Sugars???

[Brewbob]

Just had an interesting thought after a comment on the Wherry review post, do different sugars add a little something different to end result, such as adding a dark muscovado?? What about liquid sugars - Golden Syrup, honey?? Would adding honey to a brew give it a mead like quality. Think I may give it a go.....Oh dear I can envisage lots of little experiments happening now! :drink: :whistle:

 

[RobWalker]

yeah! most add an aftertaste of sorts.

white sugar is somewhat tasteless. light brown sugar down to molasses will all add degrees of molasses taste in different strengths, depths and intensities. imagine the difference between white bread, lightly browned toast, average toast, down to full on burnt. same basic thing - the same applies to degrees of crystal malt.

golden syrup adds an aftertaste more than anything, it's used to turn a basic lager into a san miguel clone, to give you a rough idea.

honey adds a very desirable aftertaste, i love it. different honeys will also taste different! i would suggest mixing with hot water and then cooling so it mixes well with your batch.

treacle also adds a deep, deep molasses flavour. it's used sparingly in stouts and porters.

 

[winelight]

Thanks Rob really useful post! Guess the highly flavoured floral honeys will add some of that flavour to the beer too? Could be interesting.

 

[alawlor66430]

Dermarera is nice in a bitter

 

[winelight]

Dermarera is nice in a bitter

Thanks, will get some today.

 

[RobWalker]

Thanks Rob really useful post! Guess the highly flavoured floral honeys will add some of that flavour to the beer too? Could be interesting.

Yep. Orange blossom is meant to leave an awful orangey taste though_

 

[Brewbob]

Yep. Orange blossom is meant to leave an awful orangey taste though_[/quote]
Hmm thanks I'll bear that in mind. It does open up a whole new aspect of flavouring though, even using the same kit can produce different end results. Cheers :)

 

[JimmyB78]

I batch primed my last Wherry with dark brown sugar, where I'd used brewers sugar for the previous one. It gave quite a nice slightly nutty flavour to the beer, definite difference compared to the brewing sugar.

 

[bigboots]

May just be me but I seem to remember adding honey to a brew (headcracker, I think?) and it greatly lengthened the fermenting time?

 

[alawlor66430]

I would imagine certain yeast strains that you get with certain kits will work great with certain fermentables and possibly a bit slower with other fermentables that it was not intended for, like using a Rottweiler for coursing and a lurcher as a guard dog, they'll both work I suppose but not as good as in the jobs they were intended for

 

[Ian...]

I invariouably add .5 or 1kg of demerara sugar to my two-can kits to up the ABV without weakening flavours. I have recently added 1kg of deark brown muscavado to a St Peters Red Ruby ale. It upped the ABV to 5.4% and tasted really treacly, gorgeous. Not St Peters RRA by the time I had finished with it but a fantastic pint!