is brewing sugar worth the extra expence?

[shaman7117]

Hi all

Just wondering what people think, whether they use it or not and why. Personally I use it only with a kit cider and
Have only ever used beer enchancer with kit beers.

Cheers

 

[RobWalker]

Nope, not one bit. It's almost exactly the same taste wise.

Only real application I can see it having is dissolving better when batch or individual bottle priming.

 

[narmour]

I've always used bog standard Tate and Lyle in my brews and the yeasties aren't fussy! it strikes me as a touch of marketing propaganda...

 

[anthonyUK]

Theoretically it should be better as it is easier for the yeast to metabolise Dextrose but I think in practice there is little difference.

 

[calumscott]

Theoretically it should be better as it is easier for the yeast to metabolise Dextrose but I think in practice there is little difference.

Not so. In practice it's very different.

To cleave the bond of the two saccharides in sucrose, yeast will secrete an enzyme into your must or wort (it doesn't actually do this to cleave ALL the sucrose, some gets done intracellularly, some extracellularly. Dextrose being mono-saccharide has no such bond to cleave and so there is no secretion of said enzyme.

The really puzzling bit however is that maltose (the disaccharide in wort) is taken into the cell and cleaved rather than the enzyme being secreted outside of the yeast cell...

Whether it is this that has a bearing on the by-product flavours or not is, as far as I know, unproven but it certainly seems plausible on the grounds that there are two clearly distinct metabolic pathways for sucrose Vs other sugars.

 

[tonyhibbett]

The difference is subtle. Some of the flavour of the source is carried over into granulated sugar. In the case of beet, this is somewhat earthy. Tate & Lyle sugar is from sugar cane, and those who appreciate Jamaican rum like the flavour derived from molasses, but in my opinion, grape, or even apple brandy is preferably if you want to fortify wine.
Strictly speaking, the use of sugar in making wine is a necessary evil. In general nutrition, it is best avoided. In Mexico, a tax has been imposed on soft drinks in an attempt to reduce obesity, with no effect, other than to provide the government with some extra income derived from peoples addiction to harmful commercial products. No change there: alcohol, sugar derived, and tobacco, sugar enriched and one of the more harmful elements.
Pure beer, cider and wine has no sugar added to boost the alcohol level. The use of brewing sugar in light white wine will give a better result, I have found, but in full bodied wine, if there is a difference, it is hard to detect.

 

[anthonyUK]

Theoretically it should be better as it is easier for the yeast to metabolise Dextrose but I think in practice there is little difference.

Not so. In practice it's very different.

To cleave the bond of the two saccharides in sucrose, yeast will secrete an enzyme into your must or wort (it doesn't actually do this to cleave ALL the sucrose, some gets done intracellularly, some extracellularly. Dextrose being mono-saccharide has no such bond to cleave and so there is no secretion of said enzyme.

The really puzzling bit however is that maltose (the disaccharide in wort) is taken into the cell and cleaved rather than the enzyme being secreted outside of the yeast cell...

Whether it is this that has a bearing on the by-product flavours or not is, as far as I know, unproven but it certainly seems plausible on the grounds that there are two clearly distinct metabolic pathways for sucrose Vs other sugars.

:clap:

Taking it a step further though to the final product I don't think the difference will be so big. They will both be bad if you use a lot of either

 

[shaman7117]

Very interesting! I think I will stick with the brew enchancer for beers ( unless thats bunk too) but I'm now going to try using Plain old white sugar for ciders. I've already ditched the carbonation drops as I noticed no difference
Between them and white sugar.



Thank you all for your input.

:

 

[graysalchemy]

I would go further and say do your self a favour and don't add any sugar to your ciders unless you like flavourless cider. Sugar or the resulting alcohol is a flavour dilutent and as cider is very low in the flavour stakes to begin with adding more alcohol then you just upset the balance.

 

[shaman7117]

I completely agree. I only add sugar when doing kit form cider as per instructions. I recently started a turbo cider
And only used fruit juices. Its chugging away at a hell of a rate, obvioulsy very happy yeasties!
:thumb:

 

[graysalchemy]

Sorry mate I didn't read your post properly

Pet hate of mine. :evil: :evil:

 

[shaman7117]

No worries :)

 

[RobWalker]

graysalchemy is pretty easy to set off shaman. don't even think about mentioning Black IPAs around him! :whistle:

 

[graysalchemy]

:evil: :evil: :evil:

Was having a bad day.

 

[bobsbeer]

Was having a bad day.

So that was Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and most of Sunday. :lol:

 

[graysalchemy]

Was having a bad day.

So that was Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and most of Sunday. :lol:

Thats about it Bob. Should get better by the weekend. :grin:

 

[shaman7117]

Lol glad everyone has a sense of humor here!
Just bought a box of bags of white sugar from Aldi 79p per 1kg. Should be good for a few batches of beer and my Ritchie's lime and rasp.

 

[graysalchemy]

We don't get het up on here and as long as you use a lot of emoticons then everything is fine. :whistle: :whistle: :lol: :lol: :grin: :grin:

 

[tonyhibbett]

Brew enhancer contains some extra malt and definitely improves the budget kits.
As for wine, there really is no choice but to add sugar in some form, even when using purely my own grapes, unless you use a lot of concentrate, say 1.3 litres per gallon, which is pretty expensive. What's more important is the quantity and balance of the main ingredients, and sugar should only be used to raise the alcohol, not as the primary source for it.

 

[shaman7117]

Of course forgot about the malty goodness. Oh well looks like another order from the home brew shop is called for! Will need to scrape some pennies together or ask swmbo for some of my wages!