Using Malt Extract Instead of Priming Sugar?

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GeoGirl

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I have been reading the various recipes in "Beer Captured" trying to figure out what my 3rd brew should be. In doing this, I am seeing that most of the recipes use Muntons Extra Light Dry Malt Extract for priming and a few use a combination of that and Corn Sugar. Can anyone explain what the difference between the DME and the sugar is? I was thinking about trying out the Rogue Dead Guy Ale recipe.
 
Only real difference is how much you need to use... Since DME has less sugar concentration that, well, sugar, you need to use more of it.

For instance, in my honey cream ale (slated for bottling tomorrow) which has a target CO2 volume of 2.7 (at 68F) I could use about 5..25oz of corn sugar, or 7.25oz of DME... You mix it in the same amount of base water, to make the solution, and treat it the same as you would sugar otherwise.

One reason, I can think of, to use DME over sugar would be that it's more like krausening. In some brews, using sugar could either add a flavor you don't want, or something else. You shouldn't get that with DME...

Which you use is more of a personal choice, IMO... If you're really curious, split a batch and bottle half with the two different solutions... Then see if there's any impact to it at all.

BTW, for priming sugars, I would ALWAYS weigh it... Volume measure is not accurate (atmospheric conditions will alter volume measurements, as will grain size of what you're measuring). If you've taken the care, and effort to brew something yourself, doesn't it deserve the attention to detail that weighing the priming sugar provides? It's not a ton of effort here, just use a decent scale to get there.
 
This calculator will help you with priming. Weather it's DME, corn sugar, or honey...

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

Just tried that site (for S&G's)... Only got Glucose, Sucrose and three DME versions when plugging in parameters...

You can also try the Bottle Priming Widget site...

The tasteybrew also has far different CO2 volumes for things than I've seen other places. Especially for an Extra Special Bitter... The site lists .75-1.3 CO2 volumes, where I've seen 1.5-2.4 listed in other locations (the site I have linked to above, plus Beer Smith)... Some of the styles are listed with the correct range, but there are others that are off. It might not matter to most people, but it makes me wonder what else is off... Not to mention the shift for the calculation results between that site and two other tools (the other two match)...

I would make sure you know what CO2 volume you want, since the tastey brew site doesn't seem to have the correct ones listed, by default... If you enter in the information manually, then you get a close enough result (within .05oz)...

So, just know what you want, and use whichever tool you like/trust more...
 
Just tried that site (for S&G's)... Only got Glucose, Sucrose and three DME versions when plugging in parameters...

You can also try the Bottle Priming Widget site...

The tasteybrew also has far different CO2 volumes for things than I've seen other places. Especially for an Extra Special Bitter... The site lists .75-1.3 CO2 volumes, where I've seen 1.5-2.4 listed in other locations (the site I have linked to above, plus Beer Smith)... Some of the styles are listed with the correct range, but there are others that are off. It might not matter to most people, but it makes me wonder what else is off... Not to mention the shift for the calculation results between that site and two other tools (the other two match)...

I would make sure you know what CO2 volume you want, since the tastey brew site doesn't seem to have the correct ones listed, by default... If you enter in the information manually, then you get a close enough result (within .05oz)...

So, just know what you want, and use whichever tool you like/trust more...

That's hilarious. The 3 DME versions listed by tastybrew happen to be the same 3 in your link. :mug:

As for tastybrew being off for the CO2 volumes for an ESB, it's correct for a draught ESB, and the sites that you believe are wrong in their estimations.
That makes me wonder what else is off. :)

Just because two sources say one thing and another source says something different, doesn't necessarily mean that the two sources are right.

-a.
 
On tap (in a keg) and in bottles are not the same thing... Besides the OP didn't mention going into a keg, so I default to bottles (most people use sugar for bottles and CO2 for kegs)... The site I linked to (as well as Beer Smith) use different calculations for bottles or kegs... Since your link calls out "Bottle Priming Calculator" they should all come back with the same results, or close enough to them...

The end calculations, are a bit off on the tastybrew site, where the others align. IF you use presets from the TB site, I would be concerned. Especially since there are styles, not just from England, or the UK, that are different for the pre-sets...

Still, if you don't care about a .05oz difference (not enough to matter, typically) then use either site for the actual calculations. BUT, make sure you manually enter what your CO2 volumes target is. Don't assume the pre-sets are correct...

BTW, from my understanding, there are only three types of DME anyways (for this use)... Different sugar concentrations. So, they list them... Don't see 'honey' listed on either site, so I'd like to know where you got that from.. :D Not that it matters much, since it's easy enough to convert from regular sugar over to how much honey to use...
 
Chit...tasty brew used to give honey, etc...sorry...lol. This one surely does...

http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/carbonation.html

Now that's a pretty neat one...

Right now I'm using cane sugar (either dememera or turbinado) for priming, so it's nice to have the amount calculated for me. Although it's damned close to the same amount as corn sugar, there is a difference... Only 'problem' is I'm never 100% sure of how much will be going into bottles until it's in the bottling bucket. Or more often, when it's actually IN bottles. Luckily, I'm not hitting volumes that are even close to the limits of the bottles I'm using. Plus, since I got them all brand new, I'm not concerned about them being damaged... :D Won't stop me from putting the hard lemonade into a plastic bin when I bottle that up though.
 
So isnt this type of cane sugar slightly less fermentable than white refined?I see that cane sugar is a generalized 100% type.
 
Seems to be the opposite of what you might think (100% vs 95% with corn)... I think it's because cane sugar is less complicated compared with corn sugar, or super-processed white sugar... I've always liked the taste of turbinado sugar, using it far more than white sugar. In the past 10+ years, I've used not even 1/4 cup of white sugar, where I've used many pounds of cane sugar.

Personally, I don't want to put something like the ultra-processed white sugars you typically purchase. Turbinado and dememera sugar is about as close as you can get to the sugar cane, without having actual sugar cane to use.

The first brew I used it in (my old ale) was carbonated pretty much as I wanted it to be. I didn't use a different amount compared with corn sugar (just used what Beer Smith said for corn sugar at temp)...

I plan on using 5oz in my honey cream ale to get it to carbonate to 2.7 CO2 volumes. I'll make a simple syrup from the sugar, just like you would with corn sugar... I could get a hint of something from the cane sugar addition... IF I do, it won't be a negative addition... :D
 
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