Invert sugar turned into…caramel?

Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum

Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:

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

QuiQuog

Supporting Members
Supporting Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2015
Messages
259
Reaction score
249
Location
Minnesota
I just started another kit and decided to chapitalize it because the sg looked very low. The last time I tried this, I dumped the sugar in and created a volcano, losing about a gallon of my must. This time I decided to invert the sugar first, and then add it slowly. But, I set the burner on low and didn’t come back to it until 6 or 7 hours later. The sugar turned a beautiful reddish brown and tastes like caramel. I’ve read that people sometimes do this for beer, but wine isn’t beer. What do you think the result would be if I used this sugar in wine? Flavor? Color? Mouthfeel?
 

Attachments

  • 10A5E88D-FCC8-48DC-BA83-59D0DDF49181.jpeg
    10A5E88D-FCC8-48DC-BA83-59D0DDF49181.jpeg
    1.4 MB · Views: 0
It will certainly affect the flavor, although for good or bad I cannot say. That may be personal taste.

If chaptalizing wine, I suggest adding sugar up front, getting the SG where you want it before you inoculate.

If step feeding, use smaller amounts of sugar and pour in a thin stream while gently stirring. This will help avoid Mount Vesuvius.
 
It will certainly affect the flavor, although for good or bad I cannot say. That may be personal taste.

If chaptalizing wine, I suggest adding sugar up front, getting the SG where you want it before you inoculate.

If step feeding, use smaller amounts of sugar and pour in a thin stream while gently stirring. This will help avoid Mount Vesuvius.
Yeah, maybe one day I’ll learn. In some ways laziness and procrastination helps in winemaking. In others, not so much.
 
Interesting!!
Bench test, see how it tastes.
Caramel flavor may overpower. Might be better suited to some country wines.
Update for sure!
Well, I have some extra wine, because of the skins pack I added. I had to rack some off into a gallon jug due to over foaming. I only had about an inch or two of headspace in the fermentation bucket. I already made a new batch of invert for the wine, but I’ll use some of the “caramel” for the gallon. I’ll update at some later date.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top