Sugar sugar

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colinc

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Hiya, a few questions about the use of sugar/brewing enhancers during the brew process.

First, if using a kit (Coopers IPA tin then into a barrel topped up with water with yeast sprinkled on top) how vital is it that the sugar/brewing enhancer goes in first and gets mixed in before the yeast is added? I suppose another way of phasing that might be: is it a complete disaster if no sugar was added to kit/water/yeast mix? And what happens if you add it, say, 24 hours, 48 hours, 72 hours after fermentation starts?

Do all kits require sugars? Certainly not all instructions specify it. I guess I'm looking for a layman's guide to the role of sugar in kit brewing ...

Thanks for any help/advice you experts out there have.

Colin
 
You should be fine to add the sugar in afterwards, it might help to make a syrup and stir it in gently to avoid too much aeration.

I have been advised by to add sugar later for very big beers in the past when speaking to one of the most experienced brewers I know. I think the idea is that because simple sugars are easier for the yeast to process you force it to deal with the harder to process complex sugars while there is lots of healthy yeast.

You don't need to add sugar to any kit, I suppose, but many are designed to be made this way. One approach is to replace the sugar with malt extract to make a tastier beer. Sugar will give you more abv than spraymalt extract for the same weight but tends to thin your beer and using a lot of sugar can result in tastes that you don't really want (or I don't anyway). Beer kit enhancer is 50/50 spraymalt/sugar. Two can kits are designed to be made without any sugar addition.

I hope that helps, but I haven't made a kit in ages so you might want to wait for somebody with more kit experience.
 
Thanks Mumbler. So, there's hope yet. Good. I'll leave it and see what happens ...
 
colinc said:
Thanks Mumbler. So, there's hope yet. Good. I'll leave it and see what happens ...
Did you add the sugar? If you haven't I would do so if the instructions call for sugar.
 
Well ... instructions not 100% clear. Reads as if adding dry contents/fermentable sugars is optional. Though on re-reading I think the optional aspect refers to what type of sugar.

So, will add my sugars (by adding contents to pan of boiling water, dissolving, then waiting to cool then adding slowly and stirring) and cross my fingers.
 

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