Muntons Smugglers Special Ale - no sugar in the kit

[slider09]

Hi all,

I am in the process of brewing my first special ale. Instructions say to transfer fermented beer into bottles or secondary bucket and light spray malt or sugar before bottling.

Previous lager kits I have used had priming sugar supplied with the kit, this doesn't. I plan to transfer into a secondary bucket to add the sugar and ensure thoroughly mixed before bottling. Question is, is there a preferred sugar to use for special ale, or will generic priming sugar suffice (or will actual normal sugar be OK)?

Thanks

 

[Miraculix]

You can use corn sugar, dextrose, or plain good old white sugar. All will do the job! Just make sure to calculate the correct amount, otherwise you will create bottle bombs.

 

[carluchi]

I used to use corn sugar but then switched to plain ole table sugar. Works the same and a fraction of the cost. You need to use less than corn sugar so as stated above, make sure you calculate the correct amounts.

I have used the priming calculator tool from the brewers friend site (I'm not affiliated with them) with good success and they do have the amounts to use for plain table sugar.

Good luck

ETA - correction, you use LESS than corn sugar

 

[Kickass]

This should give you ideas and ensure you don't have bottle bombs going off: NB Priming sugar calculator

 

[NGD]

I know some people have gone with the sugar cubes at 1 per bottle. Pretty cheap way to carb and the results will likely be the same

 

[Miraculix]

I know some people have gone with the sugar cubes at 1 per bottle. Pretty cheap way to carb and the results will likely be the same

They each measure 4g, for a 0.5l bottle, this is quite a strong carbonation, going into Hefeweizen territory. I did this but decided that this was too much for my personal idea of how an ale should be. For me, the sweet spot is at about 3g table sugar per 0.5l bottle, for an ale.

 

[NGD]

They each measure 4g, for a 0.5l bottle, this is quite a strong carbonation, going into Hefeweizen territory. I did this but decided that this was too much for my personal idea of how an ale should be. For me, the sweet spot is at about 3g table sugar per 0.5l bottle, for an ale.

Thank you for pointing this out. I’ve used carb tabs before with mediocre results. I thought the sugar cubes were a bit smaller. After looking around today I realized they are considerably more sugar than I realized.