Brown Rice Syrup from High Gravity Brew

As some of you may know, I recently ordered 16 lbs of this stuff from them, and the first shipment arrived with both buckets in the midst of a vigorous spontaneous fermentation, such that one bucket had leaked rice syrup into the box (and then leaked onto my floor the next day after re-sealing). Very strange, but when I contacted HG they said it's been a recurrent problem. They promptly sent me replacements for free, which arrived yesterday. This time they had taped down the lids of the buckets, but somehow one of them managed to leak anyway, spilling about a cup of syrup inside the box. Neither shows signs of fermentation this time (yet, anyway), but it's clear these guys are having packaging issues. I've e-mailed them and told them I have no plans of ordering this stuff again unless they come up with a better packaging solution, and I'd recommend that no one else make any further orders either until they get this issue sorted. If you're interested in getting rice syrup from them, you might e-mail them and tell them you've heard they have packaging issues and ask if they've found a solution yet. Perhaps if they get a few e-mails like this it might be greater incentive for them.

I just use Lundberg's rice syrup. I've made a beer entirely from their rice syrup and barry farm's tapioca and after my IPA it is the most popular among barley based beer drinkers (non-gf friends).

Yeah I'll probably use Lundberg from here out, it's cheaper than the rice solids at my LHBS and I get a discount at Whole Foods thanks to my girlfriend, so it comes out reasonably cost-effective. I just wonder if there's any difference between the Lundberg and the Briess in terms of sugars, flavors, processing, etc.

Well, as of today, both of the 8-lb. buckets from the replacement shipment are showing obvious fermentation. I got 4 lbs out of one bucket a few days ago before signs of fermentation began, but I don't think I'm gonna get any more out of this batch. I e-mailed High Gravity asking for store credit for the 12 lbs of rice syrup that I now can't use, since I don't see any point in having them send yet another replacement order. This product just doesn't seem to be shelf-stable, sadly.

I ordered some BRS from annapolis homebrew, which sat at room temperature for almost a year with no issues. I just bottled the batch I finally used it on. You can try them.

BBBF said:

I ordered some BRS from annapolis homebrew, which sat at room temperature for almost a year with no issues. I just bottled the batch I finally used it on. You can try them.

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+1 for Annapolis Homebrew. While I have never been there, I consider it my LHBS. It's about an hour from my house, but with $7.95 flat rate shipping it's actually cheaper just to have them ship to my house... They carry the Briess rice syrup as well as the Briess 45DE and 60DE sorghum syrup but only in 3lb containers (bag in box).

Thanks for the tip, guys! At a little over $3/lb, and with flat-rate shipping, they look like a great source.

They used to carry dry sorghum extract, but I don't see it on their site anymore. That's a shame because I've never seen anyone else carrying it.

BBBF said:

They used to carry dry sorghum extract, but I don't see it on their site anymore. That's a shame because I've never seen anyone else carrying it.

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I tried to order some from them recently, before they removed it from their site. I talked to them on the phone and was told that they were no longer carrying the dry sorghum. Not sure of the reason...