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I used Walmart sugar for my first wash as it cheap $8.88 for 25 pounds. Since starting this hobby I now take notice of sugar prices. Even Sams sugar can’t come close to being that cheap. So my question or concern is should I continue to use Walmart sugar? Or use a better brand? Intend on making vodka but I would like it to be a good vodka/neutral. When I get the sugar wash down I’ll try grains but for now sugar is the thing.

Dennis, stop using Walmart sugar, it's terrible stuff. Send it to my house for proper disposal. LOL

Kidding aside, CANE sugar = cane sugar regardless of brand as far as we are concerned. Purchase the cheapest way you can if using sugar. There could be some minimal amount of difference between brands but it's likely you would ever notice any difference.

If you are ever curious about any type of sugar measure our exactly 1 gallon of water. Measure out exactly one pound of sugar and mix thoroughly. If you used heat to mix allow to come back to room temp and take both an SG reading and temp reading and adjust the SG based on temp (use any online calculator). You should be 1.046 or so SG for cane sugar, lower for brown sugar.

You can do the same with any grains (after converting which is another process to learn) by adding one pound of grain to one gallon of water to find the SG. This allows you to not rely on labels/packaging but your own protocol with all it's inefficiencies (not lab results but real world) to find the SG of one pound grain in one gallon water and what SG it produces. This can help you to calculate needed grains and sugars to achieve a specific SG for fermenting without guessing.

This way you know what brand 1 corn achieves vs brand 2, vs your rye, your wheat, your barley and oats, etc...

This is known as PPG or points per gallon. In the above case with sugar reaching 1.046 your sugar would be 46 ppg. (look at last 2 numbers). Once you understand PPG you can ignore online calculators and do your own math as you can calculate how many pounds of anything to add to any amount of water to achieve any SG level.

But anyway, the pricing on the Walmart sugar is really good and there is no reason to switch to any other brand unless you can't get it or find it cheaper some place else (or you just don't want to walk out of one store with 200 pounds of sugar).

Dennis cheap sugar works just as well as any other.

That’s cheap sugar. Better buy it while they still have it. It has been disappearing from my local Kroger stores...along with baker’s yeast. No need to hoard, but don’t walk out of the store empty handed. Get a week’s supply...or two while you can.

And while you’re at it (stocking the shelves), go by your local package liquor store and pick up a bottle or two of your favorite spirit. Get something that you intend to replicate so you can compare your product to the (equivalent) commercial example.

It’ll help you “benchmark” your skills as a “producer of spirits”.
ss

Typically if it just says sugar, Walmart is selling you beet sugar. If it is cane sugar, they will market it as "pure cane" sugar and may charge more (just marketing). For our purposes, it make little to no differs. Just and FYI...

Here's what I think is the best sugar Walmart stocks.
It's been processed less and has more nutrients left in it than regular white sugar.

Looks like what we call raw sugar here.

I wished they would sell sugar that was even more raw

Since they don't.
Three 8 pound bags mixed with a quart of molasses works pretty good

My Walmart just restored the shelves think a rum try is in order

Shadylane so is assume you are one who believes some type/brand sugars are better than others or at least better because of the added nutrients. My wife who bakes a lot refuses to use Walmart sugar. She says she doesn’t like the taste. I can’t tell the difference but she is one of those people who can pick out different spices and ingredients in most foods. My Walmart doesn’t carry that brand sugar probably a regional thing. Dominos seems to be the favorite local sugar in store.

How would one determine if it were pure cane sugar or beet sugar?

Not added nutes Dennis. Nutes not removed by the refining process.
Cane juice for example starts out with lots of nutes and also an ideal brix measurement for optimal yeast health. A miracle really. Synchronicity.
Each " strike" in the centrifuge strips away nutes that would otherwise be useful for fermentation.
Normally there are 3 strikes. "A" strike = first go round in the centrifuge that renders the most asymmetrical, largest crystals. And also leaves an appreciable amount of color in the crystal.
"B" strike= second go round renders crystals that are more symmetrical and strips away more color (and nutes).
"C" strike= final pass that renders the most symmetrical crystal and the whitest color. This is table sugar.
The infatuation with pure white sugar is likely a product of marketing and sensibilities left over from a different time.

Rum loving distillers know better. Or at least they should.
Now you do too.

As others have said if it doesn't say pure cane on it it is beet sugar. My wife can tell the difference, she says beet sugar isn't as sweet and tastes different. She can also tell the difference of yeast I use after distilling even on a carefully cut neutral. I often get C&H for 50 cents a pound and to me it's worth a little more for what I feel is a superior product.

shadylane wrote: ↑Tue Mar 31, 2020 3:12 pm Here's what I think is the best sugar Walmart stocks.
It's been processed less and has more nutrients left in it than regular white sugar.

zulka sugar.jpg

+1 Shadylane. This is the brand that I use too. Great for piggy back all grain sugarheads.

shadylane wrote: ↑Tue Mar 31, 2020 3:44 pm I wished they would sell sugar that was even more raw

Since they don't.
Three 8 pound bags mixed with a quart of molasses works pretty good

Try looking for Panela, Rapadua or Sucant. Panela and Rapadura are two names for the same product, Panela being the Colombian name. There are also others similar to Rapadura, such as Sucanat (USA – a trade name). These are essentially pure dried sugar cane juice. The juice is extracted by mechanical processes, heated, and cooled, forming small brown grainy crystals or left to form blocks. The molasses is not extracted and the sugar isn't refined.

LWTCS wrote: ↑Wed Apr 01, 2020 4:36 am The infatuation with pure white sugar is likely a product of marketing and sensibilities left over from a different time.

Rum loving distillers know better. Or at least they should.
Now you do too.

Rum distillers love super refined pure can white sugar. If it weren't for it, they wouldn't get the byproduct called molasses they love so much.

Ok I’m a little confused now about the sugar. Beet sugar, pure cane sugar, others mentioned let’s call it raw sugar. My question was about a neutral and I think but nor sure we went to rum. So for a great neutral any type sugar, least expensive? Just trying to get it right. Taste of the sugar you use must come through in some form. I don’t mind spending the money on the raw stuff but if not necessary why? Obviously when I graduate to rum I’ll use raw.
Dennis

Yes, in general cheapest is fine for your neutral.

That said, some say they have preferences in beet v cane v dextrose v ... . But these preferences are just that, preferences of things so nuanced that most don't even detect with neutral. And if you aren't drinking the neutral straight, it really won't matter even if you could taste the super minor differences. Remember, the process of creating a neutral is designed to remove flavor to begin.

More importantly, these nuances only come across when you have mastered your craft well enough that you can replicate the process so well that you get the same taste in your product when using the same ingredients. This is true with making the wash and the distillation process.

So take it from someone who has learned the hard way by doing things backwards. Just go cheapest. Once you have mastered your craft, you can explore the different types of sugar to see if your have a preferences.

Yep, if making a neutral just get a cheap refined white cane sugar. It's been stripped of all the molasses and tasty bits which you don't want.

Personally I have something against beet sugar for a couple reasons, subtle differences that my wife can detect, it seems to take more to do the same job as cane and I'm also one of those anti GMO nuts but if you are ok with using it and only using it on neutral I agree with the others. Buy what your happy with and use that.

Cranky, a lot of chef's agree with your wife. Beet sugar is definitely different than cane sugar for both distilling and cooking!

Wife bought me 150 pound of Walmart sugar....guess she wants some vodka before I go

Durhommer wrote: ↑Sat Apr 04, 2020 12:08 pm Wife bought me 150 pound of Walmart sugar....guess she wants some vodka before I go

Did she buy you a couple of glass carboys to store it in? LOL
150 pounds of sugar will make a nice amount of vodka.

I have it in a blue barrel with about 8 slices of bread

Is that dry in the barrel with the bread for moisture being stored?

The bread is for the leprechauns
They like to make sandwiches out of those pesky angels.

good one!

Dry stores

I got Walmart sugar for $7.60 for 25 lbs. I am making sanitizer out of it though.

A few years ago I did three sugar washes. Pure cane, corn, and beet. Same recipes, just different sugars. After diluting to 40% and letting rest a week, I can safely say that they tasted the same. Tasted like alcohol and not great stuff. I'm not a fan of sugar washes, that's just me. But flavor wise, they tasted the same. Buy the cheap stuff and have at it.