[Syrupmakers] Brix of Juice as Related to Syrup Yield
F. Eugene Crouse, Jr.
fecjr at triad.rr.com
Sun Oct 28 12:23:17 PDT 2007
I didn't try chewing it, only feeding it into a Chatanooga 36. It was
larger diameter than most of our sorghum. But this was a horrible year to
judge based on size. And... again... it was very premature due to our
shorter season.
-----Original Message-----
From: syrupmakers-bounces at syrupmakers.net
[mailto:syrupmakers-bounces at syrupmakers.net]On Behalf Of Richard Harrison
Sent: Sunday, October 28, 2007 2:57 PM
To: syrupmakers at syrupmakers.net
Subject: RE: [Syrupmakers] Brix of Juice as Related to Syrup Yield
Gene,
Now, you're cooking ! This is the kind of info that I was looking
for. Good job!
Is the green cane small, medium or large in diameter and is it soft
for chewing or not ? Got any digital photos of it ?
Richard
"F. Eugene Crouse, Jr." <fecjr at triad.rr.com> wrote:
We had 9 gallons more juice with the 12 Brix juice and ended up with 1
to 1 1/2 gallons less syrup.
I wish I could describe the cane for you. Since this is our first year
growing any significant amount of sugar cane, I don't have any basis for
comparison. Like I said in my earlier post, it really shouldn't even be
grown here due to our shorter season. The best description I could give at
this point is "green".
Like I eluded to earlier, the numbers aren't an exact science due to all
of the variables. But with my spreadsheet, I can come up with a syrup
thickness (78-81 Brix) if I input 23 Brix juice and a 4.5:1 reduction. To
get that with a 4:1, the starting juice would theoretically need to be
somewhere in the 25-26 range.
-----Original Message-----
From: syrupmakers-bounces at syrupmakers.net
[mailto:syrupmakers-bounces at syrupmakers.net]On Behalf Of Richard Harrison
Sent: Sunday, October 28, 2007 1:09 PM
To: syrupmakers at syrupmakers.net
Subject: RE: [Syrupmakers] Brix of Juice as Related to Syrup Yield
Gene,
Ooooops! I goofed. (again). I reread Junior's report and it WAS 17,
not 20. (Don't know how i did that). Thanks for your response.That's what I
was looking for. But didn't the 17 brix juice turn out about as much syrup
as the 12 ? Elaborate, please.
Also, could you describe the Indian Girl cane variety for me ? I
might want to add it to the collection.
Richard Harrison
P.S. Tracy Baudoin makes syrup from 20-something brix from the sugar
growers in LA. I think he says it cooks down about 4:1 .
"F. Eugene Crouse, Jr." <fecjr at triad.rr.com> wrote:
Richard -
I'll take this opportunity to pick on you for picking on Junior (all
tongue in cheek I hope).
First, unless I missed soething, Junior did NOT state that we (I am
the Gene of "Gene and Richard" that he referred to) made anything form juice
starting out at 20 Brix. He stated 17. That was a measure of the entire
batch of juice at approximately 80 degrees farenheit (already started to
heat). That was our first "demonstration batch", cooked Friday. This was a
mix of Blue Ribbon and Indian Girl (to answer another question, it is a
variety we get out of South Carolina and we have no idea of the origin of
the name). We cooked this, using a variety of methods for determining when
it was finished. We were low on temperature (224) but dead on our intended
Baume reading (37). It turned out a little thinner than we like, but the
taste was the best we have ever made. As Junior stated, it rained ALL day.
One of the locals said that his rain gauge showed a little over 5 inches of
rain over a 24 hour period. We needed that! Just not when we were
cooking... We cooked 92 gallons and ended up with 11 1/2 gallons and a half
pint. That is around 8:1 reduction. It probably would have been closer to
9:1 to get the proper thickness.
Our second "demonstration batch" was cooked yesterday. The weather
was PERFECT for show attendees and for cooking. This batch was all Indian
Girl, grown in Winston-Salem (where sugar cane probably shouldn't grow). We
think the low Brix reading of 12 is due to the shorter growing season and
the cane not being completely ready. We initially intended to use this cane
in a few weeks at a cooking in our kettle, but decided to take it to the
show at Denton to fill in for a lack of cane provided by other growers (dang
lack of rain...). with a low brix reading, we decided to squeeze an
additional 10 gallons of juice to add to the kettle to hopefully keep the
level higher on the finished product. We cooked a total of 101 gallons of
juice and ended up with around 10 1/2 gallons. The taste was good and the
thickness was better than Friday.
In response to the question about the Brix reading of 20 turing into
100 on a 5:1 reduction, it isn't quite that easy. Brix, by my
understanding, is a measure of percentage by weight. So a brix reading of
20 would mean, by weight, the solution is 20% solids (mostly sugars, we
hope) and 80% liquids (water, we hope). There are significant impurities
(skimmings) that muddy the formulas. But treating this math exercise as if
we were only dealing with the sugar content and the water content, and
assuming no sugar loss due to skimming and steam content, a 5:1 reduction in
total volume would yield a theoretical Brix reading of about 68 . This is
based on the assumption of the density of sugars being around 1.57 g/ml and
the water at 1.0 g/ml.
Since there are LOTS of other variables including sugar loss through
steam and skimmings, conversion of starches to sugars, etc. The value could
vary dramaticaly based on style of cooking, accuracy of readings and other
things.
The Brix reading is not a measure of percentage of volume, but is
instead a measure of percentage of weight. We theortically are only losing
water and maintaining sugar. The density of the sugar is over 50% higher
than water. Losing 80% of the solution, but maintaining the same quantity
of sugar, still leaves a lot of water. In the 92 gallon - 17 brix exercise,
assuming a 5:1 reduction as you stated, there would be around 10.62 gallons
of sugars and 7.78 gallons or water at the end.
I'm sure Bill (and others) can point out a huge list of errors in
the assumptions I have given, but this should help to explain that it isn't
a simple 1: relationship between reduction and final content percentages.
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