Unmarked bag of white powder.. Lactose?

So I have an unmarked bag that I am 99% sure came from the LHBS in my cupboard.

It looks to me like lactose, but I suppose it could be priming sugar. Is there a definable taste difference? What other method can I use to know what I have?

Lactose wouldn't be very fermentable. Short of buying/begging/borrowing some....?

I have a bag of lactose, and a bag of priming sugar. I'm gonna do a taste test.

Just wondering if there's any other way to know for sure.

Try selling it to connected drug dealer looking to move some weight. If you end up dead or disfigured, you can rule out cocaine.

I think the priming sugar would be sweeter. I don't know that for sure, though!

I have lactose, but no priming sugar, so I can't help. Maybe someone who has both would be willing to taste each one and report back?

So, after a taste test, the priming sugar is much sweeter.

Based on that evidence the mystery bag is...























...Priming Sugar!!

Mystery solved.

If it makes your gums numb... taint neither!

Lactose tastes and smells like milk. The difference should be very clear. Also, lactose is usually a tiny bit darker than the pure whiteness of priming sugar. Finally, if it feels like the sugar is "thick" or "sticky," it is maltodextrin.

the only way to know for sure is to take a sniff. ha ha ha. some of these thread titles are hilarious.

Find a friend who is lactose intolerant, give him some. Then wait...

cocaine? anthrax? pbw? saw dust? could be anything. does it turn blue when combined with dihydrogen oxide?

As far as relative sweetness goes:

Sucrose: 1.0
Fructose: 1.1-1.5
Glucose (aka dextrose, aka corn sugar/priming sugar): 0.5-0.7
Maltose: 0.5
Lactose: 0.3
Galactose: 0.6 (not really of interest to us)
Maltodextrin: ~ negligible

So priming sugar is about twice as sweet tasting as lactose. Plus some of the characteristics sonetlumiere85 pointed out.

dunnright00 said:

So, after a taste test, the priming sugar is much sweeter.

Based on that evidence the mystery bag is...























...Priming Sugar!!

Mystery solved.

Click to expand...

Yeah, like Sherlock Holmes was famous for his priming sugar addiction!

Laughing_Gnome_Invisible said:

Yeah, like Sherlock Holmes was famous for his priming sugar addiction!

Click to expand...

Who knows what ACD had him smoking in that pipe. I'm leaning towards opiates.

I came across an un-marked 1 pound tub of white crystals last weekend.

Drove me nuts that I didn;t mark it and didn;t know what it was. found myself comparing it to everything else and no match. Looked a lot like Sea salt with PBW mixed in but, that would have been crazy to do. Had a strange sour twang to it with a salty finish.

I tossed it. Figured I had forgotten about it til then so I'd be safer getting rid of it.

Turns out it was a sea salt. An off brand Kosher variety with some sort of anti-caking blended in. How do I know? wife brought a box home from market and complained about the sourish twang.