Dextrose vs sugar in my home brew to raise the ABV?

[jennyss]

My husband and I take turns in choosing which (extract) homebrew to make. He was grizzling because his Woolworths draught with 1kg dextrose was coming in under 4% ABV.  Last brew we tried BE2 instead of the dextrose, and he liked the flavour; but the ABV was only 3.9% 

When mixing, can we add dextrose or sugar along with the extract can and BE2 in order to get the ABV around 4.5%? And how much?

Thanks in advance. 

[Malter White]

Yes you can add more dex or sugar to increase ABV. BE2 contains malt and maltodextrin that don't fully ferment out, hence the higher FG and lower ABV.

The amount of extra dex to add to get your desired ABV I'm not sure on but I'd punt on about 500g.

[Kegory]

You can also try Coopers Brewing Sugar

[Classic Brewing Co]

1 hour ago, jennyss said:

My husband and I take turns in choosing which (extract) homebrew to make. He was grizzling because his Woolworths draught with 1kg dextrose was coming in under 4% ABV.  Last brew we tried BE2 instead of the dextrose, and he liked the flavour; but the ABV was only 3.9% 

When mixing, can we add dextrose or sugar along with the extract can and BE2 in order to get the ABV around 4.5%? And how much?

Thanks in advance. 

 

1 hour ago, jennyss said:

My husband and I take turns in choosing which (extract) homebrew to make. He was grizzling because his Woolworths draught with 1kg dextrose was coming in under 4% ABV.  Last brew we tried BE2 instead of the dextrose, and he liked the flavour; but the ABV was only 3.9% 

When mixing, can we add dextrose or sugar along with the extract can and BE2 in order to get the ABV around 4.5%? And how much?

Thanks in advance. 

 

Hi Jenny,

I have used Wheat Pure Liquid Malt Extract in the past for making more full-bodied beers & also increasing the ABV. This article may be of help, Cheers.

Wheat Pure Liquid Malt Extract provides vital sugars, flavour and aroma to form the perfect base for individual extract brewing recipes. It also allows you to increase ABV, while giving your beer superior body and mouthfeel.

This is cold filled into a pouch, instead of a can, to retain all the delicate flavours and aromas which are lost using the traditional canning process.

Use as a base for your own extract beer recipes or as an enhancer to boost alcohol, body and flavour to any extract or all grain recipe.

Ideal for German Weissbier, Berliner Weiss, Gose sours, Belgian Wit, New England IPA, Juicy IPA or American Wheat styles.

https://saveonbrew.com/abv-how-to-increase-the-alcohol-content-of-home-brew-beer/

[ChairmanDrew]

You could also just add less water to the fermentor, i.e. only top it up to 19-20l instead of 23l. That is, if you don't mind having less beer to drink each batch

[DavidM]

Yes, add another 500g of LDM and you will get close to the number he wants.

Could also just add 500g of Sugar but it would be a lot sweeter.

Can plus 1.5k of fermentable sugars will give you around the 4.5%

Depending on which sugars you use..

(By sugars I mean, Light dry Malt, Dextrose, brewing sugar, and sugar)

For me, it's Light Dry Malt but I'm sure that Liquid Malt is better.

We all have to find out own way

[Oldbloke]

1 hour ago, DavidM said:

Yes, add another 500g of LDM and you will get close to the number he wants.

Could also just add 500g of Sugar but it would be a lot sweeter.

Can plus 1.5k of fermentable sugars will give you around the 4.5%

Depending on which sugars you use..

(By sugars I mean, Light dry Malt, Dextrose, brewing sugar, and sugar)

For me, it's Light Dry Malt but I'm sure that Liquid Malt is better.

We all have to find out own way

 

This

[Shamus O'Sean]

14 hours ago, jennyss said:

My husband and I take turns in choosing which (extract) homebrew to make. He was grizzling because his Woolworths draught with 1kg dextrose was coming in under 4% ABV.  Last brew we tried BE2 instead of the dextrose, and he liked the flavour; but the ABV was only 3.9% 

When mixing, can we add dextrose or sugar along with the extract can and BE2 in order to get the ABV around 4.5%? And how much?

Thanks in advance. 

Here's a little table of what ABV you should expect with various amounts of extra fermentables added to your Woolworths Draught with BE2.  The main difference is that Dextrose and Sugar are 100% fermentable.  However, LDM has some sugars that regular yeast cannot ferment, so you cannot get quite the same ABV as Dextrose.  But the beer retains slightly better body.

kg	Dex/Sug	LDM
0.1	4.1	4.1
0.2	4.4	4.2
0.3	4.6	4.5
0.4	4.8	4.7
0.5	5	4.8

[Tone boy]

3 hours ago, DavidM said:

Could also just add 500g of Sugar but it would be a lot sweeter.

I have to respectfully disagree here David. Sugar (sucrose or dextrose) will completely ferment out to alcohol. No sweetness will remain.

Adding sugar is the easiest way to bump up alcohol, but will not make the beer sweeter. It will make it a bit thinner though, and the head will suffer.

 

[Otto Von Blotto]

Sugar won't make it sweeter, it ferments out. It will increase the ABV but it won't have as much body in it compared to using malt. 

[jennyss]

Thanks very much everybody.  Michael has decided that 500g of dextrose will be added to his brew with the WW draught can and the BE2! I will post on 'What's in your fermenter' when the deed is done. We are sterilizing the FV and other equipment now. 

[DavidM]

I happily stand corrected on my comments.

My first few brews were sweet tasting, since moving to Light Dry Malt, I don't notice the sweetness.

Still learning

[BlackSands]

On 6/8/2023 at 11:34 AM, jennyss said:

Michael has decided that 500g of dextrose will be added to his brew with the WW draught can and the BE2!

Hope you're happy with the result though I would highly recommend as others have suggested, that in future brews instead of just using a simple sugar like dextrose or table sugar that you instead use malt extract - either liquid or dry.   I think the improvement in the final beer will be self-evident and all for only a small additional cost.   

[Classic Brewing Co]

1 hour ago, BlackSands said:

Hope you're happy with the result though I would highly recommend as others have suggested, that in future brews instead of just using a simple sugar like dextrose or table sugar that you instead use malt extract - either liquid or dry.   I think the improvement in the final beer will be self-evident and all for only a small additional cost.   

Yep, my thoughts exactly, all Dextrose is going to do is up the ABV leaving the beer thin & lacking head retention.

That's what Malt is for, more body, mouth feel & head retention.

IMO the ABV is not as important as a beer with gutso, tastes good & you have a nice head.

[Kegory]

17 minutes ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

 

IMO the ABV is not as important as a beer with gutso, tastes good & you have a nice head.

I agree. I very much enjoy Tetley's Pub Ale and Kozel Dark, both of which are mid strength beers at around 3.5% ABV

[Marty_G]

On 6/7/2023 at 6:05 PM, DavidM said:

Could also just add 500g of Sugar but it would be a lot sweeter.

Bit of a gap in your understanding here David.  Just to clarify sugar is 100% fermentable so no sweetness from the sugar will be left.  You need to add unfermentable sugars like maltodextrin to increase sweetness.