Brew enhancer - dextrose and maltodextrin

[RubbleUK]

Hi,

I'm about to re-enter the home brew community and I've been researching a few ideas to make my brewing more cost efficient. Apologies if this is a daft question but does anyone have experience of using alternatives to brewing enhancers?

I notice that a very popular brand of brew enhancer for a pilsner style beer that retails for around £4.50 a kilo is simply a mix of dextrose and maltodextrin. Am I right in thinking that normal brewing sugar at around £2 a kilo is 100% dextrose? I see that maltodextrin is available from sports nutrition sites for as little as £11.35 for 5 kilos as well. If I used 500g of each at a total cost of £2.13 per kilo, would this have the same effect as using a kilo of the branded brew enhancer?

Thanks

Chris

 

[RobWalker]

No, brew enhancer is a mix of dry malt extract, dextrose and sometimes maltodextrin. Sugar takes away body and sweetness, dme adds it, do a balance of the two boosts abv with no effect on the taste. Maltodextrin is a mouthfeel enhancer, afaik you get about 200g in a kilo of brew enhancer.

Dme can be very expensive bit the right places sell it cheap, I buy 500g for 2.25 and 1kg enhancer costs 2.95. The solution as I see it is to shop around.

In answer, yeah you can blend your own if it works out cheaper, its the same stuff. You can get away with less dme and more dextrose though, it will thin it but a few hundred grams won't have a massive effect.

 

[RubbleUK]

No, brew enhancer is a mix of dry malt extract, dextrose and sometimes maltodextrin. Sugar takes away body and sweetness, dme adds it, do a balance of the two boosts abv with no effect on the taste. Maltodextrin is a mouthfeel enhancer, afaik you get about 200g in a kilo of brew enhancer.

Dme can be very expensive bit the right places sell it cheap, I buy 500g for 2.25 and 1kg enhancer costs 2.95. The solution as I see it is to shop around.

In answer, yeah you can blend your own if it works out cheaper, its the same stuff. You can get away with less dme and more dextrose though, it will thin it but a few hundred grams won't have a massive effect.

Thanks for the info. I'm looking a Coopers Brew Enhancer 1 which apparently doesn't contain DME (that's Brew Enhancer 2) and is aimed at pilsner style rather than more malty ales. If it only contains dextrose and maltodextrin, it seems more than twice the price of the separate ingredients....?

Chris

 

[StrangeBrew]

No, brew enhancer is a mix of dry malt extract, dextrose and sometimes maltodextrin.

Some brew enhancers are just dextrose and maltodextrin.... No dry malt at all ... Coopers brew enhancer 1 being an example and intended for lagers and very light colour beers.

 

[StrangeBrew]

Hi,

I'm about to re-enter the home brew community and I've been researching a few ideas to make my brewing more cost efficient. Apologies if this is a daft question but does anyone have experience of using alternatives to brewing enhancers?

I notice that a very popular brand of brew enhancer for a pilsner style beer that retails for around £4.50 a kilo is simply a mix of dextrose and maltodextrin. Am I right in thinking that normal brewing sugar at around £2 a kilo is 100% dextrose? I see that maltodextrin is available from sports nutrition sites for as little as £11.35 for 5 kilos as well. If I used 500g of each at a total cost of £2.13 per kilo, would this have the same effect as using a kilo of the branded brew enhancer?

Thanks

Chris

Yes normal brewing sugar is dextrose so just blend it with maltodextrin from the sports shop. And yes it would be equivalant to the branded one.

In use however maltodextrin while it gives body and mouthfeel without adding colour or malt tastes. Isn't very fermentable so dont count the maltodextrin in the total sugars.

ie 750 grams dextrose + 250 grams maltodextrin = 1Kg weight but count as 750 grams of sugar towards the total sugar needed.

:

 

[RobWalker]

Really? Sounds cheap and awful to me, never even knew that existed...but yeah the mix would be equivalent to the coopers one.

Even then all grain pilsners are still made from malt, I would much rather use extra light and pilsner enzyme than sugar and maltodextrin...

 

[RubbleUK]

Apologies, but now I'm starting to get a bit lost...!!

My plan was to try the Muntons Gold Continental Pilsner kit first which is a 3kg full malt kit requiring no extra sugar and to brew that exactly as per the instructions. As a second brew for comparison, I plan to try the Better Brew Czech Pilsner which does require extra sugar but to replace the sugar with dextrose and maltodextrin. Given the responses so far, would 1kg of dextrose and 350g of maltodextrin be about right?

Alternatively, if I was to use the brew enhancer, I'm now guessing that using 1kg of it would still need extra sugar with a 40 pint kit? If so, how much...??

Thanks

Chris

 

[StrangeBrew]

Apologies, but now I'm starting to get a bit lost...!!

As a second brew for comparison, I plan to try the Better Brew Czech Pilsner which does require extra sugar but to replace the sugar with dextrose and maltodextrin. Given the responses so far, would 1kg of dextrose and 350g of maltodextrin be about right?

Chris

As the Better Brew kit requires 1Kg of sugar ... what you propose would be fine. Anywhere between 200 ~ 500 grams of maltodextrin, depending on how much body you want to add, being the normal range for a 5 gallon / 23 Litre brew.

:

 

[RubbleUK]

Apologies, but now I'm starting to get a bit lost...!!

As a second brew for comparison, I plan to try the Better Brew Czech Pilsner which does require extra sugar but to replace the sugar with dextrose and maltodextrin. Given the responses so far, would 1kg of dextrose and 350g of maltodextrin be about right?

Chris

As the Better Brew kit requires 1Kg of sugar ... what you propose would be fine. Anywhere between 200 ~ 500 grams of maltodextrin, depending on how much body you want to add, being the normal range for a 5 gallon / 23 Litre brew.

:

Thanks for that. Just to clarify, normal brewing sugar = dextrose? If so, all I'd need to get is some maltodextrin so I can play around with the quantities to test the effect on the flavour?

Another quick question, if a kit with 1kg sugar produces a beer with say 4.5% ABV, would an extra 10% more sugar simply produce 10% more ABV?

Thanks

Chris

 

[StrangeBrew]

Thanks for that. Just to clarify, normal brewing sugar = dextrose? If so, all I'd need to get is some maltodextrin so I can play around with the quantities to test the effect on the flavour?

Another quick question, if a kit with 1kg sugar produces a beer with say 4.5% ABV, would an extra 10% more sugar simply produce 10% more ABV?

Thanks

Chris

Yes brewing sugars is dextrose and adding more will increase the strength. A little extra wont hurt but a lot extra could start to throw the beer out of balance as your adding strength without extra malt or hops. But 10% extra shouldn't be a problem...

:

 

[RubbleUK]

Perfect, thanks for all your help and advice, I think I have the basis of a plan now, just need to give it a few weeks to see how it pans out...!!

Chris