Scotch Ale & Inverted Sugar

I'm looking at a couple of strong scotch ale recipes that call for inverted sugar (actually Lyle's golden syrup) - found out this stuff is ridiculously expensive. Talked to an experienced home brewer who said regular table sugar can be substituted for inverted sugar - does this sound right? I'd appreciate opinions.

I heard that inverted sugar might actually be easy to make - cane sugar, water, citric acid in a pot, simmered for 20 minutes - has anyone out there tried this or at least care to comment?

Check this thread out...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/20-lb-sugar-jar-yeast-nutrient-114837/

Leadster said:

Talked to an experienced home brewer who said regular table sugar can be substituted for inverted sugar - does this sound right? I'd appreciate opinions.

Click to expand...

There is a difference between invert sugar and invert syrup. If you are looking to make an authentic product, look at these:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/invert-sugar-creation-use-flavor-etc-224699/

http://www.unholymess.com/blog/beer-brewing-info/making-brewers-invert

I'm assuming this simply needs to inverted sugar which, based on your feedback, appears to be fairly straightforward. Thanks for the feedback.

I use inverted sugar all the time, I make varying degrees of darkness, it works great and is so cheap to make.

I've heard of people using citric acid, lactic acid, or lemon juice - anyone have an idea as to which one works best?

I've used both citric acid (powder) and lime juice. both seemed to work fine. Citric acid is available at your LHBS for a couple of bucks.

It's easy.. just follow those instructions and cook it while you are starting your boil, then add it in.. be careful when you pour super-heated sugar into the wort, it can go crazy on you.

Thanks - if lime juice itself works, I might just use that instead - one less detail to fret over. We have plenty of it around the house.

With lime juice - how much would you suggest using?

Is there an ideal time to add the sugar to the wort? I've read one source where they added it in the final 20 minutes of the boil.

when a scottish calls for dark invert sugar, i use dark brown sugar, not the same, but very close

Ummm.. dark brown sugar and dark invert sugar are pretty darn far apart.

Honestly, I don't know what invert sugar is...but there are several Scottish recipes with table sugar in the recipe. I picked up a book on Classic European beers and they had 6oz of table sugar in their Belhaven Export Ale recipe.