Brewing Sugars & Adjuncts

Most of the beer concentrates available these days require the addition of approx. 1kg of sugar mainly to contribute to the final alcohol content. The content of the can, being predominantly malt, IS fermentable but only creates approx. 2.7%…well short of the preferred. On average, a kit brewed with 1kg of sugar will finish around 4.8%. In the past, prior to us knowing any better, we mainly used Sucrose (white sugar, caster sugar or raw sugar) not realising it was imparting undesirable flavours on the beer. Some side affects of sucrose include: - 1) 2) 3) a cidery flavour a yeasty, vegemite flavour a harsh bitter finish It is because of this that home brew carries a stigma of not being as good as “the bought stuff”. Have you ever heard anyone say - “this tastes like home brew!”…Well it was most probable because of sucrose. These days there is a huge range of premium brewing sugar available to the home brewer, which not only create alcohol but also improve the body & flavour of the base can. Most of these blends can include the following ingredients in different ratios: -

• Dextrose: - A simple clean fermenting sugar derived from corn or wheat starch. Commences fermentation faster, creates a cleaner drier finish & tends to give less sediment.
• Maltodextrin (Corn Syrup): - Made from corn or wheat starch, this is one of the best ingredients used to increase body & mouthfeel. Being only 30% fermentable, the remaining solids thicken the beer producing a creamy head that hangs on the glass.
• Light & Dark Powdered Malts: - Produced from malted barley, malt is the prime ingredient of beer. The additions of extra malts to your brew increases both body and malt flavour. Liquid malts will also give same results.
• Lactose: - Non fermentable sugar derived from milk. Used as a natural sweetener that also produces extra body. Mainly used in Milk Stout recipes.