Protos
Die Schwarzbier Polizei
Gentlemen, I need to make me some Inverted Sugar out of refined Beet Sugar.
I need not a Syrup, but a hard crack. I'd crush it and store it as a normal table sugar, just inverted. I'll use it not just for an adjunct but for priming as well. Cause I've got a sackful of free Beet Sugar, and need to use it up, and it is of such a quality that it gives beer a slight cidery twang even at tiny priming amounts, when raw. When inverted, it's OK however.
I've already made inverted sugar of it several times following hints published by Kirsten England, but I wasn't satisfied. The Acid added for invertion transferred into the beer and sometimes, with large sugar additions to the grist, made my beer more sour than I'd care for. I feel I need to neutralize the acid somehow. I found several sources suggesting doing that with Baking Soda, and Ron Pattinson's blog mentions using chalk for that matter in old English breweries.
Sadly, I'm totally ignorant in Chemistry and just can't calculate, for example, how much Baking Soda should I use to neutralize, say, 5 ml of 80% Lactic Acid.
So, that's my main question.
Also I have another question regarding the inversion temperature upper limit.
K. England says I shouldn't cross the 240F threshhold. I followed his suggestion, and frankly it was a PITA to keep the temperature from rising higher. On cooking forums, however, I see the chefs don't set the upper limit at all: you may cook your sugar as hot as it gets, just watch for scorching. I don't pursue creating any particular colour grade, I need just some inverted hard-crack sugar, so maybe I don't need to carefully limit my temperature as I did?
I need not a Syrup, but a hard crack. I'd crush it and store it as a normal table sugar, just inverted. I'll use it not just for an adjunct but for priming as well. Cause I've got a sackful of free Beet Sugar, and need to use it up, and it is of such a quality that it gives beer a slight cidery twang even at tiny priming amounts, when raw. When inverted, it's OK however.
I've already made inverted sugar of it several times following hints published by Kirsten England, but I wasn't satisfied. The Acid added for invertion transferred into the beer and sometimes, with large sugar additions to the grist, made my beer more sour than I'd care for. I feel I need to neutralize the acid somehow. I found several sources suggesting doing that with Baking Soda, and Ron Pattinson's blog mentions using chalk for that matter in old English breweries.
Sadly, I'm totally ignorant in Chemistry and just can't calculate, for example, how much Baking Soda should I use to neutralize, say, 5 ml of 80% Lactic Acid.
So, that's my main question.
Also I have another question regarding the inversion temperature upper limit.
K. England says I shouldn't cross the 240F threshhold. I followed his suggestion, and frankly it was a PITA to keep the temperature from rising higher. On cooking forums, however, I see the chefs don't set the upper limit at all: you may cook your sugar as hot as it gets, just watch for scorching. I don't pursue creating any particular colour grade, I need just some inverted hard-crack sugar, so maybe I don't need to carefully limit my temperature as I did?