Fructose for primer?

[Jackal1]

I was wondering if anyone has used Fructose for priming at bottling time and what the results were.

[BrewDog]

It should work ok, but where do you get pure fructose? Corn Sugar (Dextrose) is very readily available, cheap, and it works well. You could also prime with Dry Malt Extract. You should avoid table sugar (sucrose) as it can add cidery/green apple flavors to your beer when used in large quantities. The small quantities used for priming probably won't make it discernable, but why risk it?

[Jackal1]

Here fructose is available in local grocery stores, dextrose is not.

[Bradfrd12]

i have a similar problem as jackal1...here in Spain you cannot find dextrose for your life. However, fructose and sucrose are everywhere....so I guess I am saying that I have the same question.

Will fructose give the same cidery off flavor as sucrose? Or has no one ever tried it?

Bradford

[Jackal1]

If someone here has tryed this i would appreciate some input on amounts of fructose to use per bottle, etc. I would like to bottle tommorow.

[YamahaXS]

i may be wrong, but I was under the impression that priming sugars are such a small percentage of the fermentables that it won't affect the flavor of your beer.

here is a nice Mr. Wizard column on the general subject.

link (http://byo.com/mrwizard/784.html)

[fretlessman71]

Yes, but you can only access the link if you're a cartoon turtle. ;)

[BrewDog]

I'd go with 3/4 cup in a 5 gal batch, just like dextrose.

[Jackal1]

Thanks Dog.

[Jackal1]

I bottled using this method Thursday night.
I will let you know how it turned out when the time is right.

[BrewDog]

Yeah, please keep us posted.

Nice Avatar, too!

[Jackal1]

<shuffles feet>
Awwww shucks, thanks. :D

[Jackal1]

OK, this just in.
After waiting a total of 5 days I couldn`t stand the suspense anymore . :D Purely in the name of science, you understand, I did some sampling to see what was happening.
The beer primed with fructose is great. I mean even at this early of a stage it`s great. It has great head and is really well carbonated.
Since we had been discussing priming here I decided to run a little experiment of my own. At bottling time I primed a couple of bottles with sucrose to see if I could tell the difference. Man, what a difference! The sucrose primed bottles , or I should say bottle because that`s all I could take, tasted sort of like syphoning gasoline.
The fructose primed beer is allready smooth as silk.
I think I`ve found my primer of choice.

[fretlessman71]

Very cool! You're sending out samples, right? ;)

[Jackal1]

Originally posted by fretlessman71
Very cool! You're sending out samples, right? ;)

Well in all fairness I think further testing on my part should be done to assure quality. I wouldn`t want to unleash an inferior product on the general public.