Sugar sand and home brewing.

[Tweegs]

Just had a rather interesting conversation. The discussion evolved to talking about why we make candy from light syrup and sugar from dark and the amount of invert sugar being the reason. This piqued the curiosity of the home brewer which led to talking about sugar sand.

Since the brewer uses R.O. water, which depletes the mineral content, he became interested in the sugar sand because it has much of the mineral deposits and is potentially a source of the invert sugar he craves.

So my question becomes: Has anyone ever brewed with sugar sand, tried to brew with it, know of a reason to, or not to brew with it?

We all sure make enough sand, and frankly, just the thought of using it…well…Bleh!
But if there is a market for the stuff, I’m not above exploiting it.

[happy thoughts]

My only thought would be about the type of equipment being used to collect and process sap, and in particular, heavy metals like lead and zinc that end up in the niter, sometimes in high concentrations. Lead would be might first concern, but zinc is also now being looked at more closely for potential toxicity. If you're using equipment that you feel confident doesn't contain them, then it can't hurt to try it.

[Tweegs]

I’m within current standards and practices, so heavy metals shouldn’t be an issue.

We’ve been playing around the past couple of days and haven’t found an efficient, cost effective way to separate the niter from the filters. At first blush it would seem easy, but it’s really not.

Looks like this fellow is going to have to stick with traditional sources for his invert sugar. It isn’t worth the time or hassle for me.