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chthonik · 03-05-2009, 01:19 AM

OK, my brew buds and I have kicked the idea of trying some Belgian styles around for a while. We're going to try a tripel, and we've found some great info on here about process, temp control, etc. but here's the question. What do you all think about light candi sugar vs. plain table sugar? We've gone back and forth on it for a while. Thanks!

Glibbidy · 03-05-2009, 01:25 AM

Plain old table sugar is fine. Some brewers even make there own invert sugar from plain old table sugar for brewing belgian styles.

**mmb** · 03-05-2009, 01:29 AM

You can use invert sugar but yeast produce their own invertase to do the work themselves. Table sugar is perfectly acceptable.

**Denny's Evil Concoctions** · 03-05-2009, 01:34 AM

Some Trappist breweries are now using plain old glucose syrup.

chthonik · 03-05-2009, 01:50 AM

Thanks for the thoughts! Can't wait to see how it goes.

**mmb** · 03-05-2009, 02:01 AM

You can always try making a syrup out of the table sugar and feed the fermentation when it is under high krausen. The yeast will try to ferment the easiest sugars present first and you don't want them to go through the simple sugars and get lazy on the maltose.

I haven't had a problem with that, FWIW, but if you have problems with attenuation you can always try feeding.

RayInUT · 03-05-2009, 04:43 AM

Read "Brew Like a Monk". I'm just finishing it right now. You can buy it on Amazon for half of what Barnes and Noble sell it for. You won't have any more questions about sugars and Belgian brewing for the most part once you finish the book. I thought it was a great read. It really went into the history of Beligian beers as well as the subtle differences between breweries.

**Denny's Evil Concoctions** · 03-05-2009, 06:10 AM

Yeah, great book. I got it when I joined AHA. Being a Canuck, that membership is a waste expcept for the magazine. It was only worth it for the book really. But I digress...

RayInUT · 03-05-2009, 06:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Denny's Evil Concoctions

Yeah, great book. I got it when I joined AHA. Being a Canuck, that membership is a waste expcept for the magazine. It was only worth it for the book really. But I digress...

I got that and Radical Brewing by Randy Mosher on Amazon delivered for less than twenty five bucks total. The LHBS wanted over twenty for just one of them. I think if you are interested in Belgian brewing then both books are indispensible. I used to waste money on candi sugar but no more. I used four pounds of dextrose in the Belgian Strong Golden Ale I brewed the other night. That and 20.5 lbs. of Belgian pilsner malt got me eleven gallons at 17.4 brix (about 1.073 SG). I stuck a hydrometer in the buckets tonight and I am down to 1.028 after 36 hours or so. I want to finsh below 1.008. I put blankets on the buckets tonight to bring the temperature up to 80 or so. It was at 77 before I did that but I live in the mountains of Utah and it will get cold tonight. It seems from reading that you have to be careful not to crash the yeast by temp changes to the lower end until you are ready to rack it to secondary and lager it for a period. They say it is hard to get the yeast started again if that happens. Tomorrow I will put it in a closet with a heater and leave it there until it finishes. Duvel finishes primary in 120 hours and gets around 90% attenuation. I say use the cheapest sugar you can find. That is what the Trappists do for the most part. Candi sugar seems to be a myth in actual Belgian beers.