Coopers Australian Pale Ale - What sugar to use?

[maksymilian]

I have a Coopers Aussie Pale ale beer kit and was wondering what is the best type of sugar to use with this kit
ie Beer enhancer, brewing sugar or plain simple household white sugar?

Maksy

 

[dermy]

Hi there.

I brewed this a while back and used brewing sugar and it turned out fine - a lovely beer.

 

[maksymilian]

Thanks good to know that its a good drink.
I have bought beer enhancer and was wondering how this might differ from brewing sugar?

 

[dermy]

Honestly I don't know the difference but I imagine beer enhancer will produce a superior brew - either way you're in for a treat!

 

[Eric_S]

Beer enhancer is a mix of dextrose and malt extract - it's the malt extract that will give extra body although (allegedy) makes more of a difference with ales rather than lager kits (where plain old sugar seems to work just fine).

 

[dermy]

I'd go along with that.
Is beer enhancer more expensive than brewing sugar?
If so then I'd just go with the sugar - seriously it made a really good beer.
Also, I know it says on the can that it's drinkable after 3 weeks...leave it for at least an extra 2 weeks (longer if you can) it's really worth the wait.

 

[seanipops]

I've done this beer - and loved it. Did mine with enhancer and it was gorgeous. Will probably get a cleaner taste with brewing sugar. I would avoid household sugar.

 

[RobWalker]

Eric's right - sugar will dry your brew out giving it less body and a stronger sort of tinge - malt will keep plenty of body and sweetness in there. Beer Enhancer is a blend of the two that will raise the ABV without really affecting it either way.

 

[maksymilian]

Thanks for all of the great advice. I set it off with the beer enhancer (muntons).
However!
When should I have added the enhancer?
What I did was this:
Empty can into FV added 2 Ltr of boiling water to dissolve contents.
Then I added the beer enhancer in one go.
Can you guess what happened?
It all lumped up in to small pieces and hasnt properly dissolved :pray:
Could this be an big issue?

 

[PhatFil]

Thanks for all of the great advice. I set it off with the beer enhancer (muntons).
However!
When should I have added the enhancer?
What I did was this:
Empty can into FV added 2 Ltr of boiling water to dissolve contents.
Then I added the beer enhancer in one go.
Can you guess what happened?
It all lumped up in to small pieces and hasnt properly dissolved :pray:
Could this be an big issue?

Its not ideal, next time mix it up in 2 ltrs of hot water, but i doubt it will be any problem as soon as your yeast gets going it will eat it all up, and it will disolve eventually,, the spray malt in the enhancer is very 'dry' and prone to clumping.

IF after the initial fermentation and when the foam has died down 4-5 day if any clumps are left floating on top u may want to fish em out with a sterile t-strainer and with a small cup of wort heat n mix then boil to sterilise before returning, but i doubt you will need to bother, and in fact its only necessary to do anything like this if any clumps persist when your gravity has settled.

each brewday i learn how not to do something :) i still get good beer out

 

[maksymilian]

Oh great that's good to know my Christmas beer may not be ruined.
After posting last night I gave it a good/vigorous stir and it just disappeared. It had cooled down quite a lot, may be that had something to do with it.
Just need to added the last ingredients now- 1½ lb of patience! Then bottle it.

Thanks for all the great advice.

 

[PhatFil]

sit on your bottles, ignore what the kit says about "ready to drink in ?? days"..

hope u got a hyrdrometer, if so u have taken a original gravity reading... u want to leave your beer to condition in bottles an absolute minimum of a week for every 10pts of original gravity above 1.000.ie 1.040 4weeeks, 1050 5 weeks.... but it will improve with further aging...

happy suppin