Priming sugar uses
Q: I Just bought some all-grain kits with the priming sugar included. I keg and force carbonate so I now have a box full of priming sugar packets. I just thought, why not add the sugar during the boil. Any drawbacks to this plan?
— Rudy Brooks • Junction City, Kansas
A: Rudy, I like your ideas! This question reminds me of lyrics from The Clash tune “Rudi Can’t Fail.”
Now we get a rude and a reckless
We been seen lookin’ cool an’ speckless
We been drinking brew for breakfast
Rudie can’t fail
Not saying you have been drinking beer with breakfast, but the idea of saving up priming sugar bags from kits you have brewed does seem like the sort of idea that could come from pre-brew day planning! So, is this idea fraught for failure? Certainly not.
Simple sugars are a useful brewing adjunct when you are looking for a gravity boost to simply boost strength or to turn down that flavor dial a tick. No matter what may be said about this agenda, many brewers are not squeamish about adding sugar to wort to enhance beer flavor. That’s right, enhance flavor. Adding simple sugars to a moderately high gravity wort can help develop aromas and flavors in beer, help to balance malt fullness in the finish of a beer, and can bump the alcohol content without drawing unwanted attention. And you can also use simple sugars to reduce beer color, and to reduce wort FAN, and protein levels.
Styles that you may want to brew using your booty of priming sugar include British-style pale ales, West Coast-style IPAs, Belgian-style tripel, North American-style lagers, and Tropical-style stouts. And if you want to work on a GABF Pro-Am recipe for something called “Rudy Can’t Fale,” the name is yours for the taking!
