Brew enhancer or brewers sugar?

sammychef · Jun 23, 2014

Hi I'm new to this just wondered what the difference is
Cheers
Sam

podz · Jun 23, 2014

The sugar composition of Coopers Brewing Sugars are:

Light Dry Malt - 100% light dry malt.
Dextrose - 100% dextrose.
Brewing Sugar - 80% dextrose, 20% maltodextrin.
Brew Enhancer 1 - 60% dextrose, 40% maltodextrin.
Brew Enhancer 2 - 50% dextrose, 25% maltodextrin, 25% light dry malt.

sammychef · Jun 23, 2014

podz said:
The sugar composition of Coopers Brewing Sugars are:

Light Dry Malt - 100% light dry malt.
Dextrose - 100% dextrose.
Brewing Sugar - 80% dextrose, 20% maltodextrin.
Brew Enhancer 1 - 60% dextrose, 40% maltodextrin.
Brew Enhancer 2 - 50% dextrose, 25% maltodextrin, 25% light dry malt.

Thanks a lot ,I understand now

podz · Jun 23, 2014

Coopers make nice extract kits, but you won't get real beer by following their instructions. I recommend not using sugar or brew enhancer at all - that stuff is only a cheap way to boost ABV % and will only manage to harm your beer quality. Forget about the cheap method unless you just want cheap beer.

Here is a general rule of ABV % contributions for 20 liter batches:

1.7 kg can of extract - 2.7 % ABV
1.5 kg can of extract - 2.5 % ABV
500 gram bag of dried malt extract - 1 % ABV

For example, I used the above to make a 20 liter batch of hefeweizen that turned out to about 6.3% ABV. The taste and mouthfeel was very good.