Turbinado Sugar

[bobbyc]

Anyone here using Turbinado sugar in their recipies? I know a couple people have made reference to it in past posts. I was looking into adding some for an upcoming Barleywine recipe. At the grocery store, I noticed the Turbinado bag of sugar was 3.99 for 1 1/2 lbs. I then noticed "Sugar in the Raw" for a bit cheaper, but 2 lbs, and it appears to be the same thing. Any differences? Anyone using this stuff?

 

[Darth Konvel]

I used a box of the "Sugar in the Raw" stuff in my recent Tripel. Tastes great so far

 

[david_42]

Sugar In The Raw is a brand name for Hawaiian Turbinado Sugar

 

[Onedon]

What is Turbinado sugar, and what do you use it for? Priming?

 

[The Councilman]

What is Turbinado sugar, and what do you use it for? Priming?

Turbinado sugar is sugar that has not been refined to the stage of being white table sugar. It has some flavor (a nice flavor IMHO), as opposed to just being sweet. It is slightly brown in color. It is not the same as "brown sugar." Brown sugar is refined white sugar with molasses added.

 

[Walker]

Turbinado sugar is sugar that has not been refined to the stage of being white table sugar. It has some flavor (a nice flavor IMHO), as opposed to just being sweet. It is slightly brown in color. It is not the same as "brown sugar." Brown sugar is refined white sugar with molasses added.

This is something that has always confused me.

Molasses comes from sugar cane. They boil the sugar cane, and this produces Turbinado sugar if you dry it out (if I understand correctly). Instead of drying it to make turbinado sugar, they separate the pure sugar from the impurities, and call the impurities "molasses".

Then, for some reason, they mix the pure sugar and molasses back together and call it brown sugar.

So... are you certain that tubinado sugar and brown sugar as not the same thing once they are dissolved in wort? Both consist of cane sugar and the impurities found in sugar cane; One of them was simply separated and then recombined, the other was never separated.

-walker

 

[Darth Konvel]

I'd imagine it would have some similar properties, but molasses does go through some processing (treated with sulfur, possible more?), so I'm not so sure the end product similar.

 

[Walker]

makes sense.

just to be clear; I wasn't arguing that they were the same... I've just never understood what the actual difference is and was hoping someone could clear it up for me.

Treating it with sulphur and further processing it would certainly change the properties, so I'm willing to accept the turbinado sugar is != brown sugar.

-walker

 

[Walker]

Hmmm. from the wikipedia....

White sugar is the result of removing the molasses from Turbinado sugar, and brown sugar is the result of adding molasses to white sugar. Turbinado sugar is similar in appearance to brown sugar but paler, and in general the two can be exchanged freely in recipes.

-walker

 

[Darth Konvel]

Hmmm, so it would seem that molasses is simple more concentrated, perhaps making turbinado the subtler of the two(?)

I read you, just trying to stumble through the answer

 

[Walker]

the only thing I can think of is that perhaps there is more 'molasses stuff' in a given amount of brown sugar than there is in a the same amount of turbinado sugar (hence the reason brown sugar is darker in color than turbinado).

-walker

 

[bobbyc]

Tasting each, Turbinado definately has a more subtle taste. Seems like it would be a nice, cheap boost to a bigger beer such as a barleywine, plus contribute a bit of taste, probably better so than white table sugar.

 

[Walker]

oh, certainly the turbinado (or brown) sugar will be better than table sugar. Table sugar won't leave any real 'good' taste behind when it ferments, so I'd go with the tubinado OR brown sugar for this.

-walker

 

[The Councilman]

So... are you certain that tubinado sugar and brown sugar as not the same thing once they are dissolved in wort? Both consist of cane sugar and the impurities found in sugar cane; One of them was simply separated and then recombined, the other was never separated.
-walker

Turbinado sugar and brown sugar are definitely not the same things. Best analogy I can think of is maple sap/syrup. Maple syrup is sap concentrated (boiled) to 1/40th of its original volume. If I dilute maple syrup 40:1 I don't get maple sap. Just like adding motor oil to gasoline doesn’t give me crude oil. Something happens (<- technical explanation) in the refining process that changes the sugar bi-product into molasses.

The same in wort? I dunno. Since most of us are using a relatively small amount in beer it probably doesn’t make a hoot of difference. But in coffee or tea... that's a different story.

 

[Rhoobarb]

I've used Turbinado sugar in a few recipes - a red, a pale ale - and it definitely adds a more mellow sweetness than (sing it with me) Brown Shugah! I've only used brown sugar in a nut brown ale, where a stronger, nuttier sweetness is preferable.

Get the cheap C&H brand of raw cane (Turbinado) sugar, available in most grocery stores.