Sugar

[Asahikun]

1st of all let me just say thanks for all the help I've received from the people on this board. I often look, hoping I'll be able to give someone advice about something, but I don't seem to be able to answer any of the questions yet.

The last 2 batches I've brewed, I've doubled up on tins of extract. One is still fermenting and the other will be ready to drink in the next day or two - tried a bottle tonight (after 9 days) and I think it will be pretty good. It was pretty heavy and bitter though - no tins of unhopped extract available here.

My next couple I want to use one tin of extract plus sugar. I avoid white and tend to buy brown which is sold in pebble size crystals - I can't get hold of corn sugar here. Is there anything I can do to improve beer that has a fairly large content of what is basically table sugar? Specifically, will boiling it first be good or bad for the final flavour? Is there anything I can do?
My plan is 1.7kg tin of whispering wheat extract plus 500g brown sugar. I then plan to brew with 1.7kg English IPA plus 500g sugar.

Should I just resign myself to the fact that there will be a certain amount of "sugary bitterness" in these brews or is there anything I can do to reduce it?

Sorry for the long post.

[YamahaXS]

Heyya Asahikun....

Do you have access to malted grains? You might try steeping .25 -.5 Kg of some malted barley. This is referred to as extract brewing with speciality grains. This will give your beer more body, and I suspect will help mask any cidery flavors that you might be getting from the sugar.

Here is what I would try...

1 tin of amber, medium bitter extract.
1 tin of light, low bitter extract.
.5 Kg of 40 crystal malt, or something in that color range.
1 ounce of finishing hops.

This should put give you a pretty good beer.

If you want to use the sugar, then do as you suggest and substitute the second tin with about .5 pounds of white or light/med brown sugar.

[Asahikun]

YamahaXS,
I wish I did. I'm in Japan where homebrewing is barely legal. That's why I can't even seem to get hold of regular corn sugar. I'm looking forward to brewing some non-extract beers when I move on from here, but right now, I don't have many options.
The sugar is a necessity, not a choice. That's why I've been brewing with 2 tins of extract - the problem is I can't get hold of unhopped extract and 2 tins of hopped, while great, could definitely be better.

[YamahaXS]

well, try the 500 grams of sugar and see... I am sure it will be at least 'drinkable'.

Also, the hopped extracts vary in their bitterness which is why i thought you might be able to find some extract with a lower IBU. I think that an english mild ale kit would have a lower IBU than say an IPA kit.

[Asahikun]

Thanks for the replies.
I've brewed with this sugar before and the end result is definitely drinkable - in fact, it's very good. I'd like to improve on it though.
So that's why I'm wondering, if I have to resort to using sugar, are there any techniques (not ingredients) that would improve the end product eg. boiling, mixing etc? The answer is probably no but I'm just curious.

[axis714]

you could try boiling the sucrose(sugar) with water and about 2 tsp. of citric acid readily available at most markets for canning or preserving fruit. I have found that the sucrose, mixed with the fructose makes an acceptable alternative to dextrose(corn sugar)
Just thought this might help:cool:

[Asahikun]

Thanks for the suggestion.
I've been enquiring more about the different kinds of sugar available here......someone suggested what he thought was the Japanese equivalent of corn sugar...

From what I can work out it's sugar beet and it also contains something called oligosaccharide. It's light brown and the texture is almost like flour except coarser. It's certainly a kind of sugar but I've no idea what it would be like to brew with.
Any thoughts?