Alcohol Booster packs

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boydak

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I have not seen much on here about them.

AHS sells them to boost by 1% without effecting taste or style.

Any opinions on them? Does it change your O.G.? Any downside to using them?
 
It is a maltose/glucose blend. It will ferment out almost 100% and contribute very little if any to the malt character of your beer. It will increase alcohol but that is about it. In a small batch it may have more of an effect at creating an unbalanced beer if you don't adjust hopping accordingly. Your hop extraction/utilization is in part effected by your OG. So if you add this "boost pack" you are effectively increasing the OG and should adjust hop bill also.
 
I just use corn sugar when I want to bump up the OG.

It does not have much of an effect, other than raising the ABV and slightly drying out the brew. Don't overdo it, though. You really don't want more than 20% of your fermentables to be added sugars.

:mug:
 
My opinion on them is: Don't use them. Think about it this way: The lower the ABV of a beer, the more you can enjoy before getting trashed. It's wonderful to be able to enjoy British Milds or Ordinary Bitters pretty much all day long without ruining your liver, getting a nasty headache, and wake up to stange people in the morning that may or may not be diseased, unattractive or of the same sex as you are.

The standard ABV in most beer styles is optimized for the flavor characteristics that makes each style great. Pushing it beyond the limits, especially with sugars, rarely yields a superior result.

If you just want to get wasted, drink spirits instead.
 
Yep, if you really need more alcohol, just go buy a handle of Fleischmann's. If you want a good beer make it right in the first place. A good beer doesn't need a boost, alcoholic or otherwise.
 
There are styles where simple sugars are used, Belgians almost always use some candi sugar. Otherwise, it just boosts ABV and dries out the beer, which are not good.
 
I've gotten the boost packs before, and I'll get them again. I usually add it to anything that would finish in the 3-4% range.

I usually only drink 2-3 beers a night, maybe 2 nights a week. When I do, I like the buzz that accompanies it. Sometimes I want something stronger. Otherwise, I could just drink O'douls.

I can't say if it effects the final taste of the beer, as I've never made a batch with the boost and a batch without. So I can't do a tasting. But I will say that it hasn't caused any harm to the 3 or 4 batches that I've used it in.
 

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