I’m about to brew a gluten free beer for a friend. All the recipes for dark GF beers call for dark candi sugar for coloring, but I have a bunch of the dark candi syrup and would rather use that. It has more flavor and seems like it would do a better job of giving the beer some color.
I would think so. It’s made from beet sugar I think. but I don’t know.
I’m pretty sure it doesn’t contain any. Any protein in it would be denatured or burned in the caramelization process too, I believe. Very high temperatures.
I’ve been doing a lot of research about candi syrups, and commercial caramel syrups in general. The bad news is something I’ve come across on the FDA website about “process aids” not needing to be disclosed. Sugar by itself can’t darken the way those syrups do. Maillard reactions need a nitrogen source and a reducing sugar. Since the nitrogen is consumed, and the acids, bases, and (usually) ammonium compounds used to make the syrup are “process aids” they don’t have to list them on their ingredients.
But I haven’t come across anything in my research to suggest they use gluten in their process, although it would certainly serve as a nitrogen source and probably could be used.