The Effects of Priming Ale with Dry Malt Extract vs. Corn Sugar
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Bryan L. Bennett

A few months back I started to get curious about priming homebrew with dry malt
extract (DME) as opposed to the normal corn sugar (CS.) I had read mention of
the practice in a couple of books and in some posts on various home brewing
nets. I asked about it at a meeting of my local homebrew club (The Atom
Mashers) and on Compuserve's Homebrewers Forum. I got responses varying from
"DME priming is great!" to "I can't tell any difference" and "priming with DME
sucks." Well, these responses told me pretty much nothing. I did learn that
anyone who primed their beer with DME used 25% to 50% more DME than they would
CS, but not much else. I had two ales in fermentation at that time, so I
decided to run an experiment. Here are my results.

The first ale was a standard, full bodied American Pale heavily hopped,
including dry-hopping, with Cascades. It was brewed using 8 pounds of extracts
with 3/4 pound of steeped Crystal. Specifics were O.G. = 1.052, F.G. = 1.013,
IBU = 19.

The other was a Stout with a complex flavor profile from 3 different steeped
grains and 8 pounds of dark extracts. O.G. = 1.061, F.G. = 1.018, IBU = 23.

Both batches were 5 gallon recipes boiled for 75 minutes. I used 2 tablespoons
gypsum (full boil) and 1/2 teaspoon Irish moss (30 minutes) in each batch for
water conditioning and clarity.  The IBU was calculated using the Mark Garetz
method. Other formulas result in higher or lower IBU values.

The following procedure was used for both beers. Just before bottling I
transferred the beer into a fresh carboy and stirred lightly. This was to
assure that I had no stratification in the beer. I then transferred half of the
beer into my priming bucket. I primed this 2.5 gallons of beer with DME that
had been boiled for 10 minutes in 2 cups water. Next I bottled the half batch.
I rinsed the priming tank and repeated the procedure for the remaining 2.5
gallons, using CS in place of DME.  The DME used was Mutton and Fison Light
while the CS was standard brewers grade. The beers were fermented and
conditioned at 65F to 68F.

For the Pale I used 3/8 cup CS and 5/8 cup DME. In the Stout I used 1/4 cup CS
and 3/8 cup DME. I used less prime in the Stout as I had made this recipe
before and knew that it took several weeks to age properly, while I was
planning on finishing off the Pale fairly quickly (I did).

I opened the first bottles of Pale after one week. At this point the CS primed
had more carbonation than the DME and a more intense hops aroma. I really could
not tell any difference in flavor and the aromas equalized after 2 or 3
minutes. At about 2 1/2 weeks I took the Pales to a meeting of the officers of
the Atom Mashers for a side-by-side comparison. All I told the 4 others was
that I wanted them to compare the beers against each other. A couple of the
officers are experienced AHA judges, so I trust their judgments. The five of us
all agreed that the CS primed was more carbonated with an accompanying stronger
nose. Both beers, however, did have good carbonation and head retention,
leaving a nice lace in the glass. All of us thought that the DME primed ale
also had a better flavor, a bit fuller and richer.

By 6 weeks the two Pales had very similar carbonation and head retention, with
the DME primed having a slightly tighter head (smaller, denser bubbles.) The
flavor difference ass even more pronounced at this time, with the DME primed
being a fuller, more enjoyable beer. I must note that the difference in flavor
is still fairly subtle and might not be noticed except in a side-by-side
comparison.

The results from the Stout are somewhat different. It did not really reach
maturity until about 6 weeks. Before this time both variations had a weak head,
poor retention and the flavors had not mellowed and blended. By 8 to 10 weeks
the Stout was ripe and, in my humble opinion, very good. But there was very
little difference. The beer primed with DME did exhibit a slightly tighter
head, but barely noticeable. Head retention on both was nice, leaving a thick
lace. There was a very subtle difference in flavor, with myself and a couple of
fellow drinkers (not judges) all able to notice it, but we could not identify
the difference. Preference between the two was split evenly: 1 for DME, 1 for
CS and 1 drinker unable to say.

What this experiment told me is about what I would have guessed intuitively.
The DME primed beer takes one to two weeks longer to carbonate than does the
corn sugar primed beer and shows a bit better head quality. Flavor differences
are very subtle and will show up more in softer flavored beers than in very
strong flavored and/or complex varieties.

I will probably continue to prime most of my beers with CS, but I will use DME
on my better light ales, especially those intended for special occasions or
competitions.

© 1996 Bryan Llywus Bennett