Brewers Crystals

[rthoma4]

The other week I purchased an IPA LME recipe from the local homebrew shop and it calls for 0.5lbs Brewers crystals. They forgot to include this with all the ingredients and I'm wondering if it would be a problem to leave out. I've never seen or used this in a recipe and from what I see just adds fermentables to increase the alcohol at the end without altering the flavors (correct me if I'm wrong). I'd like to brew tomorrow (Memorial Day) but the homebrew shop is now closed and closed tomorrow.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[Fedora]

Never heard of it but I'm guessing it's just invert sugar. You can invert table sugar by boiling in some water and citric acid. Or just use 1/2 lb of table sugar with five minutes left in the boil. The purpose is just to dry the beer out and boost the abv. Table sugar works great for that.

 

[GilSwillBasementBrews]

After a quick search it appears to add alcohol and dextrines to add mouthfeel also without affecting color. So I'd think you'd be fine without but mind wind up with a slightly thinner Bodied beer than intended.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=228142

 

[Northbank]

If its maltodextrin you don't have to add it into the boil, you can throw it in during priming I believe ... along with your priming sugar.

 

[rthoma4]

@Gils, that's what I thought too based on my research as well as lower ABV. Just wondering if anyone had experience with excluding it from a recipe that called for it.

 

[Northbank]

It'd taste the same, but it might be a bit thinner/watery .... if you have a taste during checking gravities or something you'll know if you want it or not ...

 

[Qhrumphf]

Brewer's Crystals is a blend of sugars that's predominantly maltose and approximates the composition of wort without the flavor. It's designed to increase ABV without impacting anything else (body, color, maltiness, etc). Of course if you use it early in the boil it could theoretically drive hop isomerization down.

I've seen my LHBS carry it. I'm sure most of the online guys do as well.

 

[rthoma4]

Brewer's Crystals is a blend of sugars that's predominantly maltose and approximates the composition of wort without the flavor. It's designed to increase ABV without impacting anything else (body, color, maltiness, etc). Of course if you use it early in the boil it could theoretically drive hop isomerization down.

I've seen my LHBS carry it. I'm sure most of the online guys do as well.

Good point regarding the hop isomerization...it calls for its addition right at the beginning of the boil, prior to adding any of the hops...

 

[Qhrumphf]

From what I understand, of all the factors affecting isomerization, wort gravity is one of the least influential. I would expect the difference to be fairly minimal either way.