What does brown sugar do for priming???

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

elbastardo

Active Member
Joined
Mar 1, 2010
Messages
31
Reaction score
0
Location
wa
I wasnt sure where to post this:confused: I almost primed A batch last week with light brown sugar, but couldnt bring myself to possibly ruin A 5 gallon batch possibly:eek:

What flavors will it proudce? And what beers could benifit from brown sugars?

Thanks for any input:mug:
 
I wouldn't use what's typically sold as 'brown sugar' since it's most often just white sugar that's been mixed with molasses to get the color and a bit of it's flavor added...

I used Turbinado (aka Dememera) sugar to prime my old ale and another brew (still carbonating)... No negative effects on the old ale at all. Since I used minimally processed cane sugar, I know it's closer to it's original form. More of a personal preference than anything else.

Personally, I'm not using corn sugar, or any super-processed (white) sugars in my brews at any stage. It costs me less than $0.50 (per 5 gallon batch) for the sugar I'm using to prime with (buying it in a 2# bag right now, might get a larger amount when this bag is gone), so cost isn't an issue.

You can carbonate with any sugar that will ferment. If you like the flavor of it, and think it will be a good thing if you get any of that in the brew, then go for it. If you're on the fence about the flavor, then don't. Even though the amount of flavor you could get should be minimal, if it's a lighter brew, it has more of a chance of showing itself.
 
It depends on what beer you are trying to prime. I use it for my apple cider... but that's not beer.

What did you brew?? Some pumpkin ales are primed with brown sugar. Honestly I would use brown sugar during fermentation and leave regular white sugar or corn sugar for priming. It might be easier since priming requires accurate measurements.
 
It depends on what beer you are trying to prime. I use it for my apple cider... but that's not beer.

What did you brew?? Some pumpkin ales are primed with brown sugar. Honestly I would use brown sugar during fermentation and leave regular white sugar or corn sugar for priming. It might be easier since priming requires accurate measurements.

Thankfully, the priming widget site actually has a listing for cane sugar... :D It's close to the amount for corn sugar, but (if I recall correctly) you generally use a bit less for the same CO2 volume level. Thankfully, I'm usually priming with low enough amounts that I'm not having issues. So far, I've used 3.5oz and 4oz of Turbinado/Dememera sugar to prime batches... For most of my brews, that will probably be the range of what I use. Of course, I would ALWAYS advise weighing the priming sugar when making the solution. I won't trust volume measurements for dry items going into a brew. Especially something as important as priming sugar... Unless you don't care about having bottle bombs.
 
I have just been exbeermenting with differant batches:D Now I might have to do it on one of my 5 gallon batches just to see;):ban: Maby its the missing key to my beers:fro: Or maby not:drunk:
 
Try it... If you like it, use it/do it... It could be really good in some brews, but I don't think it will work for all of them... Then again, it might. You'll need to report back on the results from the exbeerimentations... :rockin:
 
Back
Top