First attempt at invert syrup

Silver_Is_Money · Mar 2, 2019

It does indeed look good! You may have gotten by with only 1/2 gram of citric acid. That should be just about the amount present within a slice of lemon. A whole lemon is said to contain ~3 grams of citric acid. Two TSP is probably close to 9 grams.

porter1974 · Mar 2, 2019

When I used my invert syrup i just put the mason jar in the boil kettle and then fished it out with tongs. All the sugar had dissolved. It was a bit reckless.

Lefou · Mar 3, 2019

Pasteurized honey is very similar chemically to invert syrup but has proteins, pollen, and other peculiar characters added through the bee digestive process that sugar water won't have.
The processed bee nectar is more expensive but really achieves the same ends in a finished beer that invert does - added aroma, flavors, and color. What I'd really like to do is heat up and caramelize some honey as a beer adjunct one of these days with some beer wort mixed in. It would add some malt dextrins into the mix that way.
We always have a container of honey in the house, but since I'm lazy, most times I just add the honey to the wort for an ABV boost and dryness to spare myself some extra effort.

TGFV · Mar 3, 2019

Silver_Is_Money said:
It does indeed look good! You may have gotten by with only 1/2 gram of citric acid. That should be just about the amount present within a slice of lemon. A whole lemon is said to contain ~3 grams of citric acid. Two TSP is probably close to 9 grams.

Yeah I definitely did overkill, but it is supposed to impart a near Vanilla flavour at longer boils when used with invert sugar, so decided it would be flavourful ly beneficial.

And that's actually how I end up using honey in alot of beers and make mead. Its so much cheaper to buy your honey in bulk.

And next time I may try doing to chunk method since I obviously hit the hard crack level, or close enough too. Just lay it out in parchment paper in a pan, allow to cool, then break up and store the pieces which you weigh out later.

thehaze · Mar 4, 2019

I too made some syrup and added 1 lime, 1 lemon and 1 blood orange, all cut in quarts. ( this was my attempt to add flavours to the syrup )

I haven't tasted it yet, as I am on a diet, but will soon. I am planning on adding it to a simple Belgian with 100% Bohemian Pilsner + BE-256, mash low and dry it out. Here's a picture of it, it's a beautiful, bright red colour: