Brewers Sugar vrs table sugar

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Skiddum

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can anyone could help me out with this. Ive been reading about people and large brewing companies using sugar. all the recipes I've been ready don't call for sugar except for still recipes. but anyways. I've been reading some people say only brewers sugar and Brown sugars are to be used. table sugar and such can give it a bad taste. but many swear that'd just an old wives tale and it's been debunked. some say that different sugar provide different flavors that pretty obvious with table and brown sugar but what about the rest.
ive also seen people talk about differences per cup. they go into detail like per grain of sugar and going by weights
can anyone she'd some light on this.
thank you
 
If you are only using a small amount of table sugar you will be fine. If want to use a pound of sugar to boost the ABV, I'd stick to dextrose or other sugars like honey, molasses, or even agave nectar.

The issue with table sugar is that in large quantities it can make your beer finish overly dry and harsh. Table sugar is more fermentable than other sugars ounce for ounce so to speak. A large amount of it will have more of an effect than a comparable amount of another sugar. It is fine to prime with, just use a priming sugar calculator to make sure you use the correct amount.
 
Found no difference between using table sugar or dextrose. My father in law likes Muntons kits made with sugar, so I make them for him from time to time, absolutely no difference in flavour, appearance or carbonation between the 2. Save your self the money and time, just use table sugar if you are going to use dextrose. The obvious here is that LME/DME and other replacements are better. For the discussion of dextrose vs table sugar, no difference at all, LHBS just gets to sell you the dextrose at a premium.
 
There is no noticeable difference between table sugar and corn sugar. Table sugar is cheaper, so use it instead. Ounce per ounce it provides more sugars, so adjust accordingly if you can. Both are 100% fermentable, so both will dry the beer the same amount if you add the equivalent gravity points.

I've found no issues, and I've used up to 30% in some Belgians.

BleacherBrewing said:
If you are only using a small amount of table sugar you will be fine. If want to use a pound of sugar to boost the ABV, I'd stick to dextrose or other sugars like honey, molasses, or even agave nectar.

The issue with table sugar is that in large quantities it can make your beer finish overly dry and harsh. Table sugar is more fermentable than other sugars ounce for ounce so to speak. A large amount of it will have more of an effect than a comparable amount of another sugar. It is fine to prime with, just use a priming sugar calculator to make sure you use the correct amount.
Click to expand...

Table sugar and corn sugar (dextrose) will have the same impact on a beer if you add the same equivalent gravity points.
 
Calder hit the nail on the head. It really makes no difference in table vs corn sugar, other than price.

The old myth of using sugar will make your beer cidery, has also been proven wrong. Calder mentioned Belgians. If the cidery thing was true most Belgian beers would have that flavor. I also brew a lot of Belgians and have used up to 30% sugar and produced very nice brews.

Feel free to use the sugar you have on hand.
 
I prefer to use dextrose to bulk prime with. But the doors are wide open if you're adding some sugar to a recipe. Table sugar, or sucrose, is fine, as is dextrose. I also like demerara, or raw cane sugar, by the pound in some recipes, like my Cougar Country IPA. It has a light brown sugar laced with honey flavor. I've seen other members use turbinado sugar & others that have spices added to them, palm sugar, add infinitum. It depends on what finished product you're looking for in regard to adding sugar to recipes. Erring on the lighter side is always better than adding too much at the beginning.
 
yeah I found a calculator but it's a priming calculator. would you just add based on weight. depending on what you want you overall weight to be like in mead. speaking of that's an expensive drink to make 4 pounds of honey per gallon wow
 
I purchased light brown sugar on sale very cheap and use it to boost alcohol levels. Beer Smith usually suggest up to 10% of grain bill. I have not tried exceeding that recommendation but otherwise works well.
I found out today that I have a source for raw cane sugar on the cheap and will experiment with it as well.
 
Table sugar should give 46 ppg. Beersmith has dextrose listed at 37 ppg but I've seen other tables and calculators that just use 46 ppg for it as well. It is appproprate in certain styles, but make sure you know why you are adding it. In Belgians and big IPA's when it's used in place of some of the malt it has the effect of drying out the beer and lightening the body, which is what you want. Using it in the recipes you mentioned that don't call for it may or may not result in a desired effect. For example if you had a low gravity pale ale or stout and wanted to boost the alcohol a bit it may be more appropriate to add more grain or extract.
 
Yeah, I've been using a pound of demerara sugar in my pb/pm biab APA/IPA base recipe & it lightens the malt flavor & lets the hops stand out. If you want more malt flavor ditch the sugar & add more malt.
 
I used to worry about being dextrose to avoid table sugar. I've gotten lazy since and usually use regular white table sugar for all my light sugar brewing needs and haven't noticed any unpleasant effects. Its all I bottle prime with and I've used it for up to 20% of fermentables in a Belgian golden strong, no issues whatsoever. I won't pay 2-3X the price by weight for dex anymore
 
unionrdr said:
I prefer to use dextrose to bulk prime with. But the doors are wide open if you're adding some sugar to a recipe. Table sugar, or sucrose, is fine, as is dextrose. I also like demerara, or raw cane sugar, by the pound in some recipes, like my Cougar Country IPA. It has a light brown sugar laced with honey flavor. I've seen other members use turbinado sugar & others that have spices added to them, palm sugar, add infinitum. It depends on what finished product you're looking for in regard to adding sugar to recipes. Erring on the lighter side is always better than adding too much at the beginning.
Click to expand...


that sounds like a great brew. Is there a link I'd like to try that out. I've found a couple different ones Id like to try. I made a gallon of mead. The honey wine deal sounds good and my wife likes sweet alcohol so I'm hoping that 6 moths to a year it's good. I hope I'm adding the yeast nutrients right. the recipe I got isn't very spacific at that point just says add as needed. but if I can find a good beer that doesn't take a year to make then the wife is likely to let me get more stuff going lol.

I've got 1 beer going I got from a friend to start out with. he came over with everything and helped me make it. so im still really fresh. so I really appreciate all the advice and help.
 
And can someone explain how to get ppg. the page I just read made some sense but at the same time threw me through a loop.

this is what I read
For our example batch, we will assume that 8.5 pounds of malt was mashed to produce 6 gallons of wort that yielded a gravity of 1.038. The brewer's total sugar extraction for this batch would be 6 gallons multiplied by 38 points/gallon = 230 points. Dividing the total points by the pounds of malt gives us our mash extraction in points/pound e.g. 230/8.5 = 27 ppg. This value is good, if not great; 30 ppg is basically what everyone shoots for. Comparing these numbers to lager malt's 37 ppg maximum gives us a good approximation of our mash efficiency: 27/37 = 73%, while 30/37 = 81%

where did they get 38?
 
Skiddum said:
And can someone explain how to get ppg. the page I just read made some sense but at the same time threw me through a loop.

this is what I read
For our example batch, we will assume that 8.5 pounds of malt was mashed to produce 6 gallons of wort that yielded a gravity of 1.038. The brewer's total sugar extraction for this batch would be 6 gallons multiplied by 38 points/gallon = 230 points. Dividing the total points by the pounds of malt gives us our mash extraction in points/pound e.g. 230/8.5 = 27 ppg. This value is good, if not great; 30 ppg is basically what everyone shoots for. Comparing these numbers to lager malt's 37 ppg maximum gives us a good approximation of our mash efficiency: 27/37 = 73%, while 30/37 = 81%

where did they get 38?
Click to expand...

Their wort was 1.038 OG, or 38 gravity pts per gallon. 1.055 would be 55 ppg, and so on. A lb of sugar at 46 pts would raise the OG of a 5 gallon batch by 46/5 = 9.2 pts. So starting at 1.038 you would get about 1.047 with the sugar.
 
If you ever do let me know sounds like something me and the wife would like.

O ok thank you I think I'm starting to get it now. thanks you
 
Well, I guess I could. It did turn out like a combination of commercial IPA's most seem to like. I got the recipe in BS2.
*** OK, I posted the PB/PM BIAB recipe for y'all. I named it Cougar Country IPA, after the mountain in WV my family came from. There's bear & cougar up in there. I hope you enjoy it!
 

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