Help what are these ingrdients!

richardagutteridge · Jul 23, 2012

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Hi all need a little help. My eldest bought me a new book for fathers day entitled clone brews.

It's an American book but as the volumes are 5 galls USA they equate to 19 litres which is the amount I make.

But I am stumped by the following ingredients, what are they for, do I need them, where can I get them and if not what can I use in place of them?

A: Corn sugar
B: Maltodextrin
C: Rice/oat hulls

ps I do AG brewing and some of these ingredients are included in AG version of the brews.

Regards Richard G :drink:

pps There are a lot of fantastic recipes in this book but I can't find a good one for Hob Goblin any one got this? (AG only please)

zgoda · Jul 23, 2012

Corn sugar is glucose. Maltodextrin is, well, maltodextrin.

And rice hulls is for supporting filtration. Of these 3 I used only first.

pittsy · Jul 23, 2012

great book btw , don't worry about the corn sugar , thats just what they use for priming mostly , use cane sugar priming and dried malt extract when corn is wanted in a brew

The Goatreich · Jul 23, 2012

It's a great book, but I suffered the same problem with the ingredients. I tried to plan a summer wheat beer, but didn't have a clue when it came to rice/oat hulls, and the different malts were so specific I wasn't sure if I could replace them with more regular malts.

RobWalker · Jul 23, 2012

Maltodextrin enhances the body and mouthfeel. CaraPils has a similar effect. : cheers:

phettebs · Jul 23, 2012

A. Corn sugar is dextrose. Our kits over here typically use it to boost the gravity and/or to add at bottle priming. You can use white table sugar instead. I rarely use it anymore. If I'm adding sugar to a recipe to boost gravity, I use something interesting like demerara or turbinado. When bottle priming, I just use plain white table sugar.

B. Maltodextrin is mostly unfermentable by the yeast so it adds to the body. You'll see it in lower gravity beers over here to help give them some body. It's not a very common additive that I've seen. I've used it once in 5 years and it was for a very specific beer.

C. Rice hulls are used to try to avoid stuck sparges. When you are mashing with a high percentage of wheat, rye, oats, or other porridge-like materials, you can add rice hulls to create some "space" in the mash through which the wort can drain. The rice hull is the outer protective part of the rice structure that encases the grain of rice. During processing, the hull is discarded. It doesn't add anything to the brew. I keep it around strictly for sticky mashes.

Hope that helps,
Baz