Has anybody ever made "mead" with raw cane sugar?

Williams 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
thisissami

thisissami

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2017
Messages
50
Reaction score
5
I'm thinking about giving it a try. Replacing the honey with raw cane sugar. I really like the taste of that stuff when dissolved in water, and I bet it'd make a really yummy fermented drink!! Is there any reason that I'm oblivious to that I shouldn't even bother trying this?

I added a raw cane sugar solution to one of my gallons of cider that I made last month, and it has been fermenting happily for several weeks now. I'm curious to try it as a full drink on it's own! :D
 
What makes cane sugar taste like it does is molasses. You can buy it and experiment with it in beverages. It is basically concentrated cane sugar taste.
 
AZCoolerBrewer said:
Fermented sugar is called kilju. You could look it up using that name and get some pointers on how to make it palatable.
Click to expand...

Ooooh rad!! thanks for the pointer. :) I've been searching for "cane sugar drink" and variations on that without any success. :D
 
I wonder if the name "kilju" is some kind of ironic joke (kill you). It's POSSIBLE that fermenting cane sugar (or perhaps sugar cane) might provide a decent wine... but simply fermenting processed sugar does not strike me as likely to produce a drinkable wine except as dmtaylor hints - where there are no other options.... But yer pays yer money and yer takes yer chance...
 
bernardsmith said:
I wonder if the name "kilju" is some kind of ironic joke (kill you). It's POSSIBLE that fermenting cane sugar (or perhaps sugar cane) might provide a decent wine... but simply fermenting processed sugar does not strike me as likely to produce a drinkable wine except as dmtaylor hints - where there are no other options.... But yer pays yer money and yer takes yer chance...
Click to expand...

Heh I'm not interested in fermenting processed sugar. I've got a bunch of the raw cane stuff that I use for bread-making, and it has such a delicious flavor. It's super distinct and yummy when mixed with water, which is what has me thinking that it would be a super-yumz fermented drink. I plan on trying this shortly and will update everybody here after I try it out!
 
Demerera, Turbinado, Palm, Coconut, Pilloncilo, Jaggery, ... all are variations of low to minimally processed sugars with distinct characteristics in their raw forms. But lose almost all of those distinctions through fermentation, IMO.
 
GilaMinumBeer said:
Demerera, Turbinado, Palm, Coconut, Pilloncilo, Jaggery, ... all are variations of low to minimally processed sugars with distinct characteristics in their raw forms. But lose almost all of those distinctions through fermentation, IMO.
Click to expand...

I'll definitely be tasting it well before bottling it. If it loses it's distinct flavor, I'll mix in some sort of fruit to ensure maximal tastiness.
 
following


use lots of appropriate nutrients and additives. find out exactly how each sugar is made and do single ingredient batches if possible.
 
@Maylar - Fermented molasses (that are later distilled) is basically rum, no?

@fredthecat - I plan on using the same nutrient regiment that I did for honey, which from my understanding is also super nutrient-deficient (from a yeast perspective).
 
I will, rum is distilled molasses fermentation.
fermented then distilled sugar wash is just that, I'd assume it being more like vodka or a neutral spirit.

Just for the record, I went to Jamaica and Barbados and took the rum distillery tours. lol good stuff too!
 
I've made fruit wine with added sugar. The taste was too "hot" for me, raw sugar might be an improvement. Give it a try, maybe you'll like it.
The basic brewing podcast did a show a while back featuring a taste test of all the different kinds of Candi sugar that are available, it was very interesting.
 
Hoppy2bmerry said:
I'd just call your fermented sugar water hooch. :confused: It isn't mead, it might be rum if water was removed and drinking too much could kill you.
Click to expand...

When it is crafted with the intent to be a quality, tasty beverage, I've usually seen it referred to as a sugar wine. Hooch would be for the intent of getting plastered.

madscientist451 said:
I've made fruit wine with added sugar. The taste was too "hot" for me, raw sugar might be an improvement. Give it a try, maybe you'll like it.
The basic brewing podcast did a show a while back featuring a taste test of all the different kinds of Candi sugar that are available, it was very interesting.
Click to expand...

The fruit wines with a bunch of sugar added I've seen referred to as country fruit wines. I would imagine if some yeast nutrients were added similar to mead it would have less fusel alcohols and require less aging to be palatable.
 
lump42 said:
The fruit wines with a bunch of sugar added I've seen referred to as country fruit wines. I would imagine if some yeast nutrients were added similar to mead it would have less fusel alcohols and require less aging to be palatable.
Click to expand...

Sure yeast nutrients might help, its worth a try; the interesting thing about the podcast I referred to is that there was the wide range of flavors from the various kinds of sugar used in the experimental tasting. The kind of sugar used makes a difference as well as how the sugar is processed (made into candi sugar). If you can make something similar to dark Belgian Candi sugar and use that in a fermented beverage you'd get a smoother, more complex and interesting flavor.
 
I actually just made a post on this in another thread before I came across this one. I've used Jaggery (Indian cane sugar used often in cooking) to make mead. Both times the fermentation was very fast compared to honey, and it also clears on its own very well. It ends up being a very dark drink with hints of smokey molasses flavor. To me it tastes very similar to a bourbon whiskey, but without the same bite (one batch ended at 12% alcohol, the other 16%). It's not my horn of mead, but some people I've given it to really enjoy it.
 
Actually there are 3 main types of molasses, fancy/foodgrade, blackstrap and feed and all are used by distilleries to make rum depending on their budget.

There is also a sugar called panela that a Mico in Miami uses for rum.
Its minimally processed cane sugar juice that turns into a rich dark brown sugar witch is not like brown sugar from the states that's just processed sugar with molasses in it at around 8-10%

Barbados rum, Jamaica rum I do know for a fact is just blackstrap molasses for lower quality rum ran through a double thumper still (the old fashioned way) and uses the previous leftover still waste called muck or dunder to add back to the ferment after is sat and left to esterfy if you will to add character to the rums.
They also use first ran molasses for higher quality rums and so no molasses goes to waste they use all 3 runs (molasses) for blends.
At least that's what I learned during my questions and the tours.


Sorry to go off topic but rum is one thing I know about and I love to talk about it.

Back on topic, fancy molasses would be a better option if wanting to make a palatable drink IMHO as it's alot higher in sugars than say blackstrap or feedgrade, it's very sweet and has a nice after tone of molasses, sugars above 75%.

I get it for cooking from webstaurant.com and prices are not bad at all, 35-45 usd For a 60lb pail or 14-17 per gal (12lb)

panela would be another good option and it's chock full of nutrients so no need to add any, has a strong but not overpowering flavor of carmalized sugar... it's just plum good stuff, also like a hint of maple which would also be another good option as long as you keep it on the sweet side of the ferment 1.015-1.020ish.

Sorry the ramble folks
 
Last edited:
What would the name be if you have honey as a base and raw cane sugar for a flavor addition?
I see kilju mentioned so I'll have to do some research.
 
Yeah, there are many names for it depending on what type of sugar it's made from.
I've had some panela rum from a guy in the pnw and was awesome, aged just right on the oak... perfect!
Not sure you can call it rum either.

I may go buy some panela and make a concoction to flirt with on my own as I know it's flavors and I believe it would make a decent ferment. Just how to do it is what I need to know. lol
 
I looked up hydromel last night and it's a thin mead, lower abv, beer like.

I'm still fairly new to mead and have to look these kinda things up. lol
 
Right, mead is made with honey. You want to make mead, you spend some money on the honey, unless you or a friend keep a productive hive.
:inbottle:
 
Last edited:
Whoa so many replies I didn't notice! Rad!! Thanks for all the discourse everybody. :)

Lol to everybody saying that a sugar fermented drink isn't mead... I think we all know that!! There's a reason that the original post says "mead" (in quotes). ;) I bought 10kg of cane sugar, and will be getting this fermentation going sometime in the coming week. I'll update you all on how it goes :)

PS I really like the term "Sugar Wine" - gonna probably call it that, as the sense I get is that Kilju is all about super cheap sugars to make a super quick and cheap drink, whereas I wanna make something high quality and delicious. :)
 
I say go for a 50/50 mix of honey and cane sugar.

thisissami said:
I'm thinking about giving it a try. Replacing the honey with raw cane sugar. I really like the taste of that stuff when dissolved in water, and I bet it'd make a really yummy fermented drink!! Is there any reason that I'm oblivious to that I shouldn't even bother trying this?

I added a raw cane sugar solution to one of my gallons of cider that I made last month, and it has been fermenting happily for several weeks now. I'm curious to try it as a full drink on it's own! :D
Click to expand...
 
@mr_stout - going for 100% cane sugar this first time. I've got a 100% mead (well... 98%... there's a bit of blackberries that I picked in there) settling/developing flavors right now, and I wanna see what using a completely different sugar is like. I'll be experimenting far more in the coming years :)
 
thisissami said:
@mr_stout - going for 100% cane sugar this first time. ... I wanna see what using a completely different sugar is like. I'll be experimenting far more in the coming years :)
Click to expand...

I'm not trying to be a downer, but it's still not mead...a worthy experiment, maybe (I would *definitely* go small batch!). Honestly, more than anything else, it sounds more like a wash for making rum at best, or prison hooch at worst...
 
Last edited:
I think you'd be making Rocket Fuel, that would generate some massive migraine level hangovers.

One idea is try to invert sugar then ferment that.

I have a invert link in my signature. Check it out. I'll post the link here in a bit. It doesn't show on the mobile app.

Come to think of it, try and sub real maple syrup for honey if cost isn't a matter to you.
 
This is the invert sugar thread...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/index.php?threads/628857/

Those of you who like authentic English ales, you should try this. Also, if you want color in your darker Belgians but want dryness. The brew like a monk author says you shouldn't use over 7% crystal malts in your grist. This will give get that darker color and dry your ale out a good deal.

This is super easy to make.
 
Another, thought.... don't try to make a pseudo mead, try a cider with a dark invert. That might actually be interesting.
 

Similar threads

L
Opaque Mead?
Replies
4
Views
682
amber-ale
A
Brooothru
Residual Sugar
Replies
4
Views
353
Brooothru
Brooothru
K
Wine that tastes like clear Rum! (Killer Kilju Recipe)
Replies
0
Views
1K
KiljuBrew
K
A
Sanity Check My First Cyser
Replies
3
Views
660
MightyMosin
MightyMosin
CallMeKiupid
Kiupid's Mead Guide for Beginners (like me)
Replies
3
Views
1K
Barzahl
B
CornyKegs 300

Latest posts

Back
Top