wilko pilsner homebrew kit, sugar alternatives

[davebr007]

what alternatives can i use instead of brewing sugar in a wilko homebrew kit? i believe i can use honey or maple syrup? i want a strong sweet beer. i was wondering if it is a waste to ferment with honey and bottle with honey or should i just bottle with honey. i am new to home brewing thanks dave

 

[pittsy]

i would use extra light dried malt extract .

 

[davebr007]

someone said that to me. but will it be sweet? i have a sweet tooth and want it to taste of honeyor maple syrup. should i prime the bottles with the honey/maple syrup, or ferment with it, or both, i was told by a friend to just add honey to the bottle instead of brewing sugar before capping, i have read about it and it just says not to over do the amount of honey because it will blow the tops . thanks dave. p.s. i want my beer to taste of maple syrup or honey these are my favourate flavours. one of the alltime best beers i had was floris belgian honey beer it was awsome

 

[fbsf]

If you really want it sweet, you might want to look at adding something like Splenda or a similar non-fermentable sweetener.

Dave Line mentioned in his book "Brewing Beers Like Those You Buy" that homebrewers can't get the wort to stop fermenting at the earlier times the big brewers do, so he included saccharin in all of his recipes. I wouldn't advise that as saccharin has a nasty aftertaste, but something like Splenda should be ok.

Any sweetener that contains sugars will be fermented out without leaving any residual sweetness, although priming with honey or maple syrup and combining that with a small amount of splenda might give the results you want...

 

[rpt]

Fortunately not all the recipes in the Dave Line book contain sweeteners. Is that commonly done these days? What about adding lactose, as a non-fermentable sugar?

 

[fbsf]

Fortunately not all the recipes in the Dave Line book contain sweeteners. Is that commonly done these days? What about adding lactose, as a non-fermentable sugar?

Apologies, you are correct - although quite a few do. But we have to bear in mind that it was written in 1978, so things have moved on quite a bit since then.

You could add lactose, but I've heard that more than just a little adds a cloying texture to the brew, which isn't always pleasant.

Another alternative would be to steep some grains like Crystal or Caramalt, but then you are getting into the realm of Extract brews and not kits.

 

[rpt]

Apologies, you are correct - although quite a few do. But we have to bear in mind that it was written in 1978, so things have moved on quite a bit since then.

That's why I assumed it probably wasn't done any more.

You could add lactose, but I've heard that more than just a little adds a cloying texture to the brew, which isn't always pleasant.

Is this traditionally used in anything other than milk stout?

 

[davebr007]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I will try a couple with the kits then illmove up.
ill try a few experiments will let you know what happens this will be my first brew