Boosting ABV without "Cidery" Taste?

How much sugar can you safely add for an ABV boost and still avoid a cidery taste?

Does the BruVint ABV Boost have enough sugar (14oz) to give a cidery taste?

How about a mixture, a little extra pale DME, a little corn sugar, a little bit of rice solids?

I'm only talking about a one percent ABV boost.

Best thing to add is more DME.

You will be fine adding up to 20% sugar. Some Belgians have as much as 30% sugar. The effect will be to dry our the brew somewhat. There is a thread going here that might be useful to you:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/ad...ot-going-make-taste-like-freakin-cider-90498/

The cidery taste is often attributed to table sugar, and I've noticed it in brews that use too much.

Corn sugar however, I've never seen that taste... even in high concentrations.

The brewvint mixture is sugar and DME I believe, and is not going to hurt anything. Raising the alcohol content will effect the taste a bit, that's unavoidable, but it really won't be as big of a deal as you seem to think.

Ben25 said:

Best thing to add is more DME.

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Although this has been said as an answer to this question it is pretty much a mantra at this point I conditionally disagree.

DME is best to add if your recipe can handle it. But, it can also very easily throw a recipe off balance and have the finished product end up over malty and cloyingly sweet.

I would rather drink a slightly drier beer than a too sweet beer. Besides, if one is to boost ABV the idea is to get a little better buzz from the same amount of beer. I drink less of over malty beer than dry beer.

So, really, the best way to boost ABV is to carefully adjust the recipe so that it stays in balance. And actually, the OP said the best way to accomplish this. A combo of some DME, some 'corn' sugar, and some rice solids, can, within reasin, boost without changing balance. Of course the simplest way is to just add rice solids.

Come to think of it, without making specific allowance for additional DME in the recipe I would have to say that the straight addition of DME is probably the worst way to boost ABV.

It's all about balance.
If in doubt follow a tried and tested recipe.

I have had good luck in using 1# of Extra Light DME in my recipes where I want a bit more kick. For my IPAs I throw in 1# of Amber DME instead, as I find the extra body compliments the hops nicely.

Either way if you adjust the hops accordingly you can keep a nice balance.

orfy said:

It's all about balance.
If in doubt follow a tried and tested recipe.

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That's it.
You can raise alcohol level all you like - till your yeast die - it IS going to affect the base taste but you also have to consider how your yeast will react (how much ester and other unusual compounds will be produced by these growing conditions, how much acid, how much lysed yeast etc)
This then has to be balanced to the "mouthfeel" - if you add just monosaccarides like corn sugar it will all go to alcohol and none left over for mouthfeel, if you add DME you get more leftover polysaccarides, if you do all grain and just back off on the sparge you get more complex dextrins etc along with high sugar.
Then you have to balance overall sweetness with hop bitterness based on the taste profile you are going for.

I use the Brew Vint 1% abv boost from Austin Home Brew Supply....in about 1/3 of my beer. Anything very low gets it, and anything very high gets it. That helps keep my beer at the "Middle of the road" or "Spectacularly strong" threshold.

Kilgore_Trout said:

The cidery taste is often attributed to table sugar, and I've noticed it in brews that use too much.

Corn sugar however, I've never seen that taste... even in high concentrations.

The brewvint mixture is sugar and DME I believe, and is not going to hurt anything. Raising the alcohol content will effect the taste a bit, that's unavoidable, but it really won't be as big of a deal as you seem to think.

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Brewvint Alcohol Boost is actually a highly fermentable blend of high maltose sugar and glucose. It is used by many breweries as the least expensive method to boost the alcohol without any side effects.

You can use other sugars but this is the least expensive way to add another percent.

Forrest

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