So, I saw this stuff earlier this year in a pile near the pile of plain ol’ corn sugar at Beer-Wine. Muntons KreamyX.
It primes!
It increases head formation!
It increases head retention!
It washes windows!
Ok, it doesn’t wash windows… but KreamyX claims to be a beer kit primer with heading powder. Its ingredients are dextrose, spray-dried malt extract, and propylene glycol alginate. I am pretty sure what the first two ingredients are. I looked up the last one and found out it was an emulsifier, stabilizer, and thickener used in food products such as ice cream and salad dressing. How it works in beer remains to be seen.
I would say I am trying Kreamyx for experimental purposes. I don’t think I would have shelled out the extra cash if we didn’t have a blog to report on the results of certain ingredients or techniques. Ok, I was curious for myself too…but I am debating in my head if adding chemicals to my beer is a short cut.
I asked people on Twitter if they had ever used Kreamyx. A couple of people replied with “No” answers.
So, what say you? Have you used this stuff before? Do you have a pseudo-moral dilemma about adding stuff to your beer that you really don’t need to add?
I’ll be using it and we will let you know how it turns out in a few weeks.
Matt
PGA is added to most commercial factory produced beers .
http://www.fmcbiopolymer.com/OtherMarkets/HouseholdCareandSpecialties/Products/PropyleneGlycolAlginate/tabid/616/Default.aspx
Mike
I’d recommend bottling half the batch with priming sugar and half the batch with KreamyX. We need proper control groups to really interpret differences. Otherwise, how do you know if the porter is any better or worse with it, or what your normal heading and head retention power was????
John
Yeah, I agree. If we want to do a real test, we need to compare the finished beer side by side.
May I borrow your bottling bucket? I think it will be easier to do split the batch if I have two.