New to beer brewing

[Triker]

My father used to make home brew and it was dreadful stuff. It put me off it until now and I feel ready to have a bash. I've made a few nice wines so now I want to try my hand at beer.

A couple of questions if you can help me guys. I've just bought a king keg and I've gone for a 'Better brew' Yorkshire bitter. I know I should use brewing sugar but the guy in the shop said something about 'enhancer'? Is that instead of brewing sugar, or 'as well as' and what does enhancer do?

Thanks
Steve

 

[RobWalker]

Sugar is sugar, 1kg goes in most kits. Enhancer is 50% Dry Malt Extract and 50% sugar, the equal quantities put the ABV up without affecting the body, bitterness or quality of the kit. He is right, I always brew kits with 1kg enhancer, except for 2 can kits that require no additional sugar. For an extra few quid you'll notice a huge increase in body, head, mouthfeel and flavour!

 

[PD]

and another variation/improvement use half a kilo of enhancer plus half a kilo of spray malt ( both powders ) instead of sugar. Or some treacle or some glucose/dextrose....

 

[Triker]

Thanks for your help guys :thumb:

 

[TRXnMe]

The spray malts come in different colours, from dark to light, picking the right one for the kit can make a difference, for example I've got a stout kit in the pipe line and I'll be using 500 grammes of dark dry malt extract and 500 gramme of brewing sugar.

I might also chuck in some molasses, but that's just out of curiosity caused by reading too much on here