sugar beets

[stoker]

how would you make a decent wash out of sugar beets:
-do you have to cook/boil it
-does it have to be cut into small pieces,...
-???

and how do you get those beets, can you just ask a farmer?

[LeftLaneCruiser]

The normal proces from beet to grain of sugar is as follows:
The beets are rinsed from dirt. Then cut into small pieces, like french fries. Boiled to a pulp, so the sugar dissolves in water. The pulp is then squeezed out, dried and sold as cattle feed.
The remaining liquid is boiled until cristals form. In a centifuge (spin dryer) the crystals are separated from the sirup. The crystal-sugar is refined further and the sirup is bottled for use on pancakes, among other uses..

This is in a few sentences the rough outline. More info on these sites:
http://www.csm.nl and http://www.suikerunie.nl

One of them has a step-by-step story, with pictures, on how they make sugar.

Making a wash is similar: get the beets in small pieces and boil them. Or boil them till they're soft and then mash like potatoes. Let cool, add yeast and nutrients and let ferment.

About obtaining the beets you're a little late; the season is nearing it's end. Normally the season is from the middle of september until Christmas. In that period trucks loaded with beets are passing day and night and the factories are running 24/7. Farmers who grow sugarbeets have them lying in heaps by the roadside, asking for a couple should be no problem as they get paid by the tonne. If you have a sugarfactory in the neighbourhood there should be huge piles of beets on the premises. Maybe a willing worker would hand you some, or there might be a few beets lying around at the 'roadside'

KJH

[TN.Frank]

Here's a silly question. Would it help to freeze them to bring out more sugar from em'? Just thinking about the Potato/Vodka thread and how someone said that when you freeze vegies they produce sugar.

[Guest]

From what I have heard, they are usually harvested after the first freeze or two... so If you pick them before they freeze, then freezing them might do a little good.

Personally, I usually freeze all my fruits before making a wash. I think it helps bring the sugars out.

[stoker]

i just got the idea/read about it. i'll wait till next year. or make a quick phonecall to an oncle who might still have some

[LeftLaneCruiser]

Here's a silly question. Would it help to freeze them to bring out more sugar from em'? Just thinking about the Potato/Vodka thread and how someone said that when you freeze vegies they produce sugar.

I'm not a food-expert, although i like it a lot

What i know is that it's particularly the green parts of the plants that produces their own anti-freeze. (would make sense; it's the parts above the ground)
The sugar in the beets is of a different category: it is a surplus of food to help the plant grow after wintertime, similar to the starches in potatoes and grains. Just like your own cellar..

But i'll check up with people who know food better, professional i mean.

KJH

[Harry]

This could be useful...

http://www.bio.hw.ac.uk/icbd/Newsletter ... r_2004.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[Guest]

GREAT LINK!!!!
Thanks.



~pothead

[Harry]

YW

[bunny]

how would you make a decent wash out of sugar beets:
-do you have to cook/boil it
-does it have to be cut into small pieces,...
-???

and how do you get those beets, can you just ask a farmer?

With the price of sugar skyrocketing I wondered if anyone was giving this a go?

This is mighty old info with bad links.

[NormandieStill]

I'm don't have the reference to hand, but Way Back When, the French government commisioned a study into the production of distilled alcohol from sugar beets (France is a big beet producer and the idea was to make neutral directly from the beets without first refining the sugar.

After a few years of work, the group carrying out the experiment concluded that there was no known method of distilling sugar beet to make a palatable drink!

But everytime I drive past the mounds of freshly harvested beets, I want to negotiate a wheelbarrow load and have a go. I'm not sure how developed the reflux column was when the experiments were carried out.

[hawkwing]

I grew these once but shit happened in life and they went moldy before I could try making something. They grew extremely well. Was a fry and and got next to nothing out of the garden but these things got huge.

I watched a documentary or how it’s made or something about making sugar from beets and they piled them up and let them freeze to process all winter. Was in Alberta I think.

I seem to recall reading that the molasses from these is not edible by humans or at the very least not something we would enjoy.

[bunny]

I'm don't have the reference to hand, but Way Back When, the French government commisioned a study into the production of distilled alcohol from sugar beets (France is a big beet producer and the idea was to make neutral directly from the beets without first refining the sugar.

After a few years of work, the group carrying out the experiment concluded that there was no known method of distilling sugar beet to make a palatable drink!

But everytime I drive past the mounds of freshly harvested beets, I want to negotiate a wheelbarrow load and have a go. I'm not sure how developed the reflux column was when the experiments were carried out.

Put some fresh paint on your wheelbarrow and read this:

www.sasmabv.com

click on "products", "neutral alcohol" then "Neutral Sugar Beet Alcohol"

[NZChris]

A quick Google finds industrial practices that could be applicable at hobby scale.

I wouldn't try using beet molasses.
I've never used sugar beet, so this is pure speculation based on info found on the net, do your own research as well.

Circulate water through slices until you reach your desired Brix. A rough calculation using 20% sugar content in the beets tells me that 100kg of beets needs about 90 kg of water to reach 12% sugar. Do your own calculations.

Strain. Sparge and/or press if you feel the need and it looks promising.

Industry adds Calcium hydroxide for a few days at this point, (look it up), then bubbles CO2 through it to acidify it. I wouldn't bother, as they want to extract sugar and we don't need to.

Ferment.

Strip Low Wines to what you are comfortable with, or until your nose tells you to stop. I wouldn't go below 40% ABV.

Slowly add Calcium hydroxide, over several days, aiming for a pH around 7.5.

Rack, or filter, or both.

Reflux to azeo.
That said, if the Low Wines smell ok after the lime treatment, you could try putting some through a pot still to see what happens. There might be a narrow heart cut worth keeping?

Post your results on the forum.