Can I use HFCS or Sucrose for anything?

Where I work at I have a fairly unlimited supply of sucrose and HFCS(corn syrup). Do these end up in any recipes?

One could use either for carbonation or a number of Belgian styles call for the addition of a highly fermentable sugar to "dry" the final product out. Others simply add it to boost the alcohol level of the final product. Not many people here have experience with HFCS, so you might have to experiment with how much to use (especially for carbonating). It should fully ferment out.

I'm using HFCS to reprime some bottles that didn't carb. Had a boilover when desolving priming sugar.

dantose said:

I'm using HFCS to reprime some bottles that didn't carb. Had a boilover when desolving priming sugar.

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Why would HFCS be better to carb with? Why didn't they carb anyways? What does the boilover mean(I'm a little new)?

truckinusa said:

Why would HFCS be better to carb with? Why didn't they carb anyways? What does the boilover mean(I'm a little new)?

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while heating up the extract and water I was using to prime, it boiled over causing me to lose some of the sugar.

I'm trying HFCS because I figure a liquid is less likely to cause the carbonation that is there to foam over.

So normally I would seriously question the use of HFCS... I realize the data on it is controversial and there's good debate on both sides, but I fall into the side that believes that HFCS is not a healthy substitute for sugar.

With that said, in the case of using HFCS as a beer ingredient, I wonder if in the end it all ferments down to the same chemicals when everything is done. I really have no idea.

jigidyjim said:

So normally I would seriously question the use of HFCS... I realize the data on it is controversial and there's good debate on both sides, but I fall into the side that believes that HFCS is not a healthy substitute for sugar.

With that said, in the case of using HFCS as a beer ingredient, I wonder if in the end it all ferments down to the same chemicals when everything is done. I really have no idea.

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corn syrup is sugar. It is made up of 2 mono-saccharide (glucose and fructose)as opposed to table sugar which is a di-saccharide of glucose and fructose with a weak bond. HFCS tastes sweeter than sucrose, so if you're using it as a sweetener you can use less.
The one and only drawback is because the two simple sugars are not bonded in HFCS, the body does not have to break them down and cannot control their absorption as well. With sucrose and the bond, the body can control the rate at which it breaks the bond, but in the end it is still the exact same two mono-saccharides being consumed by the body.

As far as brewing goes hfcs would be a better ingredient than sucrose because the yeast won't have to produce the enzyme to break it down. The end product is still the same.

z987k said:

corn syrup is sugar. It is made up of 2 mono-saccharide (glucose and fructose)as opposed to table sugar which is a di-saccharide of glucose and fructose with a weak bond. HFCS tastes sweeter than sucrose, so if you're using it as a sweetener you can use less.
The one and only drawback is because the two simple sugars are not bonded in HFCS, the body does not have to break them down and cannot control their absorption as well. With sucrose and the bond, the body can control the rate at which it breaks the bond, but in the end it is still the exact same two mono-saccharides being consumed by the body.

As far as brewing goes hfcs would be a better ingredient than sucrose because the yeast won't have to produce the enzyme to break it down. The end product is still the same.

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So how much HFCS would I use in the typical 5 gallon batch? The sucrose I was talking about is melted down to a syrup. I don't know if that makes a difference?

with all the negativity around HFCS, some of which is quite proven now, there is no way I would add it to my beer... maybe the yeast will break it down anyway, but it is still something I would not be willing to play with.

I do my best to keep it out of my food... i certainly would not want to add it to my beer.

NNatic said:

with all the negativity around HFCS, some of which is quite proven now, there is no way I would add it to my beer... maybe the yeast will break it down anyway, but it is still something I would not be willing to play with.

I do my best to keep it out of my food... i certainly would not want to add it to my beer.

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The American Medical Association in June 2008 helped put to rest a common misunderstanding about high fructose corn syrup and obesity, stating that "high fructose syrup does not appear to contribute to obesity more than other caloric sweeteners." Even former critics of high fructose syrup dispelled myths and distanced themselves from earlier speculation about the sweetener's link to obesity in a comprehensive scientific review published in the December 2008 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

That's correct, the only thing "proven" about HFCS is that drinking too much sugar, of any kind, can be unhealthy. Most things you'll find on the internet are startling and often seemingly deliberate misinterpretations of studies that compare entirely different things. The HFCS itself is invert sugar in every meaningful chemical and nutrutional sense: the only significant differences from inverted cane syrup or honey are taste (trace chemicals due to source) and origin. HFCS is nothing more or less than corn starch processed by enzymes into a sweeter form, and home brewers are the last people who should find that a frightening thing. Especially when you're just feeding it to yeast anyway.

Now, as for the actual logistics of adding it, treat it like every other syrup: it's part sugar and part water, but the dry weight of the sugars in solution that matter rather than the full weight of the syrup. If you know the Brix value of the syrup, how much to use should be easy to figure out. If you don't, I'm not sure how to measure it without a specialized tool. Since it's not an ingredient most use on the consumer level, HCFS isn't on usual charts, it won't be on usual references. I'd check whether it's got a consistency more like honey or more like maple syrup, and assume similar Brix/SG values to that.

I work at a plant that makes HFCS it dose not make people fat. Vidio games sitting on the your a$$ and drinking a 12 pack of soda every day do.

Fructose is made from Dextrose. I used some liqued Dex to carb a batch not long ago and it came out fine.

The thing I would be taking in to account is what the sugar % rating of the fructose you have is. Were I work we make 42% 55% and 95% the higher the % the more sugar there is in the syrup. I used 95% Dex syrup when I carbed mine. 95% fructose should be about the same. When I did it I used 5oz and it was on the high end for the carb but good. If what you have is a lower % you may need a little more to get the job done.

hope helps

The thing about those studies is that they are basically just evaluating specific nutritional differences between the two types of sugars. There are other questions out there about psychological differences that question whether or not the two equally satisfy your brains desire for sweets, or how quick the high and lows are, etc etc.

At any rate, I am still wondering if the resulting beer would be 100% identical. Given that the yeast would eat the sugar differently, I would expect slightly different byproducts. In the end, it's all so miniscule I bet it's not human detectable.

NNatic said:

with all the negativity around HFCS, .............

I do my best to keep it out of my food... i certainly would not want to add it to my beer.

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Than you better give up honey too! Honey is over 50% fructose (Glucose makes up the majority of the rest - for the sugar components) putting it up above the most commonly used 42% Fructose HFCS.

The Cane Sugar lobby is quite powerful and is quite happy with all the misinformation out there on HFCS (Sucrose good, HFCS bad)

pjj2ba said:

Than you better give up honey too! Honey is over 50% fructose (Glucose makes up the majority of the rest - for the sugar components) putting it up above the most commonly used 42% Fructose HFCS.

The Cane Sugar lobby is quite powerful and is quite happy with all the misinformation out there on HFCS (Sucrose good, HFCS bad)

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+1

As far as priming goes, I don't know.

I guess you could figure out the weight of the molecule and then figure half of that will go to co2, and then figure out the volumes 1 unit of said molecule will produce and multiply by how many volumes you need.

z987k said:

+1

As far as priming goes, I don't know.

I guess you could figure out the weight of the molecule and then figure half of that will go to co2, and then figure out the volumes 1 unit of said molecule will produce and multiply by how many volumes you need.

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1- 1.5 cup per 5 gal should work. That's what I've seen for honey and LME

the brix on the sucrose syrup is 67% usually(what is brix anyways) and I don't know about the HFCS. I think it is 55% Fructose.

I cant say for the sucrose but with the HFCS I would start with 6oz on a 5gal batch and see what you get. That is some sweet stuff. 42hfcs is better in your sweet tea brix is the sugar the other 33% is water if its in liq. form