Sugar

Just been to my local hbs to get some sugar he only has packs of standard sugar not brewing sugar, does it matter? Like majorly would you guys recommend me going a lil out my way to the other shop to get some brewing sugar?

Depends on what you need it for. Most of the time plain sugar is fine for things. Other times we use darker, more unrefined sugars because they have flavors. Some are made from other sugars such and palm or coconut.....Some folks use Belgian sugars, but those really are just standard table sugars boiled to various degrees of caramalization. We also sometimes use corn sugar...to prime with, for example, but even then table sugar works perfectly fine.

If you're using the sugar for priming, it's not a big deal. By brewing sugar I assume you mean dextrose or corn sugar. Table sugar (sucrose) has a little more energy than dextrose, so you typically use less table sugar than dextrose for priming. This priming calculator might give you an idea: http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/.

I do find it a little odd that your LHBS doesn't carry dextrose.

What particular sugar were you trying to get? Is it for priming or in your recipe,what style? If its priming sugar,dont even bother making a trip.If its a big belgian recipe that may be different but I personally probably wouldnt go out of my way for it, Id maybe try a good honey or light brown sugar or a good tasting sugar you like. A key to making a beer recipe the way its intended is sticking with the exact ingreadience although sometimes the outcome could be better or not as good as well,it just may be a little different and probably minor. Subbing a recipe certainly works but may get different results.
If your trying to boost the gravity,stick with more malt(dme or lme) with a small(or more) amount of hops. Those boosters or brewing sugar packs I think are dextros with a small amount of maltodextrin. It works but people seem to preferr malt extract,unless you want a little dryer thinner body with sugar depending how much you use.

Well I'm doing a British ale next I'm going to get some brewing sugar as with my last one I experimented and it was awful

Also I've read the instructions and I need the water to be a certain temp, so hopefully the bigger shop where I get my sugar from will have floating thermometers

if you are talking about using dextrose, or brewing sugar, I use table sugar for bottle priming all the time and never have a problem with that.

if you are talking about any other usage, like in the actual recipe, don't know

unionrdr said:

Any kind of sugar used for priming can be used in the recipe. That's the fun part,with so many sugars from around the world out there.

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Yeah, but if you sub in table sugar in place of dark candi sugar, you will get a hugely different result.

What sugar would you guys suggest then I didn't know you could use any, obv my brew is going to be a traditional British ale

So the sugar is being added prior to pitching yeast? Please post your recipe, or the kit you're using.

If the flavor you got from the last batch was awful, I'm wondering about the recipe you last used. Your fermentation process and/or sanitization process may also have affected the finished beer and not just the type of sugar used.

signpost said:

Yeah, but if you sub in table sugar in place of dark candi sugar, you will get a hugely different result.

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Dark candi sugar would be my last choice for priming. The caramelization turns most of the sugars unfermentable in the process leading to a sweeter final product and not enough carb.

jakwhite said:

What sugar would you guys suggest then I didn't know you could use any, obv my brew is going to be a traditional British ale

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Lyle's golden syrup was/is a traditional sugar adjunct in traditional british ales. Barring that you could make your own caramel by boiling down sugar til you get a nice dark color...or feeling lazy choose a dark brown sugar, or sugar in the raw.

If you read the great blog Shut up about Barclay Perkins about historical british beers you'll see that all those above are quite common.

There's really no point ever in buying Belgian Candi Sugar, the Monks didn't but it, they just took the bulk beet sugar they got their hands on cheap and boiled it to the color they wanted.

jakwhite said:

Well I'm doing a British ale next I'm going to get some brewing sugar as with my last one I experimented and it was awful

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It'd help if you could tell us exactly what you're using the sugar for, what the recipe looks like, and how much sugar you're adding.

"Standard sugar" is a little vague, though I guess you mean sucrose aka table sugar aka cane sugar aka various other things. Similarly, "brewing sugar" probably means dextrose (aka corn sugar aka glucose), but it's not terribly precise. I'd suggest finding out the actual names of the sugars and using those. Other terms vary in usage, but you can usually find out whether the sugar in the bag is sucrose or dextrose.

With respect to using the "wrong sugar," unless you experimented with a large amount of a very dark sugar in place of a very light one, I'm having a bit of trouble believing that the sugar substitution could make an otherwise ok beer "awful."

Yeah I may try brown sugar,


No I didn't experiment with sugar I experimented with flavourings

I usually use brewing sugar that's all I know as that's all that's on the bag it's in a 1kg bag