Dextrose in boil vs. Dextrose for priming

[FormulaQ]

So im new to brewing. I have a container of hopped liquid malt extract. The directions are pretty simple - boil water, add 2.2lb of DEXTROSE, then add LME, cold water, pitch yeast. My question is can i swap out dextrose for table sugar or DME during the BOIL. Everytime i try to find answers to this question everyone says its fine to do for the priming process, but im wondering if its ok to do during the initial boil? Also, What would the ratio be for DME and table sugar for 2.2 lb of dextrose? i read that you would need slightly less table sugar but how much DME would be the equivalent for 2.2lb dextrose?

Thanks so much guys

 

[Colorowdy]

Question one yes go for dme if you can that is alot of sugar. Dme will give you a maltier backbone. Sugar will dry your beer out. Not so sure about the ratio. If it was me I would just add two or three pounds of dme and be done with it.

 

[KepowOb]

Looking at a priming calculator, 1 unit of dextrose = 1.36 units of DME.

So for 2.2lbs of dextrose, you could replace that with exactly 3lbs of DME, which is rather convenient (someone please correct me if I'm wong with anything here).

I wouldn't use table sugar for the same reason I wouldn't use 2.2lb of dextrose... but if you really want to, I think it'd be in the neighbourhood of 2lbs.

 

[boydster]

Most of the kits that call for you to use a certain amount of dextrose have already taken into account how much it dries out the beer and they chose the amount accordingly. If you are new to brewing, I would suggest making a few (read: several) batches according to the recipe before trying to substitute ingredients. Once you know what the recipe is supposed to taste like, experiment with ways you think you can improve it. It's always best to keep things simple at first and change one variable at a time to see how it impacts the final product. That early process will give you a lot of knowledge for tweaking recipes later on.

 

[DrunkleJon]

Do keep in mind though, that overuse (generally brewers keep sugar additions below ~20%) of simple sugars (dextrose or table sugar) can cause cidery or hot alcohol flavors. Table sugar can be subbed for Dextrose or corn sugar, but dextrose is all of a simple sugar where table sugar is a mix of simple and more complex sugars and may stress the yeast a bit when it inverts it.