Kevin58 said:
With all due respect to brewfun, brewers caramel is NOT syrup. It is not sugar... it has no fermentables... it adds no flavor. It is simply coloring.
Thanks for your important insights. It's appreciated. I'm happy to add detail to my comments.
You've described the current state of caramel coloring, which is indeed technologically advanced enough to be flavorless. In that way, you join a long history of brewers extolling the latest technology.
Caramel coloring as you've described isn't usually desirable for brewing. It is usually stabilized for emulsification and colloidal properties, as well as to limit or eliminate the typical foam positive qualities of caramelized sugars. To say that brewer appropriate caramel color sources have no fermentables assumes a level of precision that, in my opinion, is more of an engineered barley product than a real beer.
I much prefer a less processed source for color and that brewer's select for the appropriate flavor contribution. I don't agree with an assertion that color should be attained without expectation of flavor. There are certainly lower flavor impact options, but none is just inappropriate for real brewers. Think Lowenbrau Dark vs. Kostritzer Schwarzbier.
In the 1800's right up into the early 20th century, brewers all over the UK and continental Europe used brewers caramel to adjust the color of their beers. It is not easy to find in the US but you can still find it in the UK. I bought some from this site: https://www.hopandgrape.co.uk/brupaks-brewers-caramel.html
Could you cite an original source for that, which supports the non-fermentability aspect? I honestly don't know of that characteristic in that time frame.
The earliest European patent for caramel coloring, I could find online, happens to relate to beer: http://tinyurl.com/y9lozla8
This is not the earliest that I'm aware of, though. That distinction belongs to UK Patent #2625 (1809) which involved evaporated wort. Other patents seemed to include the darkening of malt husk and, of course, burning sugar.
All of these were supplanted by patent #4112 (1817) for making black (patent) malt. As far as I know, that patent is the first to infer a reduction or elimination of fermentability.
Brewers caramel is not like Sinamar and is not like crystal/caramel malts because both of those will add some kind of additional flavor profiles to your beer. Brewers caramel will not add anything except color.
Non malt sources of color are not acceptable in some brewing traditions or at many small breweries around the world. Sinamar is classified as a malt based caramel color. Weyermann states it's derived from Carafe malt, in a process that harkens to patent #2625. Everything old is new again!
As for Invert sugar - it is another common ingredient used by British brewery's in the 1800's. You can only buy it in large quantities so unless you know a commercial brewer or baker who will sell you some you are stuck with making your own.
Yes you can make invert sugar at home but again, with all due respect to brewfun, NO you can not make it with table sugar! You must use "sugar in the raw" to start with. There is Invert #1, #2, #3 and #4. One being the lightest in color and 4 the darkest.
It is basically sugar in the raw, water and citric acid and you heat it at specific temperatures to get the color you want. According to my research and the way I have them entered in my Beersmith ingredient profiles Invert #1 is 15 SRM, #2 is 35 SRM, #3 is 70 SRM and #4 is 275 SRM.
Here we are in agreement. As table sugar, I meant cane sugar, but wasn't aware that beet sugar has nearly 60% of the North American market. Beet sugar has different caramelization properties than cane, darkening faster and taking on burnt qualities that don't seem to happen with cane sources.
Your point of molasses content in invert #1 to #4 is correct and an omission of mine. However, molasses is not required to create invert sugar. Ironically, Belgian candi sugars are invert and often use beet sugar as their source. There's exceptions to every rule, but it doesn't really apply to this thread.
We've used invert #2 in some of our cask ales and it has a delightful depth as well as light honey and fruit characteristics. It's an important flavor component to those beers. I wish it were more available. We would buy it in 25 kg increments, then our supplier discontinued importing it. We've successfully substituted light brown cane sugar and know that it inverts in the kettle after about 15 minutes.