Iggles
Member
Hi,
I have brewed now about 15-20 batches and often found the carbonation to be underwhelming. As a result, I started targeting 2.8 vol CO2 rather than 2.5, to get to a level I perceive to be more appropriate. Today, I checked the package of the dextrose I use. To my surprise, they suggest to use more than 8 kg of their dextrose for every 6 kg of "Sugar" (which I assume to be table sugar). That makes no sense as the difference should be closer to 10%. The product is labeled "Dextrose", with subheading "Simple & Refined" and "100% Pure Powder Natural Sweetener" (but they never claim 100% dextrose). They sell this particular product both in grocery stores and brewstores here in Canada (original manufacturer is in Ireland and I contacted them for an explanation). If their conversion is correct for their product, it means that their product is cut, containing only 80% dextrose/fermentable sugar and this would result in 0.3-0.4 CO2 volumes undercarbonation when using the online priming calculators.
My question: is this common, that dextrose may not be 100% pure?
I have brewed now about 15-20 batches and often found the carbonation to be underwhelming. As a result, I started targeting 2.8 vol CO2 rather than 2.5, to get to a level I perceive to be more appropriate. Today, I checked the package of the dextrose I use. To my surprise, they suggest to use more than 8 kg of their dextrose for every 6 kg of "Sugar" (which I assume to be table sugar). That makes no sense as the difference should be closer to 10%. The product is labeled "Dextrose", with subheading "Simple & Refined" and "100% Pure Powder Natural Sweetener" (but they never claim 100% dextrose). They sell this particular product both in grocery stores and brewstores here in Canada (original manufacturer is in Ireland and I contacted them for an explanation). If their conversion is correct for their product, it means that their product is cut, containing only 80% dextrose/fermentable sugar and this would result in 0.3-0.4 CO2 volumes undercarbonation when using the online priming calculators.
My question: is this common, that dextrose may not be 100% pure?