Do I need that corn sugar?

Hello all,

A couple of months ago, I made a batch of "A Texan's Bock" which I pulled off my local brew shop's website. The recipe turned out great.

Now I've made the switch to AG and asked the shop owners to convert the recipe over from PM to AG for me. Once I got home, I realized that they had completely left out the corn sugar the recipe called for. I've got both recipe's put into BeerTools Pro and it looks as if the recipe matches up in terms of OG & FG. I know that corn sugar doesn't really do much except up the alcohol % but I wanted a second opinion with this omission before I put the brew in motion.

Original PM recipe:

Converted AG recipe:



Thanks for your thoughts...

No, you don't need it. The dextrose may have also been in the extract recipe to lower the FG as well as boost the OG. Many extracts tend to have residual unfermentables which keeps the FG high. There are a million posts on the various forums about high FG with extract beers. As long as you are happy with the numbers on that AG recipe go with it as is.

BigEd said:

No, you don't need it. The dextrose may have also been in the extract recipe to lower the FG as well as boost the OG. Many extracts tend to have residual unfermentables which keeps the FG high. There are a million posts on the various forums about high FG with extract beers. As long as you are happy with the numbers on that AG recipe go with it as is.

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Many thanks. You just made it a brew day!

I would avoid corn sugar in all beers except for the small amount you use for bottling. It would only be used to raise the alcohol and lower the body. It will do this at the expense of flavor. You AG recipe is going to make a much better beer.

Most extracts are moderately fermentable. With a large beer this results in a fairly large FG. By adding sugar you get a higher OG that is more fermentable resulting in a dryer beer.
With AG you can mash at a lower temp and achieve the same result without using adjuncts. I wouldn't use sugar in a Bock. Sugar is however appropriate to use in a IIPA or a Belgian Strong Ale.
Craig

CBBaron said:

Most extracts are moderately fermentable. With a large beer this results in a fairly large FG. By adding sugar you get a higher OG that is more fermentable resulting in a dryer beer.
With AG you can mash at a lower temp and achieve the same result without using adjuncts. I wouldn't use sugar in a Bock. Sugar is however appropriate to use in a IIPA or a Belgian Strong Ale.
Craig

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Agree.... Say NO to the sugar.