caramel

stoker · Post by **stoker** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 8:00 am

did anyone try to ferment caramel (made yourselve by heating sugar) ?

can it be compared with molasses?

thanks

junkyard dawg · Post by **junkyard dawg** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 9:02 am

Caramel is made by heating sugar to high temperature. about 250 F I think... been a while...

Mollasses is a by product of making white granulated sugar. They are quite different.

Sun Jan 22, 2006 9:27 am

Caramelizing sugar converts some of the sugar to carbon. I don't know what that would taste like if you fermented it. Probably not much like molasses. I guess there is one way to find out. It will probably ferment.

TN.Frank · Post by **TN.Frank** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 4:51 pm

There was some unfermented sugar in the last wash I distilled and it carmelized in the cooker and gave the whiskey kind of a burnt/sweet sugar taste. While it's interesting I'm not going to try it again on porpose,LOL.

possum · Post by **possum** » Sun Jan 22, 2006 9:04 pm

Ive seen in beers that the darker the MALT SUGAR, the less digestable.
Caramell may not be as small and simple of a sugar, it may be a mixture of things(molecules) either linked or unlinked.

The Organic chemestry is not my strong point. Caramell is soluable in hot water, but it dosent dissolve as easily as the granulated cane sugar.

The Chemist · Post by **The Chemist** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 9:22 am

Just the other day, I tested a commercial caramel (used in the beverage industry) for sugar. It is negligible. As to homemade caramel, I guess that would depend on how much you caramelize.

jbrew9999 · Post by **jbrew9999** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 9:56 am

The Chemist wrote:Just the other day, I tested a commercial caramel (used in the beverage industry) for sugar. It is negligible. As to homemade caramel, I guess that would depend on how much you caramelize.

What do you mean by "It is negligible"? The difference in sugar content between caramel and plain sugar? the amount of sugar in caramel? something else?

stoker · Post by **stoker** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 10:02 am

I caramelized it a bit too much, it had a burned smell.

and it is fermenting very good.
I'm exited for the result (after distillation with a potstill, ofcourse)

I did something very very stupid while melting the sugar, when it was ready and I guess at 200°C, I wanted to cool it down by adding an amount of water, and of course it evaportated imediately, and it got some caramel on my arm, with as result a 2° degree burning wound on my arm.
and I knew such thing can happen (adding water to acid and vice verca)

The Chemist · Post by **The Chemist** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 1:35 pm

jbrew9999 wrote:
The Chemist wrote:Just the other day, I tested a commercial caramel (used in the beverage industry) for sugar. It is negligible. As to homemade caramel, I guess that would depend on how much you caramelize.
What do you mean by "It is negligible"? The difference in sugar content between caramel and plain sugar? the amount of sugar in caramel? something else?

I meant that it has no sugar, i.e. it gave a reading of 0.042 where 1g/L sucrose give 0.343. The reagent blank was 0.019, so the caramel did give a slight signal, but not relevent. (This was a dinitrosalicylic acid test, for those who might be interested. The numbers are the absorbance at 575 nanometers. The caramel was Williamson 055)