ideal* sweetener

[wolfshado]

i am having hell trying to find Maltodextrin to help give my stout a better mouth feel, but then at my local store i found a clearance sale on IDEAL sweetener which contains Xylitol, maltodrextin, and sucrose. Now i want to add a couple of tablespoons or more to get the malto effect but i am unsure of how much is enough or too much. I assume most of it will ferment as i will be using a pound of dark DME and my usual corn sugar recipe. I will of course use the corn sugar to bottle as well.

I guess what i am asking is.... is this a good idea or a disaster waiting to happen? Someone please help as this will only be my 2nd batch. My first lager was a total success in every possible way and i would hate to ruin my first stout. I will hold out on brewing till i get some advice from yall.

 

[a6ladd]

Have you tried a malt like carapils? What is your recipe? There are plenty of malts you could use with a better effect that a sweetener. Lots of crystal/cara malts have plenty of dextirn and are a good compliment to mouthfeel. I would shy away from the sugar for now because you will not get as much flavor out of something like that.

 

[RobertRGeorge]

Here's my guess: the Xylitol, a naturally occuring sugar substitute "sweetner," would not be metabolized by the yeast, leaving residual sweetness (how much??). The sugar will ferment out to alcohol. If it is sucrose it might leave a cidery taste. The maltodextrin, which is virtually tasteless, will add body and not much else. Probably not a disaster if you like "milk stout" but you probably won't get a dry stout. I would try boosting the amount of DME and reducing the amount of corn sugar instead to increase mouthfeel.

 

[wolfshado]

ok the stout has been moved from secondary to bottles. in a few weeks ill find out how it turned out

 

[wolfshado]

had this for my birthday and it was AWESOME i used the coopers stout kit but i will go extract next stout

 

[RobertRGeorge]

I did a nice hack of a Cooper stout kit with some added DME, corn sugar, extra black malt and roasted barley, a bit more hops, and a touch of licorice and grains of paradise. If you can get the Cooper's on sale you might consider stocking up.