Beer Enhancer?

[yyvjpv]

I recently purchased some equipment from a homebrewer who was getting out of the hobby. He threw in a big ziplock bag of something called "Beer Enhancer 2". I thought at first it was some type of yeast nutrient, but looking at the website it appears its something that is added to extract brews to make them better. As I am now transitioning to All Grain is this something that is of any use for my brewing? I asked at a local homebrew shop and they said people use it instead of sugar. I asked "You mean to prime with?" and the guy answered "No, in the wort itself" I've never added sugar to a recipe or seen a recipe with it as an ingredient so I was a bit confused. Anyway, is this stuff worth using in your opinion, or no?

 

[masskrug]

Sounds like corn sugar. Any sugar is going to boost your alcohol content, thus "enhancing" your beer. Whether or not it makes it better? I doubt it.

 

[ArcaneXor]

I'd toss it.

 

[tacks]

Sounds like yeast nutrient or energizer to me, but my personal rule of thumb is never put anything in my beer that I don't know what it is. If you have a way of identifying what it is, hold on to it, if not I second giving it the curbside heave ho.

 

[flars]

Brew Enhancer 1 and Brew Enhancer 2 are Coopers' products to bump up the ABV and body of their kits.
Brew Enhancer 2 contains dry malt extract, dextrose and maltodextrin.

You could use it to increase your SG if efficiency falls short on a brew.

 

[Qhrumphf]

You could use it to increase your SG if efficiency falls short on a brew.

This. It's about the only use I'd use it for.

It's designed to easily bump up the ABV while avoiding the "just add sugar" pitfall, but it's designed for kit and kilo Coopers kits, where you don't even boil, just dilute extract with water and ferment. It's shortcut brewing, for people who either don't know how or don't want to go through the full process, thus as simple as possible.

Basically, there's few applications where that could be used that something else wouldn't work better. If you want drier and higher ABV, use sugar. If you want fuller and higher ABV, use extract. If you want fuller without increasing the ABV, then maltodextrin. Having all three at once is kind of self defeating.

 

[unionrdr]

The brew enhancer 2 is pretty good for light pale ales & other such beers. I haven't used it in some time though. Having some light DME in it definitely helps.