IkeKrizzule

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I'm brewing a gluten free beer with Belgian Candy Sugar. Reading on here I found that it can be better to add these after the rest of the recipe has fermented a bit, letting the yeast do the easy to ferment sugars after the hard sugars.

Question is I also plan to dry hop this beer. Is it okay to put the dry hops in with the candy sugar, or should I wait until after its had a chance to ferment that out before the dry hops?

IkeKrizzule

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Bump, no answer yet (or even a view). I'll probably just add together if I don't hear back by tomorrow night.

signpost

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No answer for you, but I'm curious about this too. I'm not doing a gluten free batch, but I just ordered the ingredients for a vaguely belgian batch using candi syrup.

I had thought about adding the candi syrup late in the boil, but hadn't thought about adding it after the fermentation had already started. But after seeing this thread, I did remember reading that some others have done that before. Hoping to hear some insight and reasons for/against this idea (preferrably with explanations).

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Primary/Secondary - nada / nada -- Uh oh, better get brewing!
Kegged - 5 gal. of NB Kolsch
Bottled - Dubbel Fisted; El Kolsch-o Loco (a kolsch with pilloncillo); Speckled Heiffer NB; Back to School Porter; Dry Dock SS Minnow Mild (Northern Brewer Pro Series); Signpost Edge the Belgique

chickypad

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I would wait until after fermentation is finished to dry hop to preserve more of the aroma.

BuddyWeiser

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Adding the hops with the sugar probably won't be an issue. If you use a hop bag and just let it float, then it might get nasty looking after being all covered in yeast krausen.

I started a belgian dubbel last weekend and put hard candi sugar in at the start of the boil. I added the sugar in the boil simply because I didn't think to investigate when and why to add it at another time. The biggest problem I noticed was the sugar didn't want to dissolve very fast and kept sticking to the bottom of the pot requiring some slight nudging with a spoon to prevent any chance of burning.

My fermentation has been vigorous and steady (tomorrow is day 5), but I've yet to try any FG readings. If my gravity doesn't get as low as I expect, then maybe the candi sugar causes the beer to get too alcoholic for the yeast to finish fermenting the malt extract. Certainly seems possible, though I don't expect mine to get quite that high in alcohol.

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RDWHAPBR

BuddyWeiser

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Does yeast activity affect the aroma? Thanks!

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Maddoghoek

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The "hard" candi sugar is a simple sugar that the yeast will consume first. They tend to get lazy and take longer to eat the complex sugars because of it. The late addition of simple sugars ensures the yeast have worked on the complex ones first.

The hard candi sugars are exactly the same as common table cane sugar. Good way to save a few dollars on a beer that had a pretty expensive bill already.

The Belgian candi syrup is not the same. It's an inverted sugar and lends flavors as well as fermentables to the brew. If you do a search, there are some good threads on the differences and even how to make your own candi syrup.

BPal75

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Yea fermentation will off-gas a lot of your dry hop aroma, so I would definitely recommend waiting for fermentation to finish before dry hopping. That means candi sugar before dry hops. I like the idea of getting the yeast working on the maltose before giving it the simple sugars. I would suggest maybe adding the simple sugars after 3-7 days depending on how fast your fermentation takes off and then adding the dry hops once you hit FG, probably about another week after you add the candi sugar.

I haven't done this, so not speaking from experience, but theoretically that sounds like the best approach to me.

chickypad

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^ This is what I was getting at.

I've done a Belgian tripel recipe once adding the sugar to the boil and once adding it 4 days into fermentation. The one with the late addition only finished one point lower. I think pitching enough healthy yeast and good oxygenation were the more important factors for me.

BuddyWeiser

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Awesome & thanks for the info!

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RDWHAPBR