Table Sugar - Yes or No?

[Daniel Parshley]

I asked my brew mentor if I should add some table sugar and the prompt reply was a quick, "Never use table sugar". The reason explained was 12 carbons in table sugar vs 6 in dextrose (In science terms, a different molecule). Also, different different byproducts. The moonshiners around here use table sugar but are careful to ramp up the distill slow and throw out the first product because it is poisonous. Is this something we need to be thinking about? Anyone using table sugar and getting a screaming headache from their brew?

 

[Hawkbox]

Any distiller should be throwing out the first bit because it's super poisonous. I believe it's methanol in the first bit and it's how you go blind.

However that has no relevance to brewing.
Table sugar works fine.

 

[The Brew Mentor]

Ask a Belgian ;-)

 

[Yooper]

Yes, you can use table sugar. It's flavorless, so if you want flavor from it you'll want to use Belgian candi syrup (dark) but if you're just using a small amount to thin the body and boost ABV, or for priming, it'll be fine.

 

[Zambi]

Hawk is spot on.
When distilling you always throw out the fist bit.
It is methanol instead of ethanol. And this has to do with the lower boiling point of methanol (hence it being the first bit collected)

 

[GFHomebrew]

I asked my brew mentor if I should add some table sugar and the prompt reply was a quick, "Never use table sugar". The reason explained was 12 carbons in table sugar vs 6 in dextrose (In science terms, a different molecule). Also, different different byproducts. The moonshiners around here use table sugar but are careful to ramp up the distill slow and throw out the first product because it is poisonous. Is this something we need to be thinking about? Anyone using table sugar and getting a screaming headache from their brew?

I've herd it said that using cane sugar will given the beer a cidery taste. Im pretty sure coopers prime their kegs with regular old table sugar.
But I know where your comming from Daniel it seems table sugar gets a pretty bad wrap on the forums over here in Aus.
I know I've been hesitant to add it in my beers only doing so recently I tasted no Cidery notes off the top of my head.

I rekon give it a go taste see for yourself if you like it.​

 

[BarbarianBrewer]

Brulosphy did an exbeeriment where they brewed two Belgian Golden Strong beers; one with sucrose and the other with dextrose. In a blind triangle test 18 of 30 tasters (60%) could tell there was a difference between the two and 10 of those 18 (55%) preferred the beer with table sugar. So, while it was statistically significant, it was still pretty close to a coin flip difference. For priming, I'm sure it doesn't matter in the least (except for the amount) which one you use. But, in any significant amount it might make a difference.

 

[Hawkbox]

Hawk is spot on.
When distilling you always throw out the fist bit.
It is methanol instead of ethanol. And this has to do with the lower boiling point of methanol (hence it being the first bit collected)

Yeah it has something to do with Heads, Hearts, and Tails but I would have to ask a Newfie to find out more.

 

[Bubba Wade]

I use table sugar exclusively for priming kegs. Cheap and easy to measure. No flavor difference that I have ever noticed between sucrose and fructose in this application.

 

[Minbari]

this is how I always understood it.

Dextrose, a pure simple sugar can be eaten by the yeast immediately. Sucrose, is a double sugar, containing 1 glucose and 1 fructose. The yeast have to break that bond to eat them.

When fermentation is just getting started, it's easy for a large yeast population to break down sucrose. As fermentation gets near the end of the tolerance for yeast, breaking down sucrose is sometimes too much for them, so the use of a simple sugar like dextrose is used instead.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Ask a Belgian ;-)

The book titled "Brew Like A Monk" states that the Belgian Monastery breweries use loads of common beet derived table sugar in their award winning beers. And they do it to reduce cost and maximize profit.

 

[GFHomebrew]

The book titled "Brew Like A Monk" sates that the Belgian Monastery breweries use loads of common beet derived table sugar in their award winning beers. And they do it to reduce cost and maximize profit.

So table sugar in Aus is Cane Sugar.
Is beet sugar your "table" sugar overseas?

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

So table sugar in Aus is Cane Sugar.
Is beet sugar your "table" sugar overseas?

Technically cane and beet derived refined white table sugar should be identical. They both have the same chemical formula. But many seem to refute this. The general purity is on the order of 99.95% pure sucrose for both. That only leaves 0.05% that can potentially be different. That's half a gram in a Kilo. Which is 500 ppm.

I believe that most of the table sugar in Continental Europe is beet sugar. In the USA cane sugar used to be the only game in town, but it is now also quite common to see "beet sugar" when reading the ingredients list for refined white table sugar in the USA.

That said: The first time I tasted refined and granulated white beet sugar I actually didn't quite like the taste. When I read the ingredient list and saw "beet sugar" it was the first time I ever noticed that, having always seen "cane sugar" until that moment. So perhaps 500 ppm of potential difference really does matter. Or perhaps I was merely exhibiting a classic case of confirmation bias.

 

[soccerdad]

The book titled "Brew Like A Monk" states that the Belgian Monastery breweries use loads of common beet derived table sugar in their award winning beers. And they do it to reduce cost and maximize profit.

Maybe, possibly, could be worth noting that many Belgian brewers make candi sugar and use that in place of regular sucrose. The heat and small amount of natural acid used to make invert sugar (candi sugar) breaks out the sucrose and fructose ahead of time. The fructose is supposed to leave a residual sweetness in the beer. That's how I understand it. I was wrong once .. long time ago.

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

Technically cane and beet derived refined white table sugar should be identical. They both have the same chemical formula. But many seem to refute this. The general purity is on the order of 99.95% pure sucrose for both. That only leaves 0.05% that can potentially be different. That's half a gram in a Kilo. Which is 500 ppm.

I believe that most of the table sugar in Continental Europe is beet sugar. In the USA cane sugar used to be the only game in town, but it is now also quite common to see "beet sugar" when reading the ingredients list for refined white table sugar in the USA.

That said: The first time I tasted refined and granulated white beet sugar I actually didn't quite like the taste. When I read the ingredient list and saw "beet sugar" it was the first time I ever noticed that, having always seen "cane sugar" until that moment. So perhaps 500 ppm of potential difference really does matter.

Sugar beets can be grown in northern climates, so it can be produce in domestically in Europe. Both cane and beet sugar are widely available in the US. In Minnesota and North Dakota, sugar beets are a fairly large part of the agriculture economy.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Maybe, possibly, could be worth noting that many Belgian brewers make candi sugar and use that in place of regular sucrose. The heat and small amount of natural acid used to make invert sugar (candi sugar) breaks out the sucrose and fructose ahead of time. The fructose is supposed to leave a residual sweetness in the beer. That's how I understand it. I was wrong once .. long time ago.

No, No! The above referenced 'BLAM' book pretty much explicitly disses this rumor and states that the modern highly frugal monks would never desire to use such expensive sugar when good old budget priced beet sugar is available.

The flavor of Monastary beers comes from the malts, the yeast, the water, the process (which involves mashing at nigh on insanely high pH 5.8-5.9, and then reducing wort pH only post mash and run-off via the addition of a mineral acid), and the fermentation temperature, which is allowed to rise naturally to 75 degrees F (or a bit more. sometimes to as high as 80 degrees F.). The massive amounts of sugar are there primarily to drive up apparent attenuation to heights of 85% or more. Color comes from adding Sinamar.

 

[Daniel Parshley]

Yes, you can use table sugar. It's flavorless, so if you want flavor from it you'll want to use Belgian candi syrup (dark) but if you're just using a small amount to thin the body and boost ABV, or for priming, it'll be fine.

My understanding is for priming the table sugar is not a problem. I can afford the dextrose and have stuck with it for those 1 lb. additions to 5 gal. batches and priming. When bought in 10 lb bags, the dextrose is not all that expensive. I figure if I wanted beer on the cheep, I'd just go to the store. But, I want damn good beer.

 

[soccerdad]

I'm no scientist, but I think the old traditional candi sugar method of inverting the sugars still happens -- it just happens in the boil and cool versus being pre-inverted. $hit, I hope I haven't been wrong thrice now!

 

[Daniel Parshley]

this is how I always understood it.

Well said and good job of making that simple for everyone to understand. So many different sugars out there. I'm sure the others with biology or chemistry backgrounds have this stuff bouncing around in their heads, too.

 

[Bubba Wade]

One of my favorite sugars for brewing Belgian style beers is Louisiana Ribbon Cane Syrup. I use it up to about 10% of fermentables in a Belgian Dark Strong Ale. This is an unrefined cane syrup full of sucrose that is basically just boiled down juice of the sugar cane stalk. In Louisiana, they use it on biscuits and pancakes.

Just keep in mind that sugars are completely appropriate for some styles, not so much for others.