arrrrgh, no priming sugar.

[citabria]

I was supposed to pick up some corn sugar this week from the LHBS but I forgot. I need to do my bottling tomorrow and am considering using regular white cane sugar. John Palmer seems to suggest that it will work as well as dextrose as long as you adjust the quantity. Anyone had experience using white table sugar? Will it work as well as dextrose? Is there a chance of any off flavors?

 

[PeteOz77]

I haven't used it, but the guy that owns the LHBS uses it all the time and reckons it's just as good as Dextrose. It's easier to handle as well.

 

[sittingturbo]

I've never done it... Read a lot of sites where people knock it, read other that said its okay... Even heard of people priming with Brown Sugar, would not do that one tho....

It cane sugar 100% fermentable? If not you might have residual sugars, but probley would never notice such a small amount.

 

[Arneba28]

I dont believe can sugar is 100% fermentable...Dextrose is Though I think of something like 98%...This website gives the quantity for regular sugar priming
http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/priming.html

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Makes really no difference at all. When I bottled I was anal about using dextrose. Then had the same problem as you. Notice NO flavor difference.

 

[PT Ray]

I'll second using cane sugar. Used the last of my corn sugar a couple years ago and used cane ever since.

 

[eddie]

Table sugar works great for bottling. I use it every time I bottle now and I've never noticed any ill effects on my beer.

 

[Yooper]

Do you have any dry malt extract? 1 1/4 cups boiled up in two cups water and then cooled works great, and I use that often. Much better than table sugar, in my opinion!

 

[html034]

According to this website
http://hbd.org/cgi-bin/recipator/recipator/carbonation.html?9657532#tag

Dextrose is 95% fermentable and Cane sugar is 100% fermentable. Also, DME is 55% fermentable. So from this i would conclude that cane sugar should make less of a flavor contribution than dextrose.

 

[Revvy]

I used brown sugar once, in my pumpkin porter (One of the commercial bottle conditioned pumpkin ales that was available last fall mentioned using it on their labels so I thought I'd give it a try.) It came out nice, had a little residual brown sugar flavor that went well with the pumpkin and the spices)...but I'd only do it for a darker beer.

 

[the_bird]

Brown sugar is nothing more than plain while sugar with mollasses added back. Plain table sugar will be fine; it's bad reputation comes from when people use it for a significant percentage of their fermentables (like 30%). For priming, you'll never notice the difference. I don't think there's any (at least any material) difference in the fermentability of table sugar versus corn sugar, so I'd use the same quantities.

 

[Beerrific]

Here is a good read on subject: http://***********/feature/1542.html

Yes, table sugar will be fine. Just make sure you dissolve it well.

 

[duker]

So what about other methods to carbonate... when I first looked at homebrewing some sites suggested to "NEVER use surgar to carbonate, Budweiser, Sam Adams and the other big boys "DO NOT USE SUGAR", so this was always a concern of mine.

 

[the_bird]

Well, unless you'vr got a kegging setup, you're pretty much forced to use sugar in one shape or another. Most of the big commercial breweries force-carb (same as most keggers), but that's mostly for convenience. Many of the world's greatest beers are bottle-conditioned, meaning that there has been sugar added back at bottling for the yeast to consume (and carbonate the beer).

 

[razyrsharpe]

boil the sugar for at least 5 minutes to break down the covalent bond (i heard Alton Brown use this term) and make the sugar more appealing and digestible to the yeast. i have used normal table sugar like this before with absolutely no mishaps. i used exactly 3/4 of a cup. worked like a charm.
BOIL the sugar though! 5 minutes minimum.

 

[duker]

Makes sense to me...but here is what I was refering to, I was really considering this at first.

http://www.beermanmicrobrewery.com/

 

[Benny Blanco]

The only thing I've heard you really shouldn't prime with is all honey due to it's unpredictability in terms of how fermentable it is. I did a honey and dextrose mix when i bottled my last beer and I hope it turns out well.

 

[ajf]

Cane sugar is fine. I used to use it whenever I ran out of dextrose. Now I use it most of the time.

You should use less cane sugar than dextrose. Palmer shows how much less.

Cane sugar takes a little bit longer to work (allow an extra week).

-a.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

It has nothing to do with fermentability. It has to do with how the yeast eats it.

 

[chefmike]

It has nothing to do with fermentability. It has to do with how the yeast eats it.

I know this is WAAAAAAAAY after the fact... but I have to ask: isn't "how the yeast eats" the sugar the action of fermentation? Thus, if the yeast ate the sugar slowly, this would have ALOT to do with "fermentability", which I would assume means the ease with which sugar is feremented?

Regardless, this is a great thread worth revisiting once in a while.

And I am priming this batch with table sugar, sanitizing with bleach, stirrig with a wooden spoon, boiling in a aluminum pot, and fermenting in an old water cooler jug.

What a jerk I am! [shuffling back off to his brewing cave to lurk]

 

[ajf]

Table sugar is sucrose, a disaccharide composed of one glucose and one fructosemolecule which cannot be directly fermented by yeast. Glucose and fructose are monosaccharides, both of which can be directly fermented (eaten) by yeast.
However, the yeast can break the sucrose down into glucose and fructose which can then be fermented at a normal rate. Another disaccharide that has to be broken down before it can be fermented is maltose (two glucose molecules), which accounts for the majority of fermentables in most beers worthy of the name beer.

-a.

 

[borracho_brewer]

Table sugar is fructose, a disaccharide composed of one glucose and one sucrose molecule which cannot be directly fermented by yeast. Glucose and sucrose are monosaccharides, both of which can be directly fermented (eaten) by yeast.
However, the yeast can break the fructose down into glucose and sucrose which can then be fermented at a normal rate. Another disaccharide that has to be broken down before it can be fermented is maltose (two glucose molecules), which accounts for the majority of fermentables in most beers worthy of the name beer.

-a.

Maybe just a typo, but you've got that backwards.

Table sugar is sucrose which is a disaccharide made from two monosaccharides (a glucose and fructose bonded together).

Candi sugar is pre-broken down sucrose that uses heat and acid to do so.

I believe invertase is the chemical that yeast produce when breaking down sucrose itself into the two monosaccharides, which some say gives the off flavor from excessive use of table sugar.

 

[ajf]

I don't see any problems (after editing)

Yes, you were right. I let my fingers do the typing without sufficient guidance from what's left of my brain. Sorry.

-a.

 

[ak47clown]

FYI-dextrose sugar is readily available at any pharmacy-smarties is almost pure dextrose!

 

[user 30639]

I wish I had seen this thread before I ordered more priming sugar from my LHBS. Doh!

I ran out of priming sugar, couldn't find any sort of corn sugar at the grocery store, so I had to order some. And to justify the shipping price, had to order another kit to brew as well. Darn There's plenty of table sugar around the house though. Oh well, I know now for next time.

 

[user 30639]

How much table sugar should you use for 5 gallons? 3/4 of a cup, same as the corn sugar?