Cane or table sugar

[AlaskaBushBrewer]

will regular sugar really cause off flavors in my beer, or is this just a myth? Please don't reply with you heard or read. Please reply if you brewed with both for the same type of beer and not seen a difference between the two.

 

[TarheelBrew13]

How much sugar are we talking about? Are you using it to increase gravity or to prime? If the dry the beer and increase gravity it's going to depend on the volume. I have never used an extreme amount of table sugar in my beer but I have used smaller amounts without incident.

 

[AlaskaBushBrewer]

no more than 2 lbs, 1 lb on average

 

[beergolf]

Regular sugar is fine. I brew a lot of Belgian beers and use regular table sugar in many of them with good results.

 

[phenry]

I used cane sugar once in an IPA (early in my brewing career I might add) in a pretty high percentage of my fermentables (almost 20% I think?), and it turned out pretty bad. I don't know if it was the sugar or something else, but not many people could choke that one down. Since then I've used corn sugar in some IIPAs for less than 5% of the fermentables and they've all turned out fine.

But I do use cane sugar extensively in Belgians. My last Tripel was 12 lbs of Pilsner malt and 2 lbs of cane sugar, and from the hydrometer samples I'd say it turned out great.

 

[jdgapc]

i have done a few batched and split half of each with bottle conditioning and carbibng with Carb Tabs and some with cane Sugar....i cant tell a difference in taste however i feel teh Carb tabs work a but quicker.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

I've used table sugar extensively for all kinds of Belgian beers. I've never had a problem with an off flavor from it and I've gone to nearly 20%. The only real difference between corn sugar and cane or beet sugar is that the yeast need to release some extra enzyme to start breaking it down.

 

[Homercidal]

I wouldn't use it just any style of beer, because it's generally not necessary, but there are several styles that more or less call for 10-20% table sugar, or similar, to get the AVB up and the body down.

There has been a lot of discussion in recently years about the use of table sugar in high amounts and the supposed cidery flavor that could come from it. It seems that a lot of brewers nowadays relate the cidery flavor to other causes. Sugar is (or was) most often used by the inexperienced brewer to add alcohol cheaply, and there is good reason to believe that the cidery flavors were probably caused by other things the brewer did due to being inexperienced, such as pitching too little healthy yeast, and fermenting too warm.

Bottom line is that people often use sugar for 10-20% of the fermentables without noticeable off flavors, other good brewing practices being utilized.

 

[Revvy]

That's actually another one of those brewer's myths that new brewer's tend to repeat over and over like canon, without full understanding what they're talking about.

Too much sugar, in a recipe can give off off flavors, or make a beer cidery, but we're talking about someone who wants to bump up the alcohol on his 6 pounds of extract beer by adding another 6 pounds of table sugar to it.

That whole thing about not adding sugar or else you make "cidery" beer is one of those little "chestnuts" that noobs repeat without thinking deeper about it. When we talk about it being a bad thing, is when the ration of sugar to malt quite high, like frat boys trying to bump up their coopers can...yeah that's a bad thing...but we're not talking about that in most cases, we're talking about an acceptable brewing process for many styles of beer...

I mean do you like Belgian beers? Are they "cidery?" Are they crappy tasting because of the simple sugars that are added? If you like them, that's how they achieved the beer you like.

Belgian beers are a style that are supposed to have simple sugars in it. It raises the abv, but it also cuts down on some of the body, promotes the formation of certain flavors and helps dry the beer out.

Adding sugars traditionally are a way of upping the ABV without boosting the body. They also can thin out a heavier bodied beer. And dry it out.

If you are trying to make a high gravity beer if you used all grain you'd have a thick and heavy beer.

The easiest comparison to make is the difference between a Barleywine and a Belgian Dark Strong Ale. They are pretty close in color, ibus and gravity, but since the Belgian beer replaces some of the grain with sugars it's a thinner, more refreshing finish....where the barleywine is almost like a liqueur.

A pound or two isn't going to affect the beer in a negative way, especially if the recipe calls for. Even a cooper's which people want to deride, or some others suggest replacing with malt extract, is really meant to have exactly the amount of sugar the recipe might call for. But if you willy nilly add a couple more pounds to it, that's another story.

It's about balance in a recipe, the correct amount of sugar in a recipe is fine, and often serves an important purpose.

 

[AlaskaBushBrewer]

thanks for the replies, I think I'll experiment with using table sugar in addition to DME for my next few extract brews and see what happens, table sugar I can get readily at the commisary here, the nearest homebrew store with corn sugar is 110 miles away and i only go there if neccessary. The other option is to ship and that adds more cost. If I could reguraly brew with table sugar it would keep my brewing cost effective.

 

[Ninoid]

I replace 10 (pale ale) - 20% (saison) of base malt with table sugar for boost ABV in all my beers and never have any bad taste because this (up to 20 batches).