Useable Sugars for Priming?

[Nimir Anu]

Hey there.
I am wondering what would be good Sugars to use for Priming when Bottling.
I am considering trying Brown Sugar, Castor Sugar, as well as Icing Sugar (at least after confirming what type of Sugar these are made up of) for Priming my Bottles in future Brews.
I am also wanting to try Brew Enhancer 1 as a Priming Sugar.

Has anybody on here tried using any of these Sugars for Priming during Bottling and what were your results?
Did the Beer turn out favourable as far as flavour, head retention, mouth feel, colour, & clarity, etc...?

I usually Brew either the Cooper's Lager or Mexican Cerveza using either Brew Enhancer 1 or 2 with a 500g bag of Extra Light Dry Malt added for a little more Malt flavour and slightly more ABV when finished.  I calculated my finished & Bottled "Extra Malt Lager" to be approx 5.6% - 5.8% ABV.
I want to try the Draught very soon also.
I have previously used White Sugar & didn't find it too bad but I want to use something more suitable than that.

Cheers everyone!

[Classic Brewing Co]

51 minutes ago, Nimir Anu said:

Hey there.
I am wondering what would be good Sugars to use for Priming when Bottling.
I am considering trying Brown Sugar, Castor Sugar, as well as Icing Sugar (at least after confirming what type of Sugar these are made up of) for Priming my Bottles in future Brews.
I am also wanting to try Brew Enhancer 1 as a Priming Sugar.

Has anybody on here tried using any of these Sugars for Priming during Bottling and what were your results?
Did the Beer turn out favourable as far as flavour, head retention, mouth feel, colour, & clarity, etc...?

I usually Brew either the Cooper's Lager or Mexican Cerveza using either Brew Enhancer 1 or 2 with a 500g bag of Extra Light Dry Malt added for a little more Malt flavour and slightly more ABV when finished.  I calculated my finished & Bottled "Extra Malt Lager" to be approx 5.6% - 5.8% ABV.
I want to try the Draught very soon also.
I have previously used White Sugar & didn't find it too bad but I want to use something more suitable than that.

Cheers everyone!

Hi @Nimir Anu Welcome to the forum.

I have only ever used white sugar however I did use Carbonation Drops for a short while, I found sugar gave a better result & was more consistent.

It always provides a nice solid head.

Some brewers use Dextrose (Corn Sugar) but as far as brown sugar goes, you could but I never have. 

I definitely wouldn't use Icing Sugar as it may be too fine.

I would stick to the Brew Enhancers & Malts for providing body to your beer & use sugar for priming.

The Draught is an excellent all-rounder, I like it a lot.

Cheers

Phil

[Malter White]

I'm not sure the problem with icing sugar would be how fine it is but whether it contains anything other than sugar eg. anti-caking agents that could affect the health of your yeast.
I think your best option is regular cane sugar and caster sugar, which is just finer granulated sugar.
Brew enhancer will probably be less effective because it also contains maltodextrin which doesn't ferment out. So gram for gram using BE versus sugar will give you lower carbonation, I would imagine.

[Greenyinthewestofsydney]

You can theoretical use anything with a high concentration of sugar. I have used white sugar, dextrose, dark sugar and dry malt. I use dextrose when I bottle which is not that often these days. I found it gives a tighter head which lasts longer that sucrose. Dry malt is expensive  but did the job. I wouldn't use brew enhancers. As @Malter White said they contain maltodextrin which is unfermentable. And also you dont know how well mixed those things are. If your taking a scoop out it could be a high percentage of maltodextrin and you wouldnt get much carbonation at all. 

[Kegory]

1 hour ago, Nimir Anu said:

Hey there.
I am wondering what would be good Sugars to use for Priming when Bottling.
I am considering trying Brown Sugar, Castor Sugar, as well as Icing Sugar (at least after confirming what type of Sugar these are made up of) for Priming my Bottles in future Brews.
I am also wanting to try Brew Enhancer 1 as a Priming Sugar.

Has anybody on here tried using any of these Sugars for Priming during Bottling and what were your results?
Did the Beer turn out favourable as far as flavour, head retention, mouth feel, colour, & clarity, etc...?

I usually Brew either the Cooper's Lager or Mexican Cerveza using either Brew Enhancer 1 or 2 with a 500g bag of Extra Light Dry Malt added for a little more Malt flavour and slightly more ABV when finished.  I calculated my finished & Bottled "Extra Malt Lager" to be approx 5.6% - 5.8% ABV.
I want to try the Draught very soon also.
I have previously used White Sugar & didn't find it too bad but I want to use something more suitable than that.

Cheers everyone!

I have been experimenting with different priming sugars. I have used carbonation drops, dextrose, white sugar, brown sugar, and Light Dry Malt.

Carbonation drops are easy but depending on the volumes of your bottles it can be a tad fiddly getting the right amount. I got a pill cutter from the chemist and I can cut them in half but it's still an imprecise measure. Dextrose works but recently I've had a few bottles that didn't carbonate. It's a bit clumpy and I think my scoop has not been filling properly. White sugar is really easy to use with a scoop and a funnel. Brown sugar is difficult to use. It is quite sticky and doesn't slide down the funnel. Light Dry Malt is easy to use but you need to use more of it. I only tried it recently and it seems that it failed to be fermented. Another member here, @Aussiekraut said last week that he has used it successfully but I've had to return those bottles for extra conditioning, hopefully they can be salvaged.

To me, different priming sugars have different effects on taste, aroma, body, etc. They are minor differences but I think some sugars suit different styles better than others. The challenge is to determine which suits what. I have been conducting mixed priming exbeeriments, priming different bottles from the same batch with different sugars to determine which goes better with what.

[Classic Brewing Co]

6 hours ago, Malter White said:

I'm not sure the problem with icing sugar would be how fine it is but whether it contains anything other than sugar eg. anti-caking agents that could affect the health of your yeast.
I think your best option is regular cane sugar and caster sugar, which is just finer granulated sugar.
Brew enhancer will probably be less effective because it also contains maltodextrin which doesn't ferment out. So gram for gram using BE versus sugar will give you lower carbonation, I would imagine.

It seems you're on the mark Professor Malter.  THROTDO

Most of the priming sugar available at homebrew shops is finely granulated dextrose/corn sugar. It can be confused with; but it is not confectioners sugar.

Most confectioners sugar contains anti-caking agents in it, like cornstarch or silicates. Neither of these are necessarily good for your beer.

[Malter White]

4 hours ago, Classic Brewing Co said:

THROTDO

???
Should that be TTROTDO?

[Classic Brewing Co]

17 minutes ago, Malter White said:

???
Should that be TTROTDO?

Yeah probably. 

[Aussiekraut]

On 10/9/2023 at 7:27 PM, Malter White said:

???
Should that be TTROTDO?

No, he meant to take his rest of the day off  

[Oldbloke]

What i put in my tea. Lol

[Nimir Anu]

Alrighty then...  cheers all, I think I'll just stick with White Sugar as I've used in the past with good results for both Fermenting & Priming.
It seems to do the job just fine, especially as compared to the BE2 that came in my new Kit when I calculated my ABV.
Using 1 Kilo of White Sugar for Fermenting along with the 500g Extra Light Dry Malt & Priming with same Sugar has given me a finished ABV of approx 5.6 - 5.8%.
I found the Beer seems to have a bit of a "Fruity" flavour for awhile, so you gotta give it about 2 - 3 months to properly Condition using the White Sugar.
It seems to have the nicest flavour at between 3 & 4 months Aged/Maturity (if I'm remembering correctly as it's been about 15 years since my last Home Brew?   LOL).   

[Oldbloke]

NA,

You will improve your beer quite a bit if you only use extra light dried malt in your fermenter  or at least increase the amount and reduce the sugar.

[Kegory]

On 10/9/2023 at 9:16 AM, Kegory said:

I have been experimenting with different priming sugars. I have used carbonation drops, dextrose, white sugar, brown sugar, and Light Dry Malt.

Carbonation drops are easy but depending on the volumes of your bottles it can be a tad fiddly getting the right amount. I got a pill cutter from the chemist and I can cut them in half but it's still an imprecise measure. Dextrose works but recently I've had a few bottles that didn't carbonate. It's a bit clumpy and I think my scoop has not been filling properly. White sugar is really easy to use with a scoop and a funnel. Brown sugar is difficult to use. It is quite sticky and doesn't slide down the funnel. Light Dry Malt is easy to use but you need to use more of it. I only tried it recently and it seems that it failed to be fermented. Another member here, @Aussiekraut said last week that he has used it successfully but I've had to return those bottles for extra conditioning, hopefully they can be salvaged.

To me, different priming sugars have different effects on taste, aroma, body, etc. They are minor differences but I think some sugars suit different styles better than others. The challenge is to determine which suits what. I have been conducting mixed priming exbeeriments, priming different bottles from the same batch with different sugars to determine which goes better with what.

Just a note regarding those Light Dry Malt primed bottles. I returned them to conditioning for another two weeks and tried one a couple of days ago. I don't think I got the volume quite right, it could have done with a little more fizz, but to my senses it was the cleanest of the priming sugars: it seemed to leave none of it's own character on the taste of the beer.

[Oldbloke]

9 hours ago, Kegory said:

Just a note regarding those Light Dry Malt primed bottles. I returned them to conditioning for another two weeks and tried one a couple of days ago. I don't think I got the volume quite right, it could have done with a little more fizz, but to my senses it was the cleanest of the priming sugars: it seemed to leave none of it's own character on the taste of the beer.

LDME has a bit less sugar than normal sugar. Sooo, need a bit extra. Someone will chime in with the numbers i guess.

[Kegory]

36 minutes ago, Oldbloke said:

LDME has a bit less sugar than normal sugar. Sooo, need a bit extra. Someone will chime in with the numbers i guess.

I used 50% more by weight of LDM than those I primed with sugar. I got the ratio from How to Brew. I will cross reference that with other sources next time.