Budget Brewing Series - Part 3: Priming Sugar. Did you check your fridge?

If you bottle your beer you already know what Priming Sugar or Carbonation Drops are. Priming Sugar is preferred when carbonating beer since it's neutral and doesn't impart any bad flavors to your beer. Some people use table sugar for priming also, which is inferior and contributes to some amount of off flavors either you detect them or not.

But what if I told you that you probably already have priming sugar lying in your kitchen cupboard or fridge without knowing it?

Priming Sugar sold by some Brew-Shops for nearly Gram for Rupee rates

What exactly is priming sugar or bottle "Fizz"?

Ok I am letting out a secret to those who don't know. Priming sugar sold by brew shops is nothing fancy, it's just plain glucose(elsewhere called dextrose which happens to be it's technical name too). You can buy it from any medical store. However avoid flavoured and vitamin/mineral added glucose combinations, unless you want an artificially flavoured beer.

A quick google search tells me, 1 kg of plain glucose sells for Rs.170 (I am not going to endorse any brands but you can figure out which).

Alternatives to Priming Sugar

Instead of using priming sugar you can also choose to use some flavorful options like: Honey, DME/LME, Belgian "Candi" Syrup, Freshly pressed fruit juice or molasses. Do mind the style of your beer before picking an option though.

Well that's it. Next time save money, save your table sugar and most of all... save your beer from table sugar.

Happy Homebrewing!