Help - Converting recipes to GF and subbing table sugar for corn sugar

Hey gang,

I am thinking of using a lot of Scott Mansfield's recipes for things like ginger beer, cider, etc.
In his recipes, he always uses malt syrup when a beer-like recipe is being made. I am going to switch this out for white sorghum syrup 1:1.
Also, he carbs his bottles with 7 teaspoons of corn sugar per small batch (each runs about a gallon or slightly more). Would I be able to just 1:1 substitute table sugar for corn sugar, or should I slightly reduce the amount of white table sugar I am using because corn sugar has 95% fermentability and table sugar has 100%?

Thanks!
Yurtbrewer

Substituting something like Breiss Sorghum Extract instead of LME should work. If you are making beer where the malt flavor is a significant component, you may find that using a mix of Sorghum Extract and Brown Rice Syrup will help you create 'light' malt flavors better (as sorghum has its own flavor that can be overpowering on its own).

As for sugar, I've seen a variety of calculators online that will tell you how much of whatever priming material you are using, but in general if you are working with table sugar and the recipe calls for corn sugar, you'll want to reduce the amount by around 5%. So if the recipe calls for 5 oz corn sugar, use 4.75 ounces of table sugar.

That's for priming by weight, though. Priming by volume is less precise, as how much you 'compact' your 1/2 cup or 3/4 cup of sugar can make a difference. But by volume, I think you need something like 20% less table sugar, as it is more dense than corn sugar.

consider tapioca extract instead of sorghum. lest you enjoy the flavors of sorghum i my self have 2-4 jugs of sorghum that i will use...eventually, but i dont really wanna. i have a ginger brew in primary ( racking tonight) right now.

I've heard you mention tapioca extract, but I've never seen anyplace where I could buy it...

Also, isn't tapioca extract pretty much just sugar, like rice syrup?

Hmmm interesting about the tapioca extract. Where can you find that?

I found a previous post and link to the info on Briess's website about the Tapiaco 45DE...

I still wonder, though, how this compares to rice syrup. Have you tried using rice syrup as a base?

brewcraftusa distributes the tapioca syrup to stores. (or are able to anyways) so try to urge a supplier. I'm trying to get homebrewing.org to carry it, they're getting a new larger store that they'll ship orders from. I've seen one non-homebrew supply online source (barryfarm) but I don't recall seeing it at my health food stores.

No, I have not yet... I do not see it at Northern Brewer or my LHBS.. do you buy it at health food stores? Does it need added enzymes?

KevinM said:

brewcraftusa distributes the tapioca syrup to stores. (or are able to anyways) so try to urge a supplier. I'm trying to get homebrewing.org to carry it, they're getting a new larger store that they'll ship orders from. I've seen one non-homebrew supply online source (barryfarm) but I don't recall seeing it at my health food stores.

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I bet annapolis homebrew would be the best place to ask, considering they are the only place I can find that sells Brown Rice Syrup and Dry Sorghum Malt.

When using brown rice syrup from a health food store do I need to add enzymes?

yurtbrewer said:

When using brown rice syrup from a health food store do I need to add enzymes?

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No, rice syrup should have been converted for you already.

BTW. I get my tApioca syrup special order at the lhbs special order. It's from breiss