priming with other sugars

Jay · Post by **Jay** » Wednesday Apr 20, 2005 12:25 pm

Hi All,

Was thinking of priming my beer with something other than dextrose as I think if you're going to add more fermentables to a brew why not make them add a different flavour.

So I thought I'd just find out if anyone knows 1) what is a good substitute for dextrose when priming? 2) does this different sugar change the flavour profile of the beer? 3) how much do you add?

I was thinking of priming with soft brown sugar in my next beer (which is a dark wheat beer). Will this affect the flavour in a bad way.

Cheers,
Jay.

db · Post by db » Wednesday Apr 20, 2005 12:51 pm

i usually use dex.. but i recently read somewhere that priming with wheat malt will improve head retention.. i'm keen to try it.

stevem · Post by **stevem** » Wednesday Apr 20, 2005 1:04 pm

I have been bulk priming with dextrose but also use carbonation drops. Dropping one carbonation drop into each stubbie is no great deal. Part of me says it is easier and less messy than bulk priming.
Cheers
Steve

grabman · Post by **grabman** » Wednesday Apr 20, 2005 4:03 pm

I did a dark ale a while ago and primed with dark brown sugar, not sure if it caused it but brew had a lovely caramel finish!

Was a coopers dark ale with 300g LME, 700g DME.

Jay · Post by **Jay** » Wednesday Apr 20, 2005 4:17 pm

Grabman,

How much brown sugar did you use?

Cheers,
Jay.

grabman · Post by **grabman** » Thursday Apr 21, 2005 10:45 am

I used same as when using any other sugar to prime bottles, small scoop for stubbies and large scoop for bottles. I use one of those sugar scoop devices.

GTI86 · Post by **GTI86** » Thursday Apr 21, 2005 11:03 am

Usually use carbonation drops but slowly moveing to honey and malt

Jay · Post by **Jay** » Thursday Apr 21, 2005 11:11 am

Honey and malt...what's that like compared to CDs yah reckon.

Jay.

Post by **Oliver** » Thursday Apr 21, 2005 11:12 am

I use white sugar, measured with a scoop.

But I use a small scoop for longnecks, not the full measure.

Oliver

Hoth · Post by **Hoth** » Thursday Apr 21, 2005 1:25 pm

I used the drops to start with but they didn't seem to carbonate the beer very well, then I made a batch of ginger beer and primed with raw sugar. Much better than the drops and although I'm using dex now, raw sugar works a treat.

Hrundi V Bakshi · Thursday Apr 21, 2005 4:10 pm

The addition of priming sugar is not very much in terms of the whole gravity of the beer and it matters little what is used for priming generally isn't it.

Malt extract is good for foam stability but really so little it is in the priming amount that it is having more problem than good. It has nutrients which encourages the yeast to reproduce making for more sediment in bottles. Coopers are using wort to prime and look at how much sediment their bottles do have! (which is good if you like that).

Dextrose is being 100% fermentable and ferments easily for the yeast. I have been noticing that bottles primed with dextrose will have sediment no thicker than a sheet of parchment whereas malt primed bottles are having much furriness.

I would not be tempted to use brown coloured sugars if there is molasses in them as the molasses will remain in the bottle and detract from the malty goodness of the beer.

The carbonation drops make a fine snack.

Jay · Post by **Jay** » Thursday Apr 21, 2005 4:48 pm

The reason why I ask is that I read somewhere that priming will add approx. 0.5% alcohol to a beer (can anyone confirm as I'm a bit skeptical). To me this is a significant increase so I assumed that priming with different sugars might make a difference to flavour.

Gotta try it I suppose,
Jay.

db · Post by db » Thursday Apr 21, 2005 5:02 pm

>The reason why I ask is that I read somewhere that priming will add >approx. 0.5% alcohol to a beer (can anyone confirm as I'm a bit >skeptical). To me this is a significant increase so I assumed that priming >with different sugars might make a difference to flavour.

i too have heard that.. & i've also read 0.2% elsewhere.

i have also heard that priming with honey imparts a different flavour.. but i guess that this must not be true

but seriously.. if you look at a standard kit + kilo primed with 180g of fermentables your priming addition is around 7-8% of the total fermentables.. i think at that % you would notice a difference in flavours.. maybe only a slight difference. but still a difference.

Hrundi V Bakshi · Thursday Apr 21, 2005 5:07 pm

Indeed. But you shouldn't be relying on your priming choice for flavour isn't it? Priming is for adding carbonation. It is my thinking that flavour of beer should be from the recipe and priming should be neutral in that respect.

Post by **Oliver** » Thursday Apr 21, 2005 5:10 pm

The folks over at Cooper's reckon priming adds 0.5% to the alcohol content.

Oliver

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Thursday Apr 21, 2005 5:14 pm

As do Maltshovel/James Squire (based upon the brewing record sheet available on their website.

Regards,

Tony

Jay · Post by **Jay** » Thursday Apr 21, 2005 5:20 pm

Yeah I suppose priming is only for carbonation but it would be nice to add a little quirk to a recipe (kind of like a secret ingredient

) even if it doesn't make a massive or even noticable difference.

Also was looking for a cheaper alternative to dextrose.

Cheers,
Jay.

db · Post by db » Thursday Apr 21, 2005 5:21 pm

Hrundi V Bakshi wrote:Indeed. But you shouldn't be relying on your priming choice for flavour isn't it? Priming is for adding carbonation. It is my thinking that flavour of beer should be from the recipe and priming should be neutral in that respect.

each to his own.
i don't see why you cant add flavour while priming.. ie. adding honey at different stages is going to create different flavours, esp. if adding at the priming stage.. i don't see how its any different to dry hopping etc. just because the brew has finished fermenting doesn't mean we should forget about tastes..

just my 2c

Hrundi V Bakshi · Thursday Apr 21, 2005 5:26 pm

I am not saying not to do it. It is yet another outlet for brewer's creativity, but I choose not to do it this way to allow for predictability in carbonation.

Can someone demonstrate flavour difference between 180g honey added in primary and 180g honey added in priming?

I must go get to my train and if I am late for it, it will mean sitting on the roof again.

Post by **Oliver** » Thursday Apr 21, 2005 8:47 pm

Jay wrote:Also was looking for a cheaper alternative to dextrose.

You don't get much cheaper than dextrose, and when you're talking only about 200g any cost saving of sugar over dextrose would be negligible.

Hrundi V Bakshi wrote:I choose not to do it this way to allow for predictability in carbonation.

Can someone demonstrate flavour difference between 180g honey added in primary and 180g honey added in priming?

Very good points.

I don't quite understand why one would risk stuffing up the carbonation because of a desire to play around with different priming sugars, particularly when the taste of the beer will not be different, or at least not different enough to notice.

Just my thoughts.

Cheers,

Oliver

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priming with other sugars

What do prime your beer with?

priming with other sugars