Sanitizing Sugar

[blowmax10]

I'm telling a friend how to make a cheap apple wine - I can't remember at what temp I sanitized my sugar or for how long

I want to say 170 for 20min? Does that sound right?

I was told not to bring it to a boil because I would make a syrup

 

[Revvy]

I was told not to bring it to a boil because I would make a syrup

?????

There's absolutely nothing wrong with making a syrup, a sugar syrup is just......sugar.

I'd just bring it to a boil for 5 minutes and let it cool. Not too different from how we add priming solution for bottling. That's one of the main reasons we do it, to sanitize the sugar.

 

[blowmax10]

even when I'm doing it with apple juice and not water??

 

[Revvy]

Are you saying you are dissolving the sugar and juice together? I wouldn't do that. I would just take my sugar put it in a pan, add just enough water to moisten the crystals then about 2 tbs more water. Bring that to a boil, let it cool and add that to your juice. That tiny bit of water won't do anything to your overall recipe.

 

[blowmax10]

Thank you

 

[Yooper]

I don't sanitize sugar- I just add it to my ciders/wines. But it is easier to work with if it's dissolved. Just dissolve it in water or juice and add it to the rest of the batch. No need to bring it to 170 degrees or whatever.

 

[the_bird]

I *have* heated a portion of the apple juice (for apfelwein) and used that to dissolve the sugar. Maybe a quart or two of juice, not much, a small enough quantity where it's easy to cool it down. Figure it'll kill any bugs that might be hiding in the sugar and it makes the sugar dissolve easier. Might be overkill, but, meh... it's easy. Didn't bother bringing to a boil, just up north of 170° for five or ten minutes.

 

[Revvy]

I *have* heated a portion of the apple juice (for apfelwein) and used that to dissolve the sugar. Maybe a quart or two of juice, not much, a small enough quantity where it's easy to cool it down. Figure it'll kill any bugs that might be hiding in the sugar and it makes the sugar dissolve easier. Might be overkill, but, meh... it's easy. Didn't bother bringing to a boil, just up north of 170° for five or ten minutes.

I think some folks prolly told him not to do that with the juice because wouldn't boiling it do something with the pectins, and make your cider cloudy?


I think Yoops right though, I don't know that I've ever brought the sugar and maltodextrine to boil when making apfelwein (I make it so rarely) maybe I do out of habit, like boiling priming sugar, but I'm not sure. I just do it by rote....Hmmmmmm

But yeah I personally am just used to boiling sugar solutions for bottling that I tend to boil all sugars, either in the brew kettle on brew day or in a little water to add to fermenter when making high grav beers. But I do boil.

 

[the_bird]

I think some folks prolly told him not to do that with the juice because wouldn't boiling it do something with the pectins, and make your cider cloudy?


I think Yoops right though, I don't know that I've ever brought the sugar and maltodextrine to boil when making apfelwein (I make it so rarely) maybe I do out of habit, like boiling priming sugar, but I'm not sure. I just do it by rote....Hmmmmmm

But yeah I personally am just used to boiling sugar solutions for bottling that I tend to boil all sugars, either in the brew kettle on brew day or in a little water to add to fermenter when making high grav beers. But I do boil.

It's such a small amount, though - I mean, a quart out of five gallons? I'm not too worried about pectin haze from heating up 5% of the total liquid. Again, it's probably unnecessary and it does add an extra step, but it's such an easy step and it does eliminate one (possible) issue.

 

[HexKrak]

I dump my sugar right into the juice and let it dissolve on it's own, but then for something that ages for so long I suppose a little caution to insure the final product probably is wise.