Sugar, or brewing sugar?

[NickW]

Hey guys,

This kind of refers to beer, cider, wine, or any brew where you need to add sugar!

I'm planning on buying a lager kit in the next month or so - but what is the noticeable different in taste between using normal or brewing sugar?

Is it negligable? Its it something I should seriously consider?

Does it vary between different beers ciders or wines?

 

[ni9e]

I only use brewing sugar to prime my kegs now as in the past I used normal silverspoon sugar in my beer kits before going all grain and found normal sugar gave my beer a homebrew "twang" whereas brewing sugar still gave the "twang" but less noticeable and using geordie beer kit enhancer which if I remember corectly is spray malt and brewers sugar 50/50 mix made my last kit just like pub beer.

The cider kits I have done benifitted in taste to normal silverspoon sugar as I found when I made the kit with brewers sugar it turned out very thin with little taste.

I have no idea on what effect it has on wine.

Best thing to do Is try a few brews with different sugars etc to see what you prefer :thumb:

 

[Oblivious]

Just table sugar for me

 

[percival]

I've heard that normal sugar lends a fruity taste to beer, perhaps the 'twang' talked about above. Shouldn't be a problem in wine or cider. But i agree that experimenting with it is worthwhile if it slakes your curiosity and also tastes are personal. Boiling sugar solutions with acid (citric for example) is said to break up the sugars and yield what is essentially brewing sugar - have a read of your book in the sugar section for more details. Its an easy and cheap way to see if you can detect a difference and assess it.

 

[Phil]

I use table sugar for priming and golden syrup if I use it in the boiler.

/Phil.

 

[Oblivious]

I've heard that normal sugar lends a fruity taste to beer, perhaps the 'twang' talked about above.

That just a wrong, Belgian trippels and golden strong can use 20-30% beat sugar, that twang or or flavor is improper yeast handing and bad fermentation practesis

 

[percival]

so household sugar doesn't lend a slight fruity flavour to beer? cool to have a common myth debunked if so.
or is the 'twang' a very precise brewing term that i'm not aware of.
not sure what you are referring to, one or both of the above?

 

[ni9e]

so household sugar doesn't lend a slight fruity flavour to beer?

In my experience making kit beer with sugar does give it a fruity flavour or a "twang" it is hard to describe the exact flavour but you can tell its homebrew if you know what I mean.

 

[percival]

i know what you mean .... hopefully this agreement is of some help in answering crE's original question

 

[NickW]

I think it has!

I think I'll be using normal sugar from now on - seems like theres no great benefit of using brewing sugar.

Have had good brews so far with normal sugar!

 

[percival]

:thumb:

 

[falafael]

i use normal sugar for my geordie sugar kits, and as for the homebrew 'taste', i think you'll always get that anyways, we aren't budweiser after all!!

 

[NickW]

we aren't budweiser after all!!

- thank god!

 

[Vossy1]

That just a wrong, Belgian trippels and golden strong can use 20-30% beat sugar, that twang or or flavor is improper yeast handing and bad fermentation practesis

White table sugar ie, cane or beet sugar, is nearly 100% sucrose. It is known in large quantities to make a beer taste thin as it's totally fermentable. It is used in certain beers to lighten the body and increase alcoholic content.
If your unfortunate enough to get a less refined white sugar, it can impart a cidery twang to beers. It should be said that most UK white sugars are quite highly refined and so you shouldn't get this problem.

 

[percival]

i'd love to have some more detail about this vossy, can you give us
more info please

 

[Vossy1]

i'd love to have some more detail about this vossy, can you give us
more info please

What do you want to know percival ?