Add some flavor to your beer with caramelized sugar
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I've recently made a couple brews with a slightly interesting ingredient - caramelized sugar - and I thought I'd share the love on the forum.
I was looking for an interesting adjunct to experiment with, but was having some problems deciding what to use. I don't like the taste of molasses, don't like how the flavor of honey disappears in the final product, maple syrup is too strong, etc, etc. But I was only thinking of stuff I could buy, until I realized I could caramelize my own table sugar for some extra flavor.
I first tried it with an English Mild. It turned out amazing - it has these soft raisiny, toffee flavors, and a surprising richness for such a light bodied beer. I only used 4oz in a 12gal batch.
Today I brewed 6gal of Imperial Stout and caramelized a whole pound of sugar. It smelled amazing when I poured it into the boil and the whole garage was filled with the aroma of a candy shop. I'm looking forward to the final product.
How to do it: add your sugar to a VERY clean saucepan, with enough water to barely cover the sugar. Add a spritz of lemon or lime juice. Cook on high until the sugar melts and rapidly boils. Be careful, it's over 300* at this point. If you were making this for food presentation, you might use a brush to drip small amounts of water down the sides of the pan to discourage crystalization. But since this is all going to be dissolved into a beer, sugar crystals aren't that much of a concern. Continue cooking on high until it begins to brown. To distribute the color in these early stages, lift the pan off the burner and slightly tilt it around. Cook until it gets to the desired darkness.
If you immediately add this boiling sugar your brewpot, be careful because the superhot sugar will cause rapid boiling of the wort. If you prefer to make this and then add later, you can put the bottom of the pot in an ice bath for 10-20 seconds.
Good luck!
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