All-malt purists may scoff, and the Reinheitsgebot may turn up its Teutonic nose, but there is, indeed, a time and a place for simple sugar in your brewing. Sugar had a bad rap for quite some time, thanks to some commercial brewers’ reliance on large amounts of the sweet stuff to yield something more like rocket fuel than beer. And many a beginning homebrewer started out with a kit-and-kilo (or can-and-kilo) recipe, so called because you combine a can of malt extract with a kilogram of table sugar.
But just as craft brewers have admitted that not every grain adjunct is evil (Oatmeal stout or Classic American Pilsner, anyone?), so have they also discovered that simple sugars have their place in today’s flavorful beer styles. Here are a few common types of sugars that should definitely find a sweet spot in your home brewery at one time or another.
Dextrose (corn sugar): Most commonly used as a bottle priming agent, dextrose in the boil can lighten body, boost alcohol, and dry out big beers. Corn sugar yields 42 gravity points per pound per gallon (ppg) and is 100 percent fermentable.