AHS Kits: A few questions

[edasaurus]

I just brewed the AHS Promotional American IPA today (my first AG), and I had a few questions:

1) Do you know how (with what efficiency) AHS calculates their expected original specific gravity? I tried figuring this out using Beer Smith, but I've never used it before so I'm not sure if I'm doing this right. I *think* that they're using 79% efficiency to come up w/ their expected original specific gravity.

2) Is the Alcohol Boost that they sell with their kits just corn sugar? The packaging says its "supercharged" corn syrup. I'm trying to use Beer Smith to calculate the expected specific gravity, but Beer Smith doesn't have an option for "supercharged" corn syurp. Just regular corn syrup.

Thanks

 

[HalfPint]

I don't know man, but I never really went for that stuff. I like my beer to be I guess what you would call pure (malt, hops, yeast, and water). If it needs to be a higher ABV, I just increase the Malt in the recipe. No need to boost it with sugars and adjuncts in my opinion.

 

[Scut_Monkey]

1) I think they base their expected gravity readings from 75% efficiency.
2) I would speculate that "supercharged" corn sugar is simply corn sugar with some yeast nutrient to counteract the lack of FAN and other essential nutrients with corn sugar. Just a guess though.

 

[Walker]

From my PM box, when I asked Forrest (from AHS) about expected efficiency of their kits:

We assume 70% efficiency. Most people get better than that with our crush.

Forrest

 

[Austinhomebrew]

I think we need a sticky for the alcohol boost. It is not regular corn sugar. It is not corn syrup.

It is a high maltose corn sugar used by breweries as the least expensive way to boost alcohol.

This is from my website:
The BrewVint Alcohol Boost is 55% maltose and 45% glucose. This dry sugar adjunct will boost the alcohol content without changing the taste, color, or aroma of the beer. One 14 oz bag will boost the beer 1% ABV.
Usage: Add during boil with rest of sugars and adjuncts.

This adjunct is not for everyone. It is just the least expensive way to add a percent without effecting the beer's flavor or color.

We saw the need for this product and people really like using it. We sell over 10,000 packs a year. Once again it is not for everyone. Not everyone wants to raise the alcohol percentage.

Forrest

Ps: We aim for 70% efficiency but people usually get better than that due to our crush.
We used to aim for 75% but it works out better to aim for 70%.

Please try to use the words "Austin Homebrew" somewhere in the post or title. In order for me to answer posts about my store I have to be able to find the posts. You can't effectively search for 3 letter acronyms on this forum.

 

[ecojack]

The BrewVint Alcohol Boost is 55% maltose and 45% glucose. This dry sugar adjunct will boost the alcohol content without changing the taste, color, or aroma of the beer. One 14 oz bag will boost the beer 1% ABV.

I used it on my AHS Summer Irish Ale, and it came out great! I'm hiding a 6 pack under my bed. Didn't change a thing except the %. Enjoy +1%