Adding DME and Brewing Sugar

Hi there,

I'm about to brew my first home brew and had a quick question before I launch in...

I saw a guy on YouTube make a Wilkos Sweet Newkie Brown kit (which is what I'll be making) using 500g of Dark DME and 700g of brewing sugar. However, the Muttons DME bag and Wilkos kit says that you just replace the brewing sugar for DME.

On the video, the pint turned out really well. I'm interested: what will happen if I add DME and brewing sugar (in general?).

Thanks,
Nick

That's an awful lot of sugar! Using even 25% sugar is quite a bit. Maybe 10%?

I think using sugar instead of DME will cause the beer to come out pretty thin and watery. The added sugar just means there are more readily fermentable sugar in the wort which will cause the ABV to increase, but without extra flavor that you might get from the DME. I would just use the DME and not sugar.

Good luck!

Yes, I thought it seemed like a lot of sugar. He did say he wanted to put extra sugar in to make it higher in alcohol content.

I have some DME which I intended to use. A neighbour of mine used just sugar and his beer tasted thin.

Hoping the DME will give it more body.

I'll see if I can find a link to the video in question.

[ame]http://youtu.be/cM8YhlwtF8g[/ame]

I would rather use more extract than just adding table sugar. I don't know enough about raw or refined sugars other than priming to say much more about it.

However, about that video..A few things I would personally do differently: Since this is an all extract kit with actual hops, I would add the DME at the beginning of the boil, and throw in the hop bags doing timed hop additions, and add the LME at the end of the boil. You might have a short boil but I think that would still produce a greater result than doing a hop tea.

Also..my god man!! Back the camera off! Not everything needs to be 1 inch away lol.

Definitely see your doctor if you have cloopms!

Way too much sugar IMO still.

He spruced it up to become 1.040? What would it have been otherwise?

This is a starter kit he ha spruced up. The can of malt extract also has the hops extracted within it. He is adding finishing hop for additional flavour.

Why would you add the DME first, just out of interest?

He ended up with and ABV of 4.3%. The can says it should be 4%. I think he says he was aiming for 5%.

It's a relatively short boil so beginning would be about 10, 20 minutes max? and I have been doing some reading and and have found studies that show the pH of the water/wort affects the isomerization of alpha acids.

Sounds a bit complicated for a simple addition to a homebrew kit.

It's not necessary and I wasn't telling you this is how you do it. I was just saying what I think i'd do. Brew away and make fine beer, however way you feel like. That is all that matters. I just can't help it with the technical stuff because that's my personality, I always make it more complex for everyone else based on my limited understand of the subject matter

I'm new to it all and want to make a fine ale first time.

Do you know much about brew belts? I only have room to ferment my beer in the cellar (which is around 8c) but I've heard they can overheat your beer. Any idea how to keep them at a regular temperature, given they don't have a thermostat?

Hello chum. English? Me too. I've brewed this kit, I liked it. For added body brew it short to say 20 litres or even less, i usually go for around 18. You'll lose a few pints but it makes for a better beer.

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I am English. I was planning on 23 litres with added DME and perhaps some dextrose sugar to increase the ABV a little.

How does it taste? I've only ever sample two other homebrew a from different friends and they were both quite thin in taste... I don't think they added anything and they used granulated sugar.

nicklawmusic said:

I am English. I was planning on 23 litres with added DME and perhaps some dextrose sugar to increase the ABV a little.

How does it taste? I've only ever sample two other homebrew a from different friends and they were both quite thin in taste... I don't think they added anything and they used granulated sugar.

Click to expand...

Adding sugar will thin your beer. DME will be much better.

I thought so, which is why I bought some DME.

If I just used dextrose, what would that do?

Dextrose (aka corn sugar) is just another sugar with the same thinning of the beer. It's a simpler sugar so the yeast can break it down even quicker than table sugar.

If its your 1st brew i wouldn't worry too much about getting something amazing. The kits are on special offer now aren't they for £8?.

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If i remember rightly, I knocked it up probably around this time last year. I think i used two kiloss of Dark Brown Sugar. This was in my less enlightened days.

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I've got a can in the wardrobe right now, I'm waiting for my Coppers English Ale kit to finish up then i had planned to get the Newkie Brown kit on after. Probably will brew it to around 20 litres and use a bag of Brew Kit Enhancer.

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Were I you I'd reduce the sugar to maybe 1/3 and buy another bag of DME. A little thinning is OK, but too much and it'll be strange.

When you say a 1/3 do you mean a 1/3 of what it tells you to add on the tin?

E.G:
Add the Newkie Brown malt/hop syrup stuff
500g of DME
1/3 of 500G of breaking sugar (166g)

Did that make sense?

I'm not precious about adding dextrose or anything. I was just trying to get my head around why this bloke on the video put in 700g as well as DME.

It was to my understanding before that, and now, that you could just substitute sugar for DME.

Out of interest, do sugars/DME need boiling before adding to the fermenting bucket or can they just go straight in?

What I meant by 1/3 is indeed to only use a third of the sugar, but to also add more DME (two of those 500g packages).

DME/LME is so much better than using sugar. A little bit of sugar can be good, but a lot just REALLY thins the beer out.

I'd add the can go hopped malt, (2) 500g bags of DME, and 166g of sugar.

He likely used so much sugar because it's much cheaper and around the house.

You can substitute with sugar, but it's not a good idea to use too much. Many Belgian beers use sugar, and some of them quite a bit it seems. The type of sugar can also make a bit of difference too.

DME or sugar should be fine to dump in without boiling it. But it certainly doesn't hurt, and I'd think it would make it easier for the yeast to get at it if it were diluted a little bit in water.

So what would happen if I just used 1 x bag of DME with the beer kit?

It'll add a little more alcohol. If it began as a 4% beer it might add .3 to .5% more alcohol. That would be my guess. One all by itself in 5 gals isn't a whole lot.

You could also reduce the volume a little. Less water means more alcohol too.

Don't worry about adding some sugar. Some sugar is just fine. He added quite a bit though. And maybe it's not as bad as I think it would be.

So, out if interest, if put the can in and 2 bags of DME, what would happen?

You'd come to about 4.7-5% ABV I'd guess. You could still add some sugar to ensure it gets to 5 or more.

Adding DME or sugar will lower the IBU's as well. It won't be a whole lot, but it will lower it.

What are IBU's?

International Bittering Units. It's what the hops produced, and they are there to even out the sweetness of the malts.

If you brewed beer without any hops (or anything else bitter) it would be rather sweet.