Inverting the Bird

Welcome dear reader (singular - there’s probably one of you),

Today, I’m dragging you into the special hell I built for myself last week, when I decided to make my own Invert Syrup. What’s invert syrup, I imagine hearing you ask? What’s so tough about it?

Well, the gist is that, while table sugar is largely sucrose, a disaccharide, or a sugar molecule made up of two (di-) simple sugar molecules (fructose, glucose, and galactose), invert syrup uses heat and a low pH (read: somewhat acidic) environment to split the sugars into fructose and glucose, which...is good? Is a thing we want? As of this paragraph, I’m still not sure why it’s important, but it shows up all the time in early 20th century British brewing, and as such came to be an ingredient in the beer I made, and early versions of The King’s Taxes, so let’s dish

Sorry, why is this important?

Fair question - it seems that this odd concoction is useful for a few reasons, namely:

  • Simple sugars are easier for yeast to digest, likely leading to higher attenuation (less sugar in the final product, which is mostly what you want), 

    • This should also lead to less esters production (I suspect), which is also generally good (I have no source, don’t ask for a source)

  • It also tastes fantastic, and is said to lend rich, treacly/fruity flavors to its beers, which is definitely a plus for any style north of a Pilsner (north here meaning darker in color, so most beers)

  • A general thought about sugars in brewing is that, when not used excessively, they allow you to produce a beer that’s light in character (with the usual goal being drinkability, not insipidness), without sacrificing alcohol. It’s easy to drink 1% beer, but it’s harder to make a 4.8% beer that’s light and easy to drink but not thin

  • Finally, regarding sugars in general, their use is shockingly vast in beer once you broaden your definition a bit - Lactose is very commonly used now in desert and milk/sweet Stouts to add unfermentable (read: present in your pint glass) sugars, and the Belgians have made Belgian Candi Sugar an indispensable ingredient in, at minimum, Trappist beers

I shouldn’t encourage you, but what’s the history surrounding this?

I believe “enable” is more accurate, and fair question - it’s a massive topic encompassing war and taxes, but the gist is that war time made grains more expensive, as did taxes, and so a reasonable malt alternative needed to be employed, and sugar fit the bill as a cheap source of fermentable sugar. Further, there is one surefire way for a brewery with high enough demand to make more money in tight times: reduce turnaround. By reducing turnaround, you can produce more product and hence revenue, since revenue is, roughly in this context, barrels * price per barrel. That, apparently, was yet another nicety of using sugar:

High taxation and other overhead charges have only been met by means of a quicker turnover of capital. In order to achieve it, brewing methods have had to be overhauled and speeded up. Consequently, beers must now be brewed such as will be in good condition and ready for consumption even within a few hours of being racked. This object can only be achieved by using materials such as sugars which are less subject to the influence of nitrogenous and albuminous matters. This argument is in itself indisputably in the favour of sugar. (source)

Finally, while I intend to start digging around more, I could find precious little on Invert Syrup’s origin, but it was apparently theorized and then produced in the early 19th century.

That sounds nifty, and I happen to brew historical British Beers, how do I make some?

Well, please don’t, just buy it. My recipe calls for about a sixth of a pound, and I’d rather just buy 3lb of the stuff than ever make it again. Here’s the process, in summary:

Dissolve sugar in water (maybe white sugar, maybe raw sugar - the latter’s more popular for brewing, the former for sorbets) at a ~1:1 ratio. Easy.

Once it’s at a boil, add like a gram of citric acid (you have that on hand, right?) and slowly heat it until it hits 236˚. The boiling point is inversely proportional to the water concentration, so you don’t have to be super careful with the heat, just don’t go crazy. If you’re trying to make some NEXT LEVEL SORBET, stop here, you’re blessedly done - not so bad, right?

If, however, you’re making good ol’ Invert #3, you’re that syrup’s bitch - have fun standing there, making sure it’s between 240˚ and 250˚ for the next three hours. And no, that boiling point quickly jumps above 250˚, so you have to do it the hard way for almost all of that. Eventually, your inverted bird will have caramelized sufficiently, and you’re done. Ouch.

Practical Use

Well, if you’re making a Dark or Pale Mild (as I was), it’s a sick tool to have in your back pocket. My recipe, based on a Pale Mild from Tetley’s, 1946, called for both Brown Sugar and Invert #3, so no, I couldn’t just swap it out. 

But you’ll also see it pop up in Bitters here and there, and for us, early versions of The King’s Taxes. Our first head brewer, masochist that he was, would actually brew up big batches of invert (and this stuff is, like, taffy thick and a nightmare to handle) every, oh I don’t know, few weeks? Every month and change? With some frequency. While you can buy the stuff, we’ve since swapped it out for Brown Sugar, to largely positive response, so swing on by and see if you can’t pick out the Brown Sugar notes.

Closing Thoughts

I hope I’ve made the beginnings of a case for Invert Syrup/Sugar’s use and production, despite my clear, recent ire for it, and if you’re hungry for another 200+ pages of information on sugar in brewing, good news: it’s like second or third in line re: brewing books I plan on writing (Number one? Building brewing equipment from scratch - there’s no such book, surprisingly). And if you’re near MacLeod between one and three weeks from now, and ask me, I’ll hand you 5oz (about 3% of my whole batch) of Paddington’s Pale Mild - a Pale Mild brewed and carbonated using Marmalade, yet another sugar source.

Cheers,

Adrian “He Doesn’t Seem to Enjoy Actually Brewing” Febre

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