Corn syrup!

[Andyhull]

Hi all,

Went to my LHBS with my brotherinlaw as he wanted to get a couple of kits.
I had advised him to get a Nelsons Revenge as he liked the samples he tried of mine and a Better Brew IPA as it has got very good reviews.

For some reason (££££££) he kept gravitating towards the Geordie kits, i got talking to the shop owner and found out that the geordie kits and some others use corn syrup and not maalt extract :wha:

Whats the difference between them?

Thanks
Andy

 

[calumscott]

The difference is (largely) Maltose Vs Fructose.

Corn syrup is still high in Maltose but one would imagine lower than malt extract - the clue being in the name... They both ferment down fine, of course, maltose being a disaccharide comprising two glucose molecules, fructose a monosaccharide which is more readily found in fruit. Could you expect "winey" flavours perhaps?

Malt, well the non-fermentible parts of the extract, lend flavour and character to beer. Corn syrup is likely to be a lot "cleaner" and so not leave lovely soft malty notes behind.

I'm guessing it's probably a good bit cheaper...

It's not very often that the Germans are right but they brew with malt, hops, water, yeast and nothing else...

...I think that's the place to start, then use other things in small measure to acheive specific characteristics rather than as a substitute for the main, essential, component of beer. Malt.

 

[Molineux]

It's not very often that the Germans are right but they brew with malt, hops, water, yeast and nothing else...

.

What about Wheatbeer? IE: Erdinger..

 

[calumscott]

It's not very often that the Germans are right but they brew with malt, hops, water, yeast and nothing else...

.

What about Wheatbeer? IE: Erdinger..

So the Reinheitsgebot was repealed in 1987... And some beers with other stuff did survive it...

...but it's the principle that's right that was my point. Start with the stuff that beer is supposed to be made with and change it from there, but always use the best. I doubt very much that corn syrup, that industial carbohydrate from the corn prairies of the US, is the best...

 

[Aleman]

For some reason (££££££) he kept gravitating towards the Geordie kits, i got talking to the shop owner and found out that the geordie kits and some others use corn syrup and not maalt extract :wha:

Correct quite a lot of the cheaper kits use 'alternative' sugar products instead of malt extract, in order to keep the price low and the profit high. It has always been thus

The funny thing is that these kits which may only contain 750g of malt extract (the other 750g being sugar syrups of one kind or another) then tell you to add another kilo of sugar to get the gravity up!! why do cheap kits taste thin and cidery?? . . . and continue to give Homebrew a bad name? . . . I'll leave it as an exercise for you :whistle:

Whats the difference between them?

Corn syrup is made from corn starch using a chemical process, very similar to inverting sucrose, i.e. Add a strong acid and boil the **** out of it.