How to Make Sugar Syrup – The Ultimate Guide

Today we will talk about the basis of the basics of a novice bartender and moonshiner-experimenter – syrup. We will figure out how this product is classified, how it happens, how to cook sugar syrup at home, and also learn recipes for more complex caramel syrup for liqueurs and tinctures and inverted sugar syrup for mash.

Sugar syrup is a product that any person who is fond of making homemade alcohol and cocktails must have come across at least once. It would seem that everything is simple here – I took sugar, water, stirred – and you’re done. But this is only apparent simplicity. Improperly prepared homemade sugar syrup can completely spoil the drink, make it cloudy, precipitate, not to mention the fact that the product can easily be oversweetened, especially if you are making a complex cocktail or tincture with a bunch of ingredients, such as homemade Amaretto.

Today we will talk about the basis of the basics of a novice bartender and moonshiner-experimenter – syrup. We will figure out how this product is classified, how it happens, how to cook sugar syrup at home, and also learn recipes for more complex caramel syrup for liqueurs and tinctures and inverted sugar syrup for mash.

Simple or difficult? Basic sugar syrup at home

The most famous and frequently used syrup in bars is called “simple”, “basic” or “bar” in Russian, and “simple syrup” in English. Sugar crystals in a cocktail are a bad tone (unless we are talking about a specially made sugar rim on a glass), so the sand in the recipe should be replaced with an equivalent amount of the main syrup.

Its recipe is really simple: 100 grams of sugar are poured with 100 milliliters of boiling water and stirred until completely dissolved. After that, the liquid is cooled and must be filtered.

This syrup has at least 3 variations. Firstly, if you are making, for example, homemade tinctures from recipes from old cookbooks, you should know that in them, the main sugar syrup means twice as sweet a product.

To prepare it, you need 200 grams of sugar, 100 grams of water, you may also need a water bath, since sugar dissolves worse in this proportion.

There is also gomme syrup – a syrup with a gum emulsifier (meaning not the Comedy Club, but the resin that appears on fruit trees). But this option is rarely used.

Much more common is Rock Candy Syrup – Trader Vic, the legendary American restaurateur, liked to add it to his “mai-tai”. It fits perfectly into the favorite rum cocktails of the editors of The Rum Diary, especially if the rum is, shall we say, not of brilliant quality – the brown sugar used in the recipe gives the drinks authenticity, thanks to the taste of molasses and caramel. Sugar is recommended to use brands Demerara or Muscovado (the darkest).

Rock Candy syrup is prepared as follows: 1 part of white refined sugar, 1 part of brown cane sugar is taken, the whole thing is poured with 1 part of boiling water. This syrup will most likely need to be heated in a bain-marie as the ingredients may not mix well. After the sugars are dissolved, the liquid is cooled, vanilla extract (a couple of drops) is added to it, everything is filtered into a bottle.

Yes, yet – when mixing equal amounts of sugar and water (for example, 1 kilogram and 1 liter), you will get not 2 liters of solution, but only 1.62 – sometimes the volume of the syrup is important.

Confectioner-jeweler? What does “sample of syrup” mean and how is it determined?

Don’t know how to make a sugar syrup recipe? Are you afraid of the phrases “test for a thin thread” or “test for a hard crunch”? Don’t panic, we’ll figure it out!

Basically, sugar samples are used by confectioners – they (that’s strange!) Do not make it for making booze, but for all sorts of sweets, lozenges, toffee and impregnation of cakes. In our craft, basically, only 2-3 samples are used – we will dwell on them in more detail.

All confectionery sugar syrups are prepared according to certain rules:

• Always skim off the foam! If you put refined sugar in a saucepan, and not sand, there will be noticeably less foam.
• Until the sugar dissolves, it must be stirred all the time so that it does not burn. But after dissolution, it is impossible to interfere with it, on the contrary, otherwise it will begin to crystallize around the spoon.
• The syrup is cooked at a high but even temperature, without sharp fluctuations.
• The dishes are used thick-bottomed, best of all – with a convex bottom, made of copper or brass, in extreme cases – enameled.
• Sugar can be replaced with powder (in equal parts by weight, but not by volume!) – it will be even better, since there are fewer impurities in the powder.

Of course, professionals have special sugar thermometers, which make it much easier to determine the sample. But we will do without special equipment.

1. Liquid syrup (I sample) – not sticky and not thick liquid, used for sherbets and non-alcoholic cocktails.
2. Thin thread (II test). Formed at 100°. To determine this test, you need to take a spoon, moisten your fingers in cold water and drip the syrup between your thumb and forefinger. When you open your fingers, that very thin thread appears between them, which quickly breaks. The fine thread test is used in most recipes for homemade tinctures and liqueurs.
3. The middle thread does not break longer and is slightly thicker in diameter. This syrup is ideal for jams from tender berries.
4. And, finally, at 106-110 ° a thick, sticky, dense thread is formed, which quickly hardens. This is the III test, it is suitable, for example, for the manufacture of invert sugar syrup for mash.

So, pure neighing, several names of samples: weak fudge, soft ball, strong ball, “crackle”. We skip them and go straight to the last samples, when sugar changes color, taste and aroma, turning into caramel.

Caramel syrup at home

Caramel is widely used in the preparation of alcoholic beverages for coloring, sweetening and a special “burnt” flavor, in particular, it is used in the same Amaretto or New Year’s juniper tincture.

It is not difficult to prepare caramel syrup, the principle is this – boil a simple syrup until it starts to darken, and then dilute it with water or basic sugar syrup.

There are three types of caramel sugar syrups (10th, 11th and 12th samples):

• Light caramel is a thick mass of a honey hue, if you drop it into cold water, you get a hard icicle, not viscous, but crumbling on your teeth.
• Dark caramel, she is a bypass. The consistency is the same as the previous sample, but the color is yellow-brown, and the aroma is stronger. It is dark caramel that is needed for coloring and flavoring alcoholic beverages.
• Zhzhenka. Formed at 190°. It is a universal coloring and flavoring, but not everyone likes a strong caramel smell with noticeable hints of smoke.

At what stage to dilute the syrup depends on your tastes and the recipe for the drink you are going to prepare. This is done as follows – an equal amount of water is added to boiling caramel. When the mixture boils, the fire is reduced, and the syrup is brought to a homogeneous consistency. After that, caramel syrup can be diluted with basic sugar syrup in a ratio of 1: 3 – so it will be better mixed in drinks.

There is an easier way to make caramel syrup at home. It is necessary to pour 100 grams of sugar into a thick-walled saucepan, add a spoonful of water to it and cook over medium heat until the mass turns brown. After that, you need to add 100 ml of cold water to it and keep it on fire, stirring until the mixture becomes homogeneous. Ready!

Invert sugar syrup

Inversion is the process by which sugar breaks down into glucose and sucrose. Natural invert sugar is the main component of natural honey. Invert sugar syrup can be used in “sour” tinctures, as citric acid or juice is used in its preparation. It will allow the drink to be stored longer, and also protect it from precipitation. This syrup is a bit like honey, so it is recommended for people who are allergic to real “bee gold”.

But most often they use inverted sugar syrup for mash. It ferments faster, and the moonshine from it is rumored to be much more noble, tails and heads have a much less unpleasant aroma, and the drink itself tastes better than regular sugar.

Inverted syrup is used, for example, in sugar mash.

The proportion for this syrup is as follows: for 2 kg of sugar, you need to take a little more than a liter of water and 0.8% citric acid by weight of sugar.

1. Combine water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat.
2. When boiling, remove the foam and add citric acid. As a result of the reaction, the foam will stand out again – it again needs to be removed with a slotted spoon.
3. The pan is closed with a lid, everything is cooked at a temperature of 90-100 degrees, over low heat.
4. From time to time, you need to take a sample from the syrup – it can boil from 25 minutes to an hour and a half. We need a “thick thread”. When it has appeared – remove the syrup from the heat and cool.

That’s it, our product now contains only monosaccharides. Inverted sugar syrup for mash is ready!

Prepare syrups for your alcohol the right way! Remember:

An amateur, unlike a professional, can afford to achieve perfection in small things for an infinitely long time! (With)