Add sugar to wort?

[brewmiestersain]

I am somewhat new to brewing. I have only made kit beer. I am wondering if I have to add a sugar to unhopped malt extract that I bought from a local supply store. I have read up on hopping and am fairly confident in the different methods of it. My question is the corn sugar in the wort. Am I missing somthing? Kit beer comes with sugar and I have read that it is not needed. All responses are apprieciated.

[MrMethane]

The corn sugar that came with your kit is whats known as priming sugar. You need to add it to your beer if you want to bottle in order for it to carbonate. You don't add it however, until right before you bottle. At bottleing time you should boil about 1 cup of water and the sugar for 15 minutes, then add it to your beer and then bottle. The yeast in the bottles will eat the sugar and give off C02 which will disolve in the beer thus carbonating it. This takes about 2 weeks.

The kit you bought should have come with instructions about doing this. I am beginning to fear that your reading the instructions from the malt extact can, they usually say to add sugar to the wort. NEVER follow directions on the cans of extract. They are aweful and your beer will come up tasting like a flat cider. Generally for a 5 gallon batch people will use 2 cans of extract and boil it with 2-3 gallons of water adding hops regarding style. Search for a recipe on the internet, please for the love of god don't use the directions on the malt can.

If you plan on kegging your beer and force carbonating it with a c02 tank you do not need to add priming sugar. However I take it you plan on bottling as you are new to homebrewing and we almost all start there.

[YamahaXS]

Do you have a list of ingrediants and their quantities?

In general, i would say that you should NOT add sugar to your wort. It will jack up the alcohol, but might also contribute non-beer flavors and possibly make your beer too sweet.

So to answer your question; NO you don't have to add sugar to your beer.

Some tins of extract will say that you should but that is under the assumption tha tyou are trying to make as strong a beer as possible for as least amount of money as possible.

[Fast_Eddy]

This is little off-topic(but not), some English and Scottish brewers add sugar(usually invert(which is sucrose that has already had the glucose-fructose bond broken by invertase)) to their beers to bump the alcohol. Alcohol has a taste and sometimes you might want to bring it more to the front.

[danno]

Originally posted by YamahaXS
It will jack up the alcohol, but might also contribute non-beer flavors and possibly make your beer too sweet.

Yamaha, you're 2/3 right. Sugar (corn, beet, Belgian Candi) is 100% fermentable, so it won't add any residual sweetness to your beer.

[brewmonkey]

Turbinado sugar is another one that is used, in fact it is used in some ESB's.

[YamahaXS]

Originally posted by danno
Yamaha, you're 2/3 right. Sugar (corn, beet, Belgian Candi) is 100% fermentable, so it won't add any residual sweetness to your beer.

unless you add so much that the yeast don't get it all before they succumb to the alchol that they produced. granted that w2ould be a lot of sugar, but it is possible.

[brewmiestersain]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by YamahaXS
[B]Do you have a list of ingrediants and their quantities?[B]

32 oz unhopped malt extract (American Light)
2/3 oz liberty hopps
4 cups corn sugar
1pkg Coopers yeast

to make 5 gallons

To much sugar?

[unkle bik]

Originally posted by brewmonkey
Turbinado sugar is another one that is used, in fact it is used in some ESB's.

How fermentable is turbinado?
Can one expect residual sweetness with it's use?

[BrewDog]

32 oz (hopped?) extract + 4 cups sugar doesn't seem like enough fermentables to me for a 5 gallon batch, even for an "American Light". I'd replace the 4 cups of sugar with 2 or 3 lbs of very pale unhopped extract if you can get it.

HTH-
Steve

[brewmonkey]

Originally posted by unkle bik
How fermentable is turbinado?
Can one expect residual sweetness with it's use?

It is 98% fermentable.

Here is a good link to some sugars used in brewing.

http://www.brewerylane.com/sugarsum.html