alcohol booster- corn sugar? how much?

I have searched around and i have read that alcohol boosters are just corn sugar. how much can you add until starts giving the beer a cider taste. I was thinking of adding a pound of corn sugar to the all grain wheat beer i am doing this weekend to bring it to about 6.2 % alcohol vol. will this do anything to the flavor of the beer?

jblewis said:

I have searched around and i have read that alcohol boosters are just corn sugar. how much can you add until starts giving the beer a cider taste. I was thinking of adding a pound of corn sugar to the all grain wheat beer i am doing this weekend to bring it to about 6.2 % alcohol vol. will this do anything to the flavor of the beer?

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I would avoid the corn sugar and get a pound of wheat extract. It will boost the alcohol without compromising your beer.

what about just another pound of grain. my program says it will bring alc. to about 6%

jblewis said:

what about just another pound of grain. my program says it will bring alc. to about 6%

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That is even a better idea.

I've heard of people using corn sugar for really high gravity beers that would be way too malty if only grain were used. I'm not sure what the cut off point for the cidery taste is.

too malty?

thats weird...

what about honey or rice extract?

honestly I dont understand the infatuation with raising the alcohol content up. In most cases kits already come with enough grain/dme to put the beer in the proper range for alcohol. My Belgian wits are all around 4.5, and my Trios Pistoles will be 9.5. Theres no need to go messing with it just to make it 5.5% or 10.5%. I think it takes away from the beer.

Rice husk... cmon...this isnt miller lite...

Honey will certainly do it, but you'll end up with a strong alcohol bite.

as far as homebrew shops go, its just a way to bleed $1.29 more out of your wallet...come time to enjoy your beer you'll never know different without it.

Rice Solids convert, and don't add body.

Adding corn sugar makes a lighter bodied beer likely taking away from the malt flavor or at the very least adding nothing, and considering it is a wheat beer you shouldn't want it any lighter. I don't see the point in raising the ABV one or two points. What good does it do? If you are that hellbent on doing it though, I would either add another 2 pounds of grain to the mash or add a pound of DME to the boil.

I don't just drink beer for the flavor being young i like getting drunk the high alc. % the faster i get drunk. I enjoy good beers and brewing them if i can make a good beer with higher alc. % then why not. less home brew i have to use.

Back away, troll-feeders. Nothing to see here.

jblewis said:

I don't just drink beer for the flavor being young i like getting drunk the high alc. % the faster i get drunk. I enjoy good beers and brewing them if i can make a good beer with higher alc. % then why not. less home brew i have to use.

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Hmmm.. .

I'm out.

jblewis said:

I don't just drink beer for the flavor being young i like getting drunk the high alc. % the faster i get drunk. I enjoy good beers and brewing them if i can make a good beer with higher alc. % then why not. less home brew i have to use.

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Which is all perfectly acceptable. You have received some good advice in this thread and I hope it serves you well.

For those of you who posted your opinions about what he's doing and whether or not you agree with it, please extend the lives of your keyboards next time and simply refrain from posting. The environment will thank you.

On this note-I'm attempting a lager because I wanted to try it while my basement was still cold enough. It called for 2 lbs. of corn sugar. Before I topped it off to 5 gal., the OG was high (in the 1.06 range)...I'm hoping that the extra water I added brough it down some, but I've still got a feeling that it may have been a bit much sugar.

I'm not opposed to a high ABV, but that's not my goal...and i've got a feeling that it may have started out a bit 'heavy'. I used saflager s-23, which apparently has an 80% attenuation-is that good? At this point, I'd almost prefer that it didn't all conver to alcohol, I'd rather have it a little sweet than taste like wine. Any thoughts?

Why not use table sugar instead? It's only half dextrose, the rest fructose. And it is CHEEEP. I usually dump a pound in to most of my batchs.

casebrew said:

Why not use table sugar instead? It's only half dextrose, the rest fructose. And it is CHEEEP. I usually dump a pound in to most of my batchs.

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I was under the impression table sugar was Sucrose (glucose--fructose)...

omniscientomar said:

I was under the impression table sugar was Sucrose (glucose--fructose)...

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A few thoughts on table sugar. In making wine, it is not the sin to use table sugar that it is in making beer, in fact it is often recommended for fruit wine which is primarily what I make. When you purchase the sugar however, make sure you're getting cane sugar and not beet sugar. There is a distinct difference in taste once they've fermented out and the beet is mildly unpleasant, IMHO.

In beer, you'd be likely to get cidery flavors from using significant quantities of table sugar. If that doesn't bother you, it is a cheap and fermentable solution. It won't taste much like beer though, so you might want to test this on a small batch before diving in head first.

You should add some garlic (about 10 cloves, chopped) to the wort. I know it sounds strange, but this will increase you ABV, and as long as you boil it, it won't contribute any of the garlic flavor. Garlic is cheap too, and you can buy it already chopped. Try it out, you won't be dissappointed.
j/k.
Actually, I think Austin HB and maybe others, sell kits with the option like this. you can check out their website to see if it says how much corn sugar.

Pabst Blue Robot said:

A few thoughts on table sugar. In making wine, it is not the sin to use table sugar that it is in making beer, in fact it is often recommended for fruit wine which is primarily what I make. When you purchase the sugar however, make sure you're getting cane sugar and not beet sugar. There is a distinct difference in taste once they've fermented out and the beet is mildly unpleasant, IMHO.

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sounds like an excellent project to test out the DIY Belgian candisugar (table sugar, citric acid and water).

jblewis said:

I don't just drink beer for the flavor being young i like getting drunk the high alc. % the faster i get drunk. I enjoy good beers and brewing them if i can make a good beer with higher alc. % then why not. less home brew i have to use.

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Why wouldn't you just brew a beer that's style is supposed to have a high alcohol percentage, then?

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