I want to continue to support my LHBS and do with grain, hops, yeast and some equipment, but I can’t help thinking that the mark up on priming sugar is too high. It is corn sugar (Dextrose) pre packaged by the distributor in 5 oz ($1.00) and 4 lb packages. I know that powdered sugar from the supermarket won’t work because it has corn starch included. What is a suitable alternative for priming and/or where can I get corn sugar at a more reasonable price?
I have used LHBS Priming Sugar, DME, Honey, and Molasses to prime with and understand when to use each one to it’s best advantage.
just use cane sugar, regular old table sugar works fine. As I understand it is interchangeable. as you are going to boil it into a syrup anyway…
EDIT although if you want a similar texture casting sugar or superfine is just cane sugar milled to a fine powder. thsi only matters if yoy are measureing by volume though
Plain table sugar works great. Either cane or beet sugar, doesn’t matter. I’ve used it on like the past 40 batches with no problems. Only thing to keep in mind is that you need a little less of it than you would for corn sugar. For example, if you are used to using 3/4 cup corn sugar for 5 gallons, you only need about 80% as much table sugar, which works out to roughly 5/8 cup table sugar. Not sure about weight as I’ve always measured by volume, with no problems whatsoever.
old habits die hard with me, but I have used table sugar when I have run out or low. The difference is that corn sugar has about 8% moisture content, or more depending on how it is stored (and where you live). Cane sugar doesn’t absorb the moisture as readily (something in the order of 1%) that is why they are different. The reason it is better to use weight over volume is that you can shake down a measure of sugar and the crystals will all align and compact.