I have a recipe that calls for 3 lbs. of Pale Extract and 3 lbs. of Brewer’s Corn Syrup.
Question: Can I use 3 lbs. of Cane Sugar instead of 3 lbs. of Brewer’s Corn Syrup?
Question: If I can use Cane Sugar instead, how do I calculate how much Cane Sugar to use, because I don’t think the ratios are the same?
Can you post the recipe? Is this a partial mash, or just extract?
3 lbs of extract and 3 lbs of sugar is going to produce a thin, dry beer in my opinion. Then again, maybe I have no idea what brewer’s corn syrup is…oh yea, I don’t.
Mexican Pilsner - Extract
3lbs Extra Pale Extract
3lbs Brewer’s Corn Syrup
3/4 oz Tradition hops 60 min
1/4 oz Tradition hops 5 min
Saflager S23 Yeast
Based on an answer from Austin Homebrew Supply…on another forum…if you are going to use corn sugar, you should use 20% less.
I would look at your recipe again, or search for something else possibly. I’m just not sure about having sugars like that being almost 50% of your malt bill.
Ken Lenard has a mexican lager recipe on his website. you could take that an convert it from all-grain to extract fairly easily with a recipe calculator.
http://www.freewebs.com/kenlenard/recipes.htmLooks like he has a Cabana Lager, Hacienda Lager and Old Havana Lager. Take your pick!
Corn Sugar and corn syrup are not the same thing, nor do I think you can interchange them. Corn sugar is sugar… Corn syrup is like malt syrup but made from corn. Many American and Mexican lagers are made with corn and it’s an important flavor in the beer. Corn malt will give corn flavors, corn sugar will just dry out the beer and give no flavor.
Hope that helps.
[quote=“Cheshire_Cat”]Corn Sugar and corn syrup are not the same thing, nor do I think you can interchange them. Corn sugar is sugar… Corn syrup is like malt syrup but made from corn. Many American and Mexican lagers are made with corn and it’s an important flavor in the beer. Corn malt will give corn flavors, corn sugar will just dry out the beer and give no flavor.
Hope that helps.[/quote]
Acutally, corn sugar is sugar, but I am pretty sure it is made from corn…for the most part.
Corn syrup is made from things including Corn Starch.
If you can get this brewers corn syrup you speak of, I would use that. If not, I would personally look into a different recipe. I can’t see any good coming from subbing corn sugar for it…even though that is what some people had said in other forums over the years. However I have never used that much corn sugar in a beer.
I don’t think the corn syrup adds much to the flavor of the beer other than drying it out and decreasing any actual beer flavor(think Coor’s Light etc). For all intents and purposes I don’t see much of a difference between using corn syrup or any other type of “sugar” in a recipe. And I certainly wouldn’t recommend using it as high as 50%.
Thick syrups are generally around 20% water/80% sugar, so you would use 2.4lb of sugar. Yes you can use plain sugar as a sub, but I wouldn’t go over 20% no matter what the recipe says. And I can’t stand S23 lager yeast, so your recipe is a recipe for disaster not a Mexican lager.
Corn sugar is generally pure dextrose (D-glucose). Corn syrup is generally high in fructose. Just different fractions or different processing of the starch in corn. I don’t think either is going to bring any flavor and both are completely fermentable.
I really want to start brewing my own beer out of my house. I was watching the food network the other day and watched a show about brewing beer. I was wondering if anyone knew a good kit that i could buy to start brewing? Or should I go into a brewing supplies store and get my supplies (i.e. fermentor, bottles, etc.) from there?
I don’t see a location on your post,so I can’t make a suggestion based on that. However, visit our hosts site and look at the kits that they have. A basic kit will brew a decent beer and you can always add equipment. Or, request a catalog. Look at the kits and also a beer kit. Start with something easy that will be finished in 4-5 weeks. A bitter kit comes to mind.
I jumped into homebrewing earlier this year. I went with the Basic starter kit from Norther Brewer. I’ve since added 2 more plastic carboys. You can get the deluxe kit that has 2 carboys, bottling bucket and everything else you need. For your first kit, I’d go with an ale with few additions. My first was the dunkelweizen; 1 hop addition, 1 malt addition, no steeping grains. Brew to glass in 6 weeks. Get dry yeast so you don’t have to mess with a starter. If you get the deluxe kit, definitely get more than one beer to brew. You will get impatient waiting on your first brew. 
Welcome to the Passion!
