Questining table sugar for priming... :(

I recently made a batch of Cream of three crops ale. The recipe thread said use a cup or so of sugar to "dry it out a bit." Well, silly me, I used about 3 cups of table sugar for a 5gal batch. That shot ABV to nearly 8% but left the beer with a noticable alcohol twang (Is that the dreaded "cidery" taste?)

I've searched, and read threads on using sugar. They said if it stays balanced, (not more than 10% of your fermentable sugars) its fine.

My last two batches of hefeweizen were not quite as carbed as I think they should have been, so I primed for higher CO2 vol this time. I was out of corn sugar and used about 4.5oz in weight of table sugar. It has the most fizz I've ever made, but I swear I can taste that same "twang" ?? Am I crazy? tasting cidery boogeymen around every corner? I don't think corn sugar gave me any of that... ??

steakandale said:

I recently made a batch of Cream of three crops ale. The recipe thread said use a cup or so of sugar to "dry it out a bit." Well, silly me, I used about 3 cups of table sugar for a 5gal batch. That shot ABV to nearly 8% but left the beer with a noticable alcohol twang (Is that the dreaded "cidery" taste?)

I've searched, and read threads on using sugar. They said if it stays balanced, (not more than 10% of your fermentable sugars) its fine.

My last two batches of hefeweizen were not quite as carbed as I think they should have been, so I primed for higher CO2 vol this time. I was out of corn sugar and used about 4.5oz in weight of table sugar. It has the most fizz I've ever made, but I swear I can taste that same "twang" ?? Am I crazy? tasting cidery boogeymen around every corner? I don't think corn sugar gave me any of that... ??

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You're crazy.

Seriously, I don't imagine being able to taste 4.5 oz of sugar in a five gallon batch.

steakandale said:

I recently made a batch of Cream of three crops ale. The recipe thread said use a cup or so of sugar to "dry it out a bit." Well, silly me, I used about 3 cups of table sugar for a 5gal batch. That shot ABV to nearly 8% but left the beer with a noticable alcohol twang (Is that the dreaded "cidery" taste?)

I've searched, and read threads on using sugar. They said if it stays balanced, (not more than 10% of your fermentable sugars) its fine.

My last two batches of hefeweizen were not quite as carbed as I think they should have been, so I primed for higher CO2 vol this time. I was out of corn sugar and used about 4.5oz in weight of table sugar. It has the most fizz I've ever made, but I swear I can taste that same "twang" ?? Am I crazy? tasting cidery boogeymen around every corner? I don't think corn sugar gave me any of that... ??

Click to expand...

The cider/green apple taste is acetylaldehyde which can come from yeast stress (underpitching is one cause). Table sugar has been given a bad name in that regard as its use in and of itself won't necessarily cause acetylaldehyde. By hte way - acetylaldehyde really does taste like green apples. At a guess I would suggest you are tasting fusel alcohols in your first batch. I have found when making dubbels and tripels (even using inverted sugar) that if I dump the lot in at once (even after primary has wound down) that it will produce too much hot alcohol. If using sugar to up the ABV and add dryness to something like a tripel, it's better to feed the yeast over a few days.

My experience only (although I know of others who've shared the same).

I highly doubt that using table sugar to prime will give you much of a noticeable anything so if there is hot alc or acetylaldehyde, I wouldn't blame the sucrose.

I've used table sugar for priming on the last 20 batches with no problem and no discernible flavor.

You can use this calculator to calculate how much to add. Table sugar doesn't use exactly the same amount as corn sugar.

http://www.collectionsoft.com/mybrewcollection/bp0.html

Thanks for the replies. I take back blaming table sugar. I started taking careful notes so I could diagnose and make corrections.

This is a good thing I did, as I did not remember it correctly. That hefe was actually primed with the last of my corn sugar. so this entire post is apart from the facts. Both batches did not have temp controlled fermentation, and was about the time the house began to warm up. I might be tasting fusel alcohols.

Tell you what
Ferment just table sugar and water with a packet of yeast

Tell me if it tastes cidery.

I too think you just need to let both beers age a little bit. higher abv means more alcohol flavor. 3 cups was probably not 'too much' to ruin anything, just adds to the conditioning time.

The hefe flavor might be in your head, but even if its not it should age out really quickly since its only priming sugar and not part of the primary fermentables.

babalu87 said:

Tell you what
Ferment just table sugar and water with a packet of yeast

Tell me if it tastes cidery.

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Ask the Finns

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