BierMuncher

Recipes 

I'd like to try and up the OG of apple juice only moderatley and use a sugar with a bit more character. Brown sugar comes to mind, but I'm not sure if I'm going to get a vinegar effect like table sugar might give.

Anyone?

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the_bird

Recipes 

I used brown sugar in EdWort's apfelwein, and I can't tell. I was surprised, none of the brown sugar character really came through. Used one pound, IIRC, for 2.5 gallons. No cider flavors.

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mysterio

Recipes 

No cider flavours in an apfelwein?



Table sugar shouldn't add any 'vinegar' character unless it's not sanitised. Acetobacter bacteria causes alcohol to turn into acetic acid (vinegar flavour) in the presence of air.

Table sugar is rumoured to give cidery flavours in beer but I've never found this to be the case when making Belgian style beers with plenty of sugar.

the_bird

Recipes 

Apple flavor from the apple juice, but not really cidery. It's really dry, it doesn't have a ton of flavor to speak of, and what it does taste like I would not classify as cider-like. It's hard to describe, it's really a different beverage than you would expect.

In any case, I'd go ahead and use brown sugar if you want, I'd still err on the side of caution in terms of how much you use. The big effect is that it dries it out, which can be good in the case of the apfelwein, but for too much it might go against you.

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Sir Humpsalot

Recipes 

I carbed half the batch with brown sugar and half the batch with honey. The brown sugar was a superior taste. To my knowledge everyone who tried them both agreed. So that's 6 votes for brown sugar and 0 votes for honey.

However, with that said, I can easily envision the brown sugar being too strong, but at least a little more than the priming amount itself would be just fine.

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MikeRLynch

Recipes 

I also used brown sugar in one of my apfelwein batches, and didn't notice a large difference between it and the one I used dextrose in. As far as ease is concerned, dextrose is the way to go, it dissolves so quickly. Since brown sugar is essentially sugar with molassas, wouldn't adding a little molassas to either the primary or racking onto some in a secondary give you that taste? Has anyone done that?

mike

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DirtyMick

Recipes 

More fuel to the fire....
I have never had a problem using Brown Sugar (light or dark). I have use table sugar with no bad effects, I have also used honey and even maple syrup and the ciders have always been good.
I say experiment

Cap'n Jewbeard

Recipes 

I used brown sugar in my Figgy Stardust dried fig sherry...

So far, no problems, and definitely no cider issues. Although, I admit, other than color I don't know how much taste it contributed.

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