# Dark Ale, Ok To Use Some Brown Sugar?



## Newbiebrewer (10/6/10)

Hi, 

Looking to put down a dark ale this weekend and I saw in one of the other threads about someone using brown sugar+ dextrose. Could I use the same portions but substitute the dextrose for be2?

Thanks in advance


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## manticle (10/6/10)

Would be fine. You will get a touch more body and maybe a teeny bit less attenuation with the be2 as opposed to the dex. Probably suits the style anyway. Obviously the ABV will be slightly lower too but when I say slightly I mean slightly. 

Go for it.


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## Andrew Coleman (10/6/10)

Hughezy said:


> Hi,
> 
> Looking to put down a dark ale this weekend and I saw in one of the other threads about someone using brown sugar+ dextrose. Could I use the same portions but substitute the dextrose for be2?
> 
> Thanks in advance



Yeah best to use more malt and less sugar mate, rather then be2 I'd suggest about 800g- 1kg more malt, especially for a dark ale, you need a lil more body on a dark ale, they dont taste right otherwise in my opinion. I'm guessing your experimenting with different sugars to see what they taste like in beer?

I find that the best and cheapest sugaer is plain white sugar turned into belgium candy sugar, all you need is a thermometer and a lil citric acid and your good to make it yourself, gives the beer a lil dryness but a nice colour and flavour also depending on if you make dark, amber or light...

btw happy to help you out with your recipie, post up what your thinking ov so far!

Drewey


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## Newbiebrewer (10/6/10)

Drewcifer said:


> Yeah best to use more malt and less sugar mate, rather then be2 I'd suggest about 800g- 1kg more malt, especially for a dark ale, you need a lil more body on a dark ale, they dont taste right otherwise in my opinion. I'm guessing your experimenting with different sugars to see what they taste like in beer?
> 
> I find that the best and cheapest sugaer is plain white sugar turned into belgium candy sugar, all you need is a thermometer and a lil citric acid and your good to make it yourself, gives the beer a lil dryness but a nice colour and flavour also depending on if you make dark, amber or light...
> 
> ...



Yeah idk if I can get any sort of malt from woolies, but from the other thread I think the bloke had 300g sugar to 600g dextrose. For the sake of interest, I should be using a dark malt?
Also not really experimenting with flavour so much as physical properties of the sugars, cause I have been having trouble getting the head to stay on my beer.


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## Bribie G (10/6/10)

Mate with my AG brown ales I just dump the entire 500g pack of moist brown sugar into the brew. Go for it. Lubberly stuff.

Edit: if you are concerned about head retention then use the brown sugar _in addition to_ a pack of BE2 - would probably give you a beer more like 5.2 % ABV or even more, but if you don't mind the extra alcohol then I'd go that way.


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## Newbiebrewer (10/6/10)

BribieG said:


> Mate with my AG brown ales I just dump the entire 500g pack of moist brown sugar into the brew. Go for it. Lubberly stuff.
> 
> Edit: if you are concerned about head retention then use the brown sugar _in addition to_ a pack of BE2 - would probably give you a beer more like 5.2 % ABV or even more, but if you don't mind the extra alcohol then I'd go that way.



Extra alcohol is fine by me :icon_drunk: It should be interesting to say the least. Any other additions people can think of (I don't have easy access to stuff like hop pellets/ME's etc. Basically any of the good stuff)


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## roosiecharm (10/6/10)

Hughezy said:


> Extra alcohol is fine by me :icon_drunk: It should be interesting to say the least. Any other additions people can think of (I don't have easy access to stuff like hop pellets/ME's etc. Basically any of the good stuff)




sorry guys, probably stupid question....what is be2?


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## tcraig20 (10/6/10)

If you want to up the ante a little 1 can dark ale + 1 can stout + 500g brown sugar always makes a nice drop. More stout than dark ale obviously, but still great.


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## Bribie G (10/6/10)

roosiecharm said:


> sorry guys, probably stupid question....what is be2?



Coopers Brew Enhancer 2 - from local home brew shops and supermarkets. It comes in a kilo box, you use it instead of of just chucking in a kilo of sugaz, and contains:

Dextrose (glucose) for alcohol
Light Dried Malt extract for alcohol and flavour
Maltodextrin for head retention, foaming and 'creaminess'

If you get into using grains and eventually go all grain then maltodextrin is not used at all as the grains will give the required characteristics, but - in its place - it can enhance kit brews as opposed to just using sugar or dex.


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## roosiecharm (10/6/10)

BribieG said:


> Coopers Brew Enhancer 2 - from local home brew shops and supermarkets. It comes in a kilo box, you use it instead of of just chucking in a kilo of sugaz, and contains:
> 
> Dextrose (glucose) for alcohol
> Light Dried Malt extract for alcohol and flavour
> ...




thanks mate


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## King Brown (10/6/10)

Hughezy said:


> Extra alcohol is fine by me :icon_drunk: It should be interesting to say the least. Any other additions people can think of (I don't have easy access to stuff like hop pellets/ME's etc. Basically any of the good stuff)



Black Treacle is something you can easily get at the supermarket. Very suitable for dark ales, adds a nice rum like flavour. I'd use about 100g, but thats if I wasn't using any other sugars. 

You can try playing around with all sorts of sugars, Mosher mentions using Thai palm sugar (which you can buy from many supermarkets) in his book radical brewing, I think Feral brews a beer using it. Other easily attainable ingredients are honey, spices and fruit. Try thinking of what flavours would go well with the style of beers you'll be brewing.

If you can mail order any of the "good stuff" I'd recommend that too, of course


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## waggastew (11/6/10)

I did a Tooheys Old clone a few months back. Based on the results I would use 1kg of light dry malt (or dark malt if you want a darker stoutier style) and 500g dex/maltodex (sold as Coopers Brew Enhancer 1 at Woolies). I used 500g of brown sugar in the last batch and I think it made the beer a little thin.


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## michaelcocks (11/6/10)

Hughezy said:


> Hi,
> 
> Looking to put down a dark ale this weekend and I saw in one of the other threads about someone using brown sugar+ dextrose. Could I use the same portions but substitute the dextrose for be2?
> 
> Thanks in advance




No mode than 500gm is perfectly suitable for this style...
Just don't tell the Germans purists


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## zabond (11/6/10)

I've made quite a few darks and one of my stable additions is 250-400gr of golden syrup[psudo candy sugar]adds a nice mouth feel and improves head


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## RobboMC (11/6/10)

Get yourself together a decent on-line order and get it mailed from the site sponsers. Then you can get all the good stuff you want.I can't get a particular malt anywhere but there ( even from my HBS ) so I get a 4 kg bag of ingredients mailed down every 6 months or so. 

The lousy $10 for a mailing bag from Craftbrewer is well worth the money if you fill it up; and the ingredient prices are a touch lower anyway, so in the end it's decent value.

My local HBS has limited range and I'm starting to feel I need to go 100% to these higher level shops.


To get better head retention stop using brew enhancer of any kind and use 100% malt, and that means boiling in more hops;
and suddenly you'll be extract brewing.


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## Newbiebrewer (11/6/10)

RobboMC said:


> Get yourself together a decent on-line order and get it mailed from the site sponsers. Then you can get all the good stuff you want.I can't get a particular malt anywhere but there ( even from my HBS ) so I get a 4 kg bag of ingredients mailed down every 6 months or so.
> 
> The lousy $10 for a mailing bag from Craftbrewer is well worth the money if you fill it up; and the ingredient prices are a touch lower anyway, so in the end it's decent value.
> 
> ...


Damn that's pretty good, I might give that a go once I have finished these kits (I just wanna make sure I get it right before I go up in the world of homebrew)


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## Mickthe (12/6/10)

I've made decent beers with BE2 (Coopers Product) and some extra malt. 

The brown sugar and other sugars will dry and thin the beer a little, the brown sugar and candi sugar in my belgian ale was great but it makes the beer quite dry. 

My opinion is that you can make better than the commercial dark ales, by sticking to mostly malts, and a steep of grains for a dark ale. (Visit LHBS) 

Treacle does add a wonderful molasses flavour but 100g only would be my call. 

Good luck!


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## Newbiebrewer (12/6/10)

Thanks all for your replies put down the brew today hopefully it will be good


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