just adding more sugar doesn't seem to the ...
Doug's user avatar
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6 votes
3 answers
7k views

Confectioners sugar for priming?

I have a batch of wheat beer on the go at the moment and I'm wondering which sugar to use as priming sugar? In my local shop the priming sugar they sell looks just like confectioners/powdered/icing ...
TimBrewer's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
12k views

Home brewing with different sugars

I've just been reading an FAQ on different sugars used in brewing. Most kits specify usage of 1KG of brewing sugar. The first time I made a batch of home brew I used table sugar, but this seemed to ...
Matthew Layton's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
454 views

What does high attentuation actually mean in terms of types of sugar fermented?

So, when I fermented a cider it ended up very dry. I used champagne yeast and only added pure glucose. I then added lactic sugar since I knew that wasn't fermentable by the yeast I used. I also have ...
Max's user avatar
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5 votes
3 answers
5k views

Belgian candi sugar v. Table sugar

I am planning a Belgian Dubbel for an upcoming session. Many recipes make use of belgian candy sugar and there are some very nice syrups available now. But I was wondering if there really was a ...
brewchez's user avatar
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5 votes
3 answers
16k views

Sugar in water effect on specific gravity?

Is there an equation or relation to describe how much sugar is to be added to water to obtain a liquid with a specific gravity? In This question, for example, it is mentioned that "1 lb in 1 gallon ...
Mike Meyers's user avatar
5 votes
3 answers
3k views

Techniques for making Belgian Candy Sugar

I'd like to know a couple of things: Did you make dark or light? What procedure did you use/recommend? Did you try to make rocks or did you just make sheet candy and break it up? Did you use cane ...
TinCoyote's user avatar
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5 votes
5 answers
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Adding sugar late - a problem?

using a home brew kit I followed all the initial instructions implicitly, got to the final stage of adding the dried yeast and stirred it in. 4 hours later I realised I had failed to add the sugar ...
bruce's user avatar
  • 51
5 votes
2 answers
1k views

Using different sugar for priming

My brew is ready for bottling, this time I doubled the recipe and fermented two Triple Brewferm can kits. I added three cans of Lyle's golden syrup (around 1362 grams), as it gives a better taste. The ...
Eduardo Sanchez-Ros's user avatar
5 votes
4 answers
2k views

Calculating sugar in fresh fruit

Recently I made a belgian strong ale. In the secondary I added 7 pounds of fresh cherries that were pitted, frozen, thawed, and blended up. Is there a good way to at least estimate the additional ...
Jordan's user avatar
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5 votes
3 answers
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Campden Tablets to Control Final Sugar Content

I've used Campden tablets per a recipe for cider to prepare the unpasteurized cider before pitching yeast, but recently came across the following in Wikipedia: Campden tablets are also used towards ...
theraccoonbrew's user avatar
5 votes
2 answers
1k views

Using Burnt Caramel / Brewer's Caramel in Recipes

Has anyone worked with using either burnt caramel or brewer's caramel in their recipes? I have read a few places that Fuller's is known to use this to increase the SRM of some of their product line, ...
Joseph Ferris's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
1k views

What will happen if the main fermentable in a beer was mostly table sugar?

I wanted to brew a pale ale. Long story short crushing grains for all-grain brewing has a dramatic impact on efficiency. I went to a new homebrew store and didn't bother to check whether the grain ...
Chris Plaisier's user avatar
4 votes
5 answers
13k views

Moonshine from freeze distillation?

Just wondering is it possible to turn fermented sugar water with an abv of around 15% into moonshine by freeze distilling it. Also wondering if i would have to worry about methanol when using this ...
Paddy's user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
4k views

What does Brewing Sugars add to your beer?

I was enticed to buy one kg of brewing sugars for my home brew. It was said that it would dry out the taste of the beer. I would like to know what effect adding one kg of dextrose would bring to 20 ...
Neil Meyer's user avatar
4 votes
2 answers
5k views

How does corn sugar affect the beer vs cane sugar?

Brand new to home-brewing. Currently making 1 gal small batches. I see a lot of recipes that call for either corn sugar or cane sugar, with honey as another alternative. How does corn sugar affect the ...
MagRat's user avatar
  • 209
4 votes
1 answer
968 views

Inverted sugar specific gravity?

I'm doing a recipe, and I'll use inverted sugar that I cooked yesterday. But I don't have idea how to handle the specific gravity. I tried to use the densimeter, but it's useless.
Geo Perez's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
3k views

Best practices when adding sugars during the fermentation process

I'm looking to take on a challenge of brewing an ale that is going to range between 14%-16% ABV, and among the many different steps, the most interesting is the inclusion of Demerara sugar and cane ...
Scott's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
721 views

How to make an optimal fermentation for ginger beer with ginger bug

I'm trying my first batch of ginger beer and decided to make it with ginger bug. What I want to achieve is a bit sweet ginger beer with max alcohol my ginger bug can handle, I read somwhere it is 4-5%...
Terry Raimondo's user avatar
4 votes
3 answers
7k views

Fermenting sugary tea into an alcoholic beverage?

I was drinking some caramelized cranberry tea today (that is, cranberry-flavored tea sweetened with caramelized sugar, or maltose, or malt sugar, whatever you wanna call it). It tasted very sweet, and ...
Stephanus Tavilrond's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
753 views

What sugar to use when transferring to bottle or barrel

Doing a homebrew for the first time, bought a kit to do it with; figured it be a good student method of saving money :). Anyway, its currently in the fermenting bin, and when it comes to transferring ...
AmenoB's user avatar
  • 75
4 votes
1 answer
4k views

Can I use Glucose in Place of Brewing Sugar?

Can I use glucose in place of brewing sugar, at any stage in the brewing process? (This is my first ever attempt at brewing so I'm a little clueless I'm afraid) I'm currently making a beer kit and ...
Jamie's user avatar
  • 43
4 votes
1 answer
145 views

Home method to measure sugar profile

Is there any sort of (financially attainable) test kit available to measure the sugar profile in wort and beer? In particular, I'd like to know the breakdown of glucose, fructose, sucrose, maltose, ...
G__'s user avatar
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4 votes
2 answers
718 views

Will simple Sugar make my "pseudo-lager" finish drier?

This weekend's brew is going to be a Pilsner. I don't have the set-up to lager at the moment, so I aim to ferment with US-05 at around 16C (60F or so). I did this a while ago and came out with a ...
david w's user avatar
  • 215
4 votes
1 answer
154 views

How much sugar to real apple ratio?

So I was going to try an apple cider up to around 12%. So how much sugar will I get roughly per apple and how much additional sugar should I add. The apples are a small granny smith kind. Currently I ...
user7668482's user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
473 views

Using different types of honey

I was curious how different types of honey affect brewing. Some aspects I'm interested in are: The floral-blend of honey -- blended vs unblended (e.g. 100% clover honey) processing -- raw (honey + ...
STW's user avatar
  • 1,522
3 votes
4 answers
118 views

Save the (Belgian) wit! I forgot the candi syrup: what should I do now?

Cleaning up after brewing my first extract-based Belgian wit, with wort already cooled and in the carboy, and yeast pitched ... I discovered to my horror i'd forgotten to add the candi syrup to the ...
Sboisen's user avatar
  • 75
3 votes
3 answers
348 views

putting the fizz back into beer

I'm hopping you guys can help me with this one. I want to fill a 2lt coke bottle with beer from bottles and add sugar and yeast to put the CO2 back in so it will last 8 to 10 days plus. I'm after ...
garrie z's user avatar
3 votes
4 answers
108 views

How to store sugar wort?

Do you guys have best plan to store longer for sugar wort to propagate yeast ? I usually take wort after boiling step during brewing and stored at 5 C inside 20 liter container. Or Boil with DME for ...
Thant Htoo Aung's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
8k views

Where to add the sugar before bottling?

I'm brewing my first beer, in a few days the primary fermentation will be complete. On completion I'll rack it into another bucket, but I'm a bit confused about where to put the required amount of ...
Nonoo's user avatar
  • 155
3 votes
1 answer
291 views

Sickly sweet ginger beer, Acesulfame K?

I've been brewing a kit Ginger Beer the last 10 days and it's about finished I think. Starting SG was 1.041 and it's settled at 1.008. 100g of grated boiled Ginger were added, and 1kg of Muntons Beer ...
Mere Development's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
134 views

Do you really need yeast/mash nutrients?

This is for a sugar wash only. I have watched a video on YouTube where they only used water, sugar and turbo yeast, no nutrients were used according to the video. Whereas other guides tell you that ...
user7668482's user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
16k views

Seeking formula for adding sugar dissolved in water to produce specific gravity

I have seen several tables, notably: http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/hydrom.asp http://www.beer-wine.com/learning/how-adjust-specific-gravity http://www.brsquared.org/wine/CalcInfo/HydSugAl.htm But ...
Wyrmwood's user avatar
  • 2,178
3 votes
1 answer
2k views

Coopers australian stout - Replacing white sugar, no spraymalt or brewing sugar

I have the white coopers australian stout 23L kit which recommends the additional 1kg sugar you can add but I know its not recommended. I know most people add 1kg spraymalt but I do not have it right ...
user1470324's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
490 views

Estimating OG when only pre-boil gravity available

Is it possible to estimate the post-boil specific gravity given only a pre boil gravity reading, plus volume measurements, while also accounting for a invert sugar syrup addition? For example, say ...
Dale's user avatar
  • 3,375
3 votes
2 answers
349 views

Lowering sugar content and using whey for ginger beer

I am planning to make ginger beer using whey and keep the sugar to a minimum. Are you able to advise the level of Rapadura sugar (coconut) to use so that it will be all eaten in the brewing. The aim ...
Martin Pepperell's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
304 views

Acid production in sugar wash fermentation vs wort/beer fermentations

I have been experimenting with sugar wash fermentations. I've tried sucrose (cane sugar) as well as dextrose (corn sugar) and observed stalled fermentations in both, in spite of sufficient yeast ...
Frank van Wensveen's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
302 views

Leave out the sugar in a Belgian tripel?

It seems like the only reason to add plain sugar is to boost ABV without changing flavor. If I want a lighter beer, can I just leave out the sugar? Or will that affect the flavor? I'm not talking ...
Josh Yeager's user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
783 views

Using brewing sugar (or equivalent) as the only fermentable?

What would the result be of a brew done with say, brewing sugar (or equivalent), used as the only fermentable? Quite an ambiguous question I know - obviously flavour is dependant on many factors, but ...
Phizzy's user avatar
  • 288
2 votes
3 answers
3k views

How do I calculate how much sugar to add, for carbonation

I have a brew, that I will need to bottle soon. But, how do I calculate, how much sugar to add, before bottling? I'll be adding table-sugar, but I am very worried about exploding bottles. Are there ...
Nicolai's user avatar
  • 196