So, I attempted to make green dragon sugar by the following method: Combine Green Dragon:Sugar at a ration of 1:2 (by volume). Spread in cake tin and bake on low temperature (I was keeping it around 185) for an hour. I made four times the recommended batch at once, and when I poured the green dragon over the sugar in the cake tin, it didn't make a mealy consistency; or rather, the bottom layer was of mealy consistency with quite a sizable layer of green dragon floating on top. After an hour, there seemed to have been little change (evaporation). After two hours, a pattern was apparent: the sugar seemed to be dissolving into the liquid at the same rate the ethanol was evaporating (roughly), after three hours the same seemed true. There was still a sizable deposit of granulated sugar at the bottom of the pan, but the top of the sugar layer seemed to be retreating at the same rate as the top of the liquid layer. In any case, I predicted the pattern would continue indefinitely, in which case I would end up with just syrup, or that even when saturation became too great and the sugar began to cryztallize back out, it would form a terrible hard-candy brick and not a batch of granulated sugar. I arrested the process and put the syrupy sludge (sugar+some amount of remaining ethanol and water+psychoactive components) into a water bottle to see if I could brainstorm ways to still get this to go the way I want. Do you think adding more sugar in would soak/absorb the excess liquid and result in the dry, powdery final product I am seeking? Should I be content with a slightly boozy syrup?
Water it down, then evaporate the water? That'll probably help the alcohol out, although it'll be more of a brick of sugar at the end.. but just crush the shit out of it till you get your little sprinkles always next time ot get it perfect
Forgive my chemistry ignorance, but why would water help alcohol evaporate? Alcohol already evaporates more readily than water.
Cos if memory serves, alcohol's less dense than water.. so mix it all up and the alcohol and water will separate, the alcohol on top being the first to evaporate. In theory
anything here help? the water thing might work, but im no chemist. http://www.greendragonsoda.com/#stove
I mixed the syrupy sludge (plenty of granulated sugar still in it) into more sugar and tried the baking/drying again. I will let you know how it turned out, but the syrup and sugar mixed nicely and the desired mealy/grainy consistency was achieved. I spread it over a larger surface area and am cooking it at 195 instead of 185. I am hopeful. There has been a significant amount of loss along the way as none of my methods have been scientifically perfect, but I still think I will end up with a larger amount of more dilute sugar that still gets me haaaaaaaaigh.
Success. Only problem is it will take like 3 tablespoons of this shit to get a buzz, but...oh well. Lessons learned for next time.
this isn't right. alcohol and water readily mix, hence you can have things like vodka and whiskey - they don't separate. if you freeze them they do because the alcohol freezes at a lower temperature than the water. water and organic liquids like oils or chemicals like chloroform or phenol (hydrophobic chemicals) will separate into different layers, with the aqueous layer being on top. raga had it right that high percentage alcohol more readily evaporates than water.
