Sugar Beets?

[bluestar]

Has any one distilled from the fermentation of sugars converted from sugar beets? If so, we would very much be interested to learn about your experience.

[JohnMiller]

You'll want to talk to Nathan Greenawalt at the Old Sugar Distillery. http://www.madisondistillery.com

[Cane Farmer]

Sugar from sugar beets is very highly refined. The refining process starts with the beet root and goes directly to refined white sugar as opposed to raw cane sugar, which has a definite golden color. This raw cane sugar then in a second step, is re-melted and re-refined into a white sugar which yeilds more molasses.

refined white Beet sugar has very little flavor as compared to refined cane sugar or brown sugar which is nothing more than a little cane molasses added to refined white sugar, beet or cane.

I grow both sugar cane and sugar beets and have tried making a beet molasses "rum". I used a 1st strike beet molasses which is the most pure molasses in the refining process. The wine, which I distilled in a rectifying column, tasted like dirt. If you've ever tasted a slice of sugar beet root, it has a very distinctive "earthy" read "dirt" flavor and at least in my case that flavor carried through to the spirt. Spirit tested at about 90% to 92%. Same still with fermented sugar cane juice makes a very acceptable rum agricole.

I think that a vodka made from a refined white beet sugar would be near tastless, just don't start with beet molasses.

[Spirit of Hven]

Hi,

I have been doing, and experimenting with beet-molasses spirit for about four years. Agreed it is tricky and the spirit has a tendency to get "off flavours".

First of all you need to balance the pH with the yeast, the brix and the nutrition, controle the temperature and if possible make it a very long fermentation.

Most important is the cuts in the distillation (depending on technique used), I tripple distill our variety in traditional pot stills, final distillation is devided in eight sections of which we keep three, we then mature in air dried oak. Final result is a gentle mix of agricole, plain rhum and a hint of wheat bourbon.

An unique taste, but I like it.

Cheers

Henric Molin

[bluestar]

I think that a vodka made from a refined white beet sugar would be near tastless, just don't start with beet molasses.

Thanks, that is all helpful to know. In fact, my objective would be to make a vodka. I would assume it would be straightforward if made from beet sugar, but I was wondering if it made any sense to distill from some intermediate product directly instead of from the fully refined sugar, more to control or reduce cost and total energy consumption.