Substituting white sugar for dextrose etc, ratios...

[ScottM]

I've always read that sucrose and dextrose are equal when dissolved in water, and that they can be substituted for equal weights when following recipes etc.

I was just going through the malt yields on JP's page here, and based on what it says about sugar vs dextrose, dextrose doesn't actually contain as many PPG as what sugar does.

Am I right in saying that this means when substituting dextrose for sugar, you should actually increase the weight to have a spot on ratio of 1:1 and that the general rule of swapping them 1:1 at the moment is just because there isn't a lot of difference?

Cheers

 

[pittsy]

dextrose is 1036 while sucrose is 1046 , ive got a list in the back of clone brews 2

 

[ScottM]

dextrose is 1036 while sucrose is 1046 , ive got a list in the back of clone brews 2

That's a lot bigger difference than what's given in Palmers. 1.040 and 1.046 is what's said there.

1.036 seems extremely low, as that's less than DME.

Seems I'll need to re-think my recipes when using dextrose :)

 

[ScottM]

Just been reading up on this, it's actually very interesting.

When using dextrose you should actually use 10% more, as the resulting yield will be approx 10% less. The reason for this is that one of the parts that makes up the dextrose is actually moisture (even completely dry dextrose has it).

So, with that in mind, when using brewing sugar instead of white sugar you should actually use 10% more. Funnily enough, with DME only approx 5% more is required.

 

[rpt]

Brewing sugar is actually dextrose monohydrate. This means that every molecule of dextrose has a molecule of water attached to it. So this is why you need more.

 

[Kinleycat]

Granulated Sugar (sucrose) also contains 50% fructose which i assume will add unrequired flavours to beer, but suitable for wines and ciders (fruity drinks).

 

[ollyb]

Granulated Sugar (sucrose) also contains 50% fructose which i assume will add unrequired flavours to beer, but suitable for wines and ciders (fruity drinks).

Is that right? Does fructose actually taste fruity itself?

 

[ScottM]

Granulated Sugar (sucrose) also contains 50% fructose which i assume will add unrequired flavours to beer, but suitable for wines and ciders (fruity drinks).

Is that right? Does fructose actually taste fruity itself?

Not that I know of. I believe the yeast just finds it harder to break down fructose and thus creates fruity esters during the transition.

 

[rpt]

Granulated Sugar (sucrose) also contains 50% fructose which i assume will add unrequired flavours to beer, but suitable for wines and ciders (fruity drinks).

Is that right? Does fructose actually taste fruity itself?

I don't think it does. Fructose and glucose have the same chemical formula. They both taste sweet and nothing much else, AFAIK.

 

[ScottM]

Brewing sugar is actually dextrose monohydrate. This means that every molecule of dextrose has a molecule of water attached to it. So this is why you need more.

I already wrote that :p