A Belgian Experiment

Next week I am planning an experiment.

I am going to brew 13 gallons twice to end up with 4 - 5.5 gallon carboys.

STRONG GOLDEN TYPE
One batch is going to be pale malt hopped with styrian goldings at 25 IBU with hops added at 90 and 20 min. The OG for the 13 gallons have a target of 1.081. Once the batch is cooled I plan to add honey to one carboy and C & H white sugar to the other. The final OG will be 1.090 with about 10% of the fermentables from the simple sugars.

STRONG DARK
The second batch is pale malt at the same OG of 1.081 with D2/white sugar in one 5.5 gallon and "SUGAR X"/white sugar in the other 5.5 galons. The hops will be styrian goldings at 34 IBU at 90 and 30 min.

My plan right now is to put the 1.5 pounds of Dark Candi D2 and 1.5 pounds of "SUGAR X" in 2 quart jars mixed with water and pressure cook it for 20 min at 15PSI. This is the same procedure I will use for the honey and C&H for the Golden.

That way once the brew day is over I can pour the sterile sugar and water mixtures into the carboys to bring the OG up to the correct level.

The yeast is WLP530 grown up on a stir plate and pitching rates will be the same for all carboys.

The temperature for the ferment will start at 64 then allowed to ramp up to the 70's or very low 80's if they get that warm.

So the hopping will be very close, the sugars will be the main difference between the 4 carboys.

That is it.

I would wait until you have a strong active fermentation before adding your sugar solutions. I have brewed a few Belgian strongs and have had problems getting them to ferment all the way when starting the process with a hi grav. I would also keep them in mid sixties to low seventies unless you are looking for an overpowering yeast profile. At the temps I suggested you will still get a pronounced belgian flavor which is what it sounds like you are looking for. Just a couple of my thoughts, no pennies required.

I would disagree and allow your ferm temps to get higher than low 70s

Parker, There is no need to if you do your sugar addition during active fermentation. I think it is the early hi grav that requires warmer temps to acheive full fermentation.
B-Dub, Watch your mash temps. The higher the mash temp the more complex sugars you have and the more difficult time the yeast will have.

I'm def interested to see how the normal sugars work out... I had someone else tell me if I boil for 90 mins the sugars will invert and become like candi sugar anyway... but I'm not sure at this point, I may, for simplicity sake, bite the bullet and pay the horrifically high cost of the belgian candi sugar for now.

Make your own it is very simple. Google making candi sugar.

pompeiisneaks said:

I'm def interested to see how the normal sugars work out... I had someone else tell me if I boil for 90 mins the sugars will invert and become like candi sugar anyway... but I'm not sure at this point, I may, for simplicity sake, bite the bullet and pay the horrifically high cost of the belgian candi sugar for now.

Click to expand...

Don't use candi sugar. Use candi syrup. Waaaay more interesting/complex. You might as well just use table sugar if you're using candi rocks.

This is not my first rodeo in Belgium. I have brewed many Triples with C&H and have had great results.

When brewing for dryness mash in the 146-149 range. Works like a charm.

I usually boil the Dark Candi syrups, but since I want to try different sugar in every carboy the pressure cooker came to mind.

Finally figured out how to get my 1.090 beers to ferment down to 1.008 to 1.012 every time.

The name of the syrup is DARK CANDI. http://www.darkcandi.com/

beerthirty said:

Parker, There is no need to if you do your sugar addition during active fermentation. I think it is the early hi grav that requires warmer temps to acheive full fermentation.
B-Dub, Watch your mash temps. The higher the mash temp the more complex sugars you have and the more difficult time the yeast will have.

Click to expand...

It is not just the gravity that warrants the wamer ferment. You need to get into the upper 70's even low 80's to get the true Belgian ester profile. The only other option if one stays as low as you suggest is to fake it with spices.

Seems like a huge brew day B. So the purpose of the experiment is primarily to gauge the effect of different types of sugar, yes? On what, fermentation (FG)? or flavor? or both?

Mainly on flavor.

I want to see how the honey changes the beer compared to C&H. Then see how the two dark candi syrups compare to each other. Lastly how they compare to each other.

The two batches of wort will be only slightly different from each other. That leaves the sugars to be the main difference.

I can't wait!!

Should I know what C&H is? Is so I am sadly remiss.

"C&H, pure cane sugar, from hawaii, grown in the sun....." Don't you remember the jingle Bro? It's just a brand of table sugar, maybe its a West Coast item?

Looking forward to trying the results at the end, should be fun.

Nice reference surfbrewer (coming from a fellow brewer in SB, and thus the central coast). it stands for "California & Hawaii Sugar," based in my home town of Crockett, California (3500 people- tiny town in the SF bay, but a big sugar company). Definitely a west coast brand. Probably not a a big item in Philly. I'm interested in seeing how these recipes turn out, though. Good luck!

I no longer feel remiss. Definitely a West Coast thing.

Sorry about the slang Dontman. Just thought that stuff was everywhere!

Yeah back in the 70's and 80's those commercials were on all the time. I guess I never thought about it being a west coast item either.

i definitely remember the cheesy C&H commercials from when I was a kid in the 80s. All of my friends' dads in Crockett worked either at "the factory" (C&H) or one of "the plants," meaning of the 5 major oil refineries within a 10 mile radius of our town. Toxic death trap -even more so back then. People went blind after an "accidental release" in '94, -many pets died too.

Though Crockett isn't really the factory town it use to be, I still insist on buying C&H sugar (to my wife's "go local/organic" dismay. oh well. gotta support the home town.) Long story short, it's the sugar I'll always put in my Belgians, when needed.