Has anyone experience sugar inverting due to a strong base instead of an acid?
I'm on my 7th sugar wash batch of my own recipe; the 6 before were total successes.
I keep very detailed notes on all of my fermentations and they have been almost identical up to this point:
- 5 gallons of spring water heated to 101F, add 8# of sugar to target 1.065 starting SG, 16 brix
- Hydrate 25g Lallemand Distillamax HT @ 100F for 20 minutes in 250mL spring water
- Pitch yeast after 20 minutes.
- After 1 hour, add .5g/L (half total dose) of both DAP and Lallemand Distillavite GN yeast nutrient.
- sample every 12 hours, add 2# of sugar when brix drops to 10, which happens twice for a total of 12# of sugar. Add 1tbps sodium bicarbonate when pH drops to below 4.0 to raise to 5.0;
- add the 2nd half of DAP & Distillavite GN @ 24 hours
These fermenters finish @ 96 hours, 11.5% EtoH, <.01% glucose verified via HPLC, brix of 8
Now, knowing that sodium can inhibit yeast, I decided to pick up some calcium hydroxide while I figure out exactly how I want to suspend the oyster shells in my fermenter. On this last fermenter, I added a single dose of around 2 teaspoons of calcium hydroxide when the pH dropped to below 4.0 to target a 5.0. The fermenter continued like normal, though a little slower. 96 hours came and went and the brix was still a 15 which is abnormal. I waited another 24 hours and pulled a sample and ran it on the HPLC... 9.5% ethanol, .5% glucose. Still lower and slower than I was used to, but the kicker here is that I noticed the fructose peak was extremely high. My HPLC doesn't log actual volume % of fructose, but I compared it to the other runs I had made and it was at least 3x as large, so that leaves me to my actual question:
Is it possible that calcium hydroxide, being a stronger base than sodium bicarbonate somehow inverted the sugar? There should not have been a large amount of fructose seeing as how I've been using sucrose unless it was created somehow. Has anyone else experienced this?
Accidentally inverted sugar?
Moderator: Site Moderator
- Badhairguy
- Novice
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Sat Sep 10, 2022 10:32 am
Accidentally inverted sugar?
In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage
Re: Accidentally inverted sugar?
I think it requires an acid for the bond to break.
You can however get partial inversion just by heating. Perhaps your process had a small change?:)
-
- Master of Distillation
- Posts: 3387
- Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2016 6:27 pm
- Location: Ontario
Re: Accidentally inverted sugar?
Inversion of white sugar requires an acid and heat (boiling) for 20 min..
As to the calcium hydroxide creating a change, I would say not, as I been using such for many yrs now in maintaining Ph level in sugar washes, and never notice a difference between it and calcium carbonate..
Mars
As to the calcium hydroxide creating a change, I would say not, as I been using such for many yrs now in maintaining Ph level in sugar washes, and never notice a difference between it and calcium carbonate..
Mars
" I know quite certainly that I myself have no special talent. Curiosity, Obsession and dogged endurance, combined with self-criticism, have brought me to my knowledge and understanding "
– Albert Einstein
– Albert Einstein
- Badhairguy
- Novice
- Posts: 16
- Joined: Sat Sep 10, 2022 10:32 am
Re: Accidentally inverted sugar?
Thanks for the responses. It’s a curiosity as to how the elevated fructose came to be. I use the same brand of sugar and water and use a sous vide circulator to heat my water before adding the sugar so the temperature is well regulated. The only change I made to the batch was upgrading from a plastic 6 gallon fermenter bucket to a 9 gallon beer buddy heated stainless ferm. (Besides for the obvious upgrade in quality, I wanted to move my fermentation to my basement which is cooler than the main floor so I wanted to be able to maintain temperature.)
In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage
-
- Master of Distillation
- Posts: 3387
- Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2016 6:27 pm
- Location: Ontario
Re: Accidentally inverted sugar?
My take on your concern..
I would try calcium carbonate and see what result it gives;
If the behavior is similar is calcium hydroxide, then i would reverse back to using sodium bicarbonate, as there seem to not effect the fermentation and getting good results..
Mars
I would try calcium carbonate and see what result it gives;
If the behavior is similar is calcium hydroxide, then i would reverse back to using sodium bicarbonate, as there seem to not effect the fermentation and getting good results..
Mars
" I know quite certainly that I myself have no special talent. Curiosity, Obsession and dogged endurance, combined with self-criticism, have brought me to my knowledge and understanding "
– Albert Einstein
– Albert Einstein
- Salt Must Flow
- Distiller
- Posts: 1920
- Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2022 2:06 pm
- Location: Wuhan China (Novel Coronavirus Laboratory)
Re: Accidentally inverted sugar?
If you start a sugar wash (inverted sugar or not), as long as you add Citric Acid to lower the ph to 5.2 - 5.6 and suspend a mesh sack of Crushed Oyster Shell (Calcium Carbonate) then it will buffer the ph well. Normally my sugar washes ferment out around 4.2 ph. Whenever I've done a sugar wash without Citric Acid & Calcium Carbonate, the ph crashes overnight.
Calcium Hydroxide instantly raises the ph, but doesn't buffer. I rarely ever need to use Calcium Hydroxide unless I made a mistake, but I always like to keep some on hand.
Calcium Hydroxide instantly raises the ph, but doesn't buffer. I rarely ever need to use Calcium Hydroxide unless I made a mistake, but I always like to keep some on hand.