caramel beer

[zymurgy]

hey i read on an american beer site it was possible to make beer with caramel syrup(cooked sugar). is this possible? had anyone tried it?

oh yeh thanx for the speedy reply on the last nagging question fiscus h34r:

 

[oldrusty]

I've had a coupla brews where I've slightly caramellised the dextrose dissolving it over too hot &/or for too long......it gave a good result adding to the malty richness of the taste. I think it could be overdone and get into a sickly-sweet. I'm assuming that once caramellised the sugar is less fermentable so it might be a case of needing to add extra fermentables to maintain alc/vol levels, and also added hopping to balance sweetness.

(I was going for a higher alc/vol- 8-9% hence a lot of dextrose takin a long time to dissolve and it got caramellised )

cheers!