Sugar

[gary lucas]

Hi folks as a new member I wanted to say hi to the group, I have just
made my first brew as such, which was using one of the new youngsgroup
kits, the Alchoshots, although they are very good they are incredibly
sweet, probably due to the amount of sugar in them, 2KG in 4 litres!!

As I am a beginner there are a few things I wanted to know:

1) Is there anything else that can be fermented with yeast apart from
sugar as my wife is diabetic, and if not is there anything else that
can be added to the liqueur at the end instead of sugar to make it
sweeter, maybe some sort of sweetner?

2) Has anybody made one of the Vodka kits such as the Vinland one,
sounds very tricky, is it as bad as it sounds?

Gary

 

[Sasquatch]

Adding sugar is about carbonation, not about sweetness. Beer is bad for diabetic people, as far as I understand, because there are "sugars" which the yeast cannot process but people can.

Vodka kit I have not heard of. Distilling is illegal almost everywhere and you can't "brew" vodka to 40% so I can't imagine what these are about.

I don't know of any diabetic people that think alcohol helps them in any way.

 

[trailmix]

distilling is illegal??

 

[Sasquatch]

Think it depends on where you are.

 

[joeyuwp]

distilling is illegal??

From what I've heard, I think its ok as long as you stay under a certain volume per batch or year or whatever it is. Anymore than the minimum and you have to register the still with the feds. That's what I've heard.

 

[PT Ray]

Carbohydrates, sugar and alcohol are all to be avoided with a diabetic. It looks as if you are in a rock and a hard place.

 

[Orfy]

Hi Gary,

I know the type of things you are talking about, they are basically alchopops.
Flavoured drinks with alcohol added. No distillation needed. It doesn't really have a lot in common with beer making. (Apart from fermentation)
The yeast turns some of the sugar to alcohol and the rest is left to give the sweetness. You could always put less sugar in or leave to ferment a little longer.

I've heard that people have done them with sugar replacements suitable for diabetics.

If you can get hold of the sugar replacement, why not try it on half the kit, do the other half for you to compare the end result.

 

[bikebryan]

From what I've heard, I think its ok as long as you stay under a certain volume per batch or year or whatever it is. Anymore than the minimum and you have to register the still with the feds. That's what I've heard.

Nope, at least in the US. Operating an unlicensed still is not legal. Even if you are licensed with ATF, it is not legal to use it to produce product to drink. You can only use it to produce ethanol to be used as fuel.

 

[david_42]

Back to the OP. There are a lot of different types of sugar (sucrose (cane/beet), fructose (honey), glucose (corn syrup), maltose (barley/grains)) that yeast will ferment, but they are all sugars. If you use straight sucrose, there will be very little left in the final product. You could use some artificial sweetner in the liquor, but the mouth feel won't be the same. Maybe Sucralose would work.

 

[gary lucas]

Many thanks for all of your replies, you have given me a few good ideas, think I might have lead some people down the wrong paths with the vodka kit as it only produces 21 percent as does not requires distilling which I know is illegal!