Corn vs Granulated vs Turbinado (Raw) Sugar

Looking at using corn sugar for my belgian blonde. But while talking to a local brewer at the local brew pub, he recommended using Turbinado sugar instead. I am just trying to get a feel from others on if they would do the same thing.

if u do a search u will find that different sugars impart a different flavor once fermented.
corn sugar is completely fermentable and do nothing but raise the alc. content
with that said i would use a candi sugar ( insert favorite here- like a clear or amber) to impart the additional flavors u may be looking for

Candi sugar is a traditional Belgian ingredient. Using a light/amber variety may impart some sweet caramel flavors. Table sugar may leave an undesirable cider flavor, especially in such a light beer. Turbinado sugar is similar to table sugar, but it contains a slight amount of molasses, which may a be pleasant addition.

Yes it is a light one, I only used 3/4 munich, 1/4 biscut and 7lbs of extra light LME (1/4 @ 60, the remainder @ flame out). I also fermented with the Wyeast 3944 (belgian wit). I am also planning on carbing to about 3.25 volumes of CO2.

Yuri_Rage said:

Table sugar may leave an undesirable cider flavor, especially in such a light beer. Turbinado sugar is similar to table sugar, but it contains a slight amount of molasses, which may a be pleasant addition.

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I have found that table sugar imparts no flavor, it only drys out the beer. I have found many references to it in belgian style recipes, such as Orval. I remember reading an extensive thread on this on HBD... maybe 2004ish. I will see if I can find it.

I do not agree that table sugar in the amounts added in reasonable recipes will impart cider flavor. Have you experienced this?

I would vote turbinado for flavor... table or corn for dryness (just me perhaps)

I have been around awhile I am also just trying to get my posts up there!!

Turbinado sugar is functionally equivalent to light brown sugar - the only real difference is that turbinado is cane sugar before the molasses is extracted and brown sugar is white cane sugar that had the molasses put back. In other words, it can make some fine beer but don't use it in anything you don't want to have molasses flavoring.

Yuri_Rage said:

Candi sugar is a traditional Belgian ingredient.

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It is, but remember that candi sugar (in Belgium) means what we call dark candy syrup here in the US. The sort of brown-sugary rock candy-ish candi sugar rocks sold in the US are _not_ traditional Belgian ingredients (and those are the thing that turbinado might sub for)--in Brew Like a Monk, Stan Hieronymus mentions that the Belgian monks laughed when he told them how much American brewers paid for the rock candy stuff (which is, for all intents and purposes, the same thing as turbinado or brown sugar or beet sugar or regular cane sugar as far as brewing goes--to get any real flavor difference in a brewed product, you need a heavily caramelized sugar a la the more recent candi syrup imports or a home-caramelized candy syrup substitute.).

I am still a little undecided on which one to use, I really do not want any molasses flavor in the beer, so I think I may lean more towards the Corn/Cane direction. This is my first try towards this style.

Here is a thread here on cane sugar.

Maybe a recipe will help folks weigh in on the outcome.

I didn't come up with the right words to find that discussion on the orval type recipe.

chefmike said:

Here is a thread here on cane sugar.

Maybe a recipe will help folks weigh in on the outcome.

I didn't come up with the right words to find that discussion on the orval type recipe.

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3/4lb munich
1/4lb biscut
7lbs LME (1/4 of @ 60 min the rest @ flame out)
1.7 oz of Strisslespalt hops for 60 min 20.1 AAU
.3 oz of Strisslespalt for 15 min
steeped grains for 30 minutes
Belgain Wit (Wyeast 3944) yeast
primary for 10 days @71
secondary for 10 days @67

I used a mix of cane and turbinado in my BGS. It doesn't taste at all like cider or molasses.

I used a 1/2 and 1/2 of corn and turbinado. Going to taste it tonight!