Which sugar is the best sugar??

Buddah · Post by **Buddah** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 7:02 pm

Hi fellow booze makers,
Just wondering what kind of sugar people recommend for pure sugar washes, which is the best for neutral vodka? at the moment i have been using white sugar bought from the supermarket, but the bloke at the brew shop recommends using dextrose......anyone experimented with both??

Uncle Remus · Post by **Uncle Remus** » Thu Jun 23, 2005 8:01 pm

I've just used white sugar, whatever is on sale with good results in a straight sugar wash. I have thought about adding dextrose (which I believe comes from corn) to my next corn mash to try to push a little more octane out of the wash. Anyone used dextrose with a corn mash?

Brett · Post by **Brett** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 4:00 am

iv always used white sugar or a brown sugar in my brewing, however the local brew shop sells corn sugar as well as malto dextrin and recomends this as a brewing sugar. They say the malto dextrin will increase the body of a beer and the corn sugar dissolves quick in cold liquids and leaves no taste. However as both of these are twice the price of normal sugar ill be sticking to plain ol white sugar.

The only one i might be tempted to use is one they sell as a glucose brewing sugar which they say "produces a cleaner, crisper taste" but again it costs a little more than plain old sugar.

Might be they recomend these sugars simply because they sell them and they can call them a brewing sugar, ill be interested if anyones tried these "brewing sugars" and what there results were.

vipereexx · Post by **vipereexx** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 12:15 pm

I purchase my corn sugar from bulk food stores. Apparently I'm not the only one, the clerk keeps asking if me if I need certain amounts weighed out for a beer batch when I purchase a few kilo's at a time. Might be worth a look in your respective areas.

linw · Post by **linw** » Fri Jun 24, 2005 8:13 pm

I always use the cheapest cane sugar. A brewshop is hardly impartial as they stand to make a lot more from us if we pay through the nose for 'their' sugar.

This link might be of interest. http://homedistiller.org/sugar.htm#intro" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

linw · Post by **linw** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 4:38 pm

THM, are you differentiating between "white cane sugar" and "white sugar"? I said "white cane sugar" meaning plain ordinary white sugar. Is there a difference??

Jaeger · Post by **Jaeger** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 5:13 pm

I think both sugars are the same thing, white sugar is derived from cane

Also, I can get sugar for $0.35 a pound a costco (25lb bags) $8 something a bag. Is that about as cheap as I will be able to find anywhere?

linw · Post by **linw** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 6:23 pm

Ah, gotcha. As far as I know there is no beet sugar available here in NZ. The last bulk lot I bought came from Brazil and the previous lot came from Thailand. All "refined cane sugar". The Thai sugar cost me $NZ0.80/kg while the latest was $NZ1.00.