Table sugar for priming?

With my last order of stuff I forgot to get priming sugar. If I added table sugar instead of the usual priming sugar, would it carbonate properly without off flavors, or would I run into big problems?

well as long as you use the proper amount it should be ok. table sugar has a different fermentation profile than corn sugar. you know there is another thread on here with the exact same title. and it has 8 replies.

I did a search, but didn't find anything relevant. I'll take another look. Sorry for the repetition!

Musketear said:

With my last order of stuff I forgot to get priming sugar.

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Look on the positive side...you didn't forget the corn sugar, you neglected to spend money you don't need to

Heck, I'm building up a stockpile of priming sugar. Midwest ships it with their kits no matter what and I've moved on to kegging so I've got like 5 or 6 bags of it that I'm hoarding for a rainy (read: kegless) day...

Try this out
http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

brewt00l said:

Look on the positive side...you didn't forget the corn sugar, you neglected to spend money you don't need to

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Good call... I am sure a large sack of sugar from the supermarket is cheaper. I have just read "table sugar can do bad things for beer!!", and haven't been willing tot take the risk. The general consensus is that is false though...

Table sugar is all I use to prime with. You aren't going to affect the flavor of your beer one bit. Only people that are making bad beer, have poor sanitation or otherwise don't realize it isn't affecting the flavor say such things. The 4oz you are putting into five gallons means that you are adding 2grams per bottle. Hardly going to be able to taste it. Hell, even if it didn't ferment, you would barely be able to taste it depending on the beer.

Don't worry about it.

Alright, thanks for the advice. Looks like it is the way to go. How much is four ounces? 1/2 or 3/4 a cup?

Musketear said:

Alright, thanks for the advice. Looks like it is the way to go. How much is four ounces? 1/2 or 3/4 a cup?

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You're better off weighing it since sugar can compact. A good kitchen scale will become an oft-used item in your brewing arsenal.

I use nothing but table (cane) sugar for priming and it comes out just fine.

EvilGnome6 said:

You're better off weighing it since sugar can compact. A good kitchen scale will become an oft-used item in your brewing arsenal.

I use nothing but table (cane) sugar for priming and it comes out just fine.

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+1 on both of those. Make sure your kitchen scale can accurately measure tenths of ounces or so, so you can measure out your hops as well.

I've used table sugar to prime my last 3 batches. And they came out great. Nice compact bubbles in the foam on the head, no noticeable flavor impact. Works great.

neumann said:

Heck, I'm building up a stockpile of priming sugar. Midwest ships it with their kits no matter what and I've moved on to kegging so I've got like 5 or 6 bags of it that I'm hoarding for a rainy (read: kegless) day...

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You could always brew up a batch of apfelwein with all that extra corn sugar hanging around.......

Musketear said:

Good call... I am sure a large sack of sugar from the supermarket is cheaper. I have just read "table sugar can do bad things for beer!!", and haven't been willing tot take the risk. The general consensus is that is false though...

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The consensus is correct.

The "O NOEZ TABL SUGER IZ BAD NOOZ" comes from homebrewing of decades ago, where the norm was to buy a pre-hopped extract tin (Blue Ribbon extract or something), add the same weight as the tin in sugar, and ferment the result.

The result was really crappy beer.

Even today, you can find pre-hopped extract "kits" that tell you to use the tin and a massive amount of sugar (usually dextrose) to make 5 gallons of beer.

It's still crappy beer.

But the simple fact is that sugar is not evil. Sugar only has a negative flavor impact if you use too much. It was easier for the authors who wanted to push quality, all-malt homebrewing to tell n00bs to avoid sugar entirely, except for priming. From Papa Charlie's first book, it's become dogma; "Thou shalt not use sugar" is like "Thou shalt not eat pork".*

But lots of recipes are better with bacon. Hell, even donuts are better with bacon.

Just as lots of beer recipes are better with sugar. Countless Belgian beers, for example, use sugar for a fairly large (10-20%) proportion of the grist.

So fear not the sugar. Used on appropriate occasions and in appropriate amounts, sugar has an excellent improving impact.

Just like beer.

Cheers,

Bob

* Okay, it's [SIZE=-1] "And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcase." (Deuteronomy 14:8). But the metaphor is funnier my way.[/SIZE]

the "table sugar is bad" pertains to putting the sugar in the primary fermentation.

TipsyDragon said:

the "table sugar is bad" pertains to putting the sugar in the primary fermentation.

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If by primary fermentation you mean using table sugar in your wort, this is incorrect. Using table sugar is just fine.

No time to type up a lot, but seek out page 167 from Brew Like A Monk:

To boost alcohol, fermentability, and produce what Belgians refer to as a "more digestible" beer, plain sucrose--the stuff you can buy at your local grocery store--works just as well as clear candi sugar (rocks)....

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From what I recall, the "candi sugar" that's sold at American homebrew shops is just sucrose and gives nothing special or different to the beer than regular table sugar.

MattHollingsworth said:

If by primary fermentation you mean using table sugar in your wort, this is incorrect. Using table sugar is just fine.

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Agreed. I've used up to 3 pounds of sugar in a 5 gallon batch with no "cidery" flavor.