Belgian candi sugar

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Jaybird

Jaybird

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I read an artical on how to make your own candi sugar. @ http://www.franklinbrew.org/brewinfo/candi_sugar.html and in the artical it mentioned the fermentiablity of the sugar is limited so I would want to add the equivalent amount of white sugar to achieve the same weight of candi sugar called for in the recipe. this kind of confused me maybe you all can make heads or tails of it. So lets just say my 10 gal recipe calles for 2# of Belgian candi sugar should I add another 2# of white sugar??
Cheers
JJ
 
From what I've read/heard, Candi Sugar (the rocks) adds little more than plain white sugar would. Highly fermentable, not a lot of added flavor. Not a traditional ingredient to Belgian brews, more a bastardization.

This stuff, on the other hand, is supposed to be the real deal:

CandiSyrup.jpg


This sugar syrup is essential for brewing dark Belgian beers, giving more color and caramelized flavor than dark candi rock sugar. Rated at 150 SRM, but will deliver closer to 80 SRM; use 1/4 to 1 cup per 5 gallons. Contains 16 fluid oz.
Click to expand...

IIRC, this is the stuff that's not fully fermentable, the rocks are essentially 100% fermentable and leave little residual flavor. Pretty sure it was in "Brew Like A Monk" I was reading about a lot of pro brewers moving away from the rocks, as they are a very expensive way of adding very little more than gravity points.

Two caveats:

T'aint tried it myself, and the Belgian I just bottle today, using the rocks, well, it :rockin:

It's not currently available, at least at Northern Brewer.
 
OK so if the rock candi is not worth the $$ then should I make some Belgian candi syrup?? and that makes total sence to me.. so that being said do I add more sugar to make up for the unfermentiables in the syrup??? and if I have Belgain rock candi sugar on hand use it instead of the white stuff with the syrup?
JJ
 
the_bird said:
From what I've read/heard, Candi Sugar (the rocks) adds little more than plain white sugar would. Highly fermentable, not a lot of added flavor. Not a traditional ingredient to Belgian brews, more a bastardization.

This stuff, on the other hand, is supposed to be the real deal:

CandiSyrup.jpg
Click to expand...
I've used the syrup and love it.
 
Jaybird said:
OK so if the rock candi is not worth the $$ then should I make some Belgian candi syrup?? and that makes total sence to me.. so that being said do I add more sugar to make up for the unfermentiables in the syrup??? and if I have Belgain rock candi sugar on hand use it instead of the white stuff with the syrup?
JJ
Click to expand...
If you are needing Clear Candi, just use cane sugar.
 
I've got to imagine that syrup's still MOSTLY fermentable. Unless you're using huge quantities, I can't imagine it would be noticable if it was 95% or 80% fermentable. You don't use that stuff for a terribly large percentage.
 
the_bird said:
I've got to imagine that syrup's still MOSTLY fermentable. Unless you're using huge quantities, I can't imagine it would be noticable if it was 95% or 80% fermentable. You don't use that stuff for a terribly large percentage.
Click to expand...
Ya I guess your right 1 to 2 # per batch ( 10 gal ) I will probably use 2.5 # in a 12 gallon batch. maybe I will add 10 to 15 % extra of the candi sugar to make up the lost fermentiables. I think I am going to make some of the syrup and use it in my next brew and it will be my first attempt at a belgian wish me luck
cheers
JJ
 
Funny this came up, was chatting with my brewing partner. He got some out of the NB catalog (8 dollars for 4 i think). We did the math for promash and the entry should be sugar with a pppg of 1.040 and remember that each pound is actually 1 cup...

The rock candi you get is actually the crystalized form of the syrup, the monks use the syrup and sell the rock candi.
 
the_bird said:
From what I've read/heard, Candi Sugar (the rocks) adds little more than plain white sugar would. Highly fermentable, not a lot of added flavor. Not a traditional ingredient to Belgian brews, more a bastardization.

This stuff, on the other hand, is supposed to be the real deal:

CandiSyrup.jpg




IIRC, this is the stuff that's not fully fermentable, the rocks are essentially 100% fermentable and leave little residual flavor. Pretty sure it was in "Brew Like A Monk" I was reading about a lot of pro brewers moving away from the rocks, as they are a very expensive way of adding very little more than gravity points.

Two caveats:

T'aint tried it myself, and the Belgian I just bottle today, using the rocks, well, it :rockin:

It's not currently available, at least at Northern Brewer.
Click to expand...
and expencive @ 8$ that adds 16+$ to the brew and now I know its expencive to buy and brew belgians but WOW I think I am going to try my hand at making the stuff then if ( WHEN ) it turns out KILLER I have even more braggen rights :D :D and the artical showed how to make the syrup. Good call guys thanks
JJ
 
I've made the candi sugar before (the rock kind), it's really easy to do, saves alot of money...just follow JayBird's link on his first post, you can make the candi syrup or rocks
 
From what I have read the main difference between normal table sugar and invert (aka Candi) sugar is that the inversion process produces a more readily digestible form of sugar for the yeast. *shrug*

Where it gets interesting though is the cooking process, you can carmelize the sugars to a degree making for some interesting flavors. Basic brewing radio had a good podcast on a sugar experiment they did.

If you look into many of the great Trappist brews, they use sugar. Sugar certainly does something to the body and mouthfeel that imho is pretty awesome if used properly.
 
I guess it depends on what type (color). I read the Brew like a Monk book, and a US brewer sent clear candi sugar to a lab at ADM to see if they could make it for them locally. The company came back and said buy cane sugar.
 
zoebisch01 said:
From what I have read the main difference between normal table sugar and invert (aka Candi) sugar is that the inversion process produces a more readily digestible form of sugar for the yeast. *shrug*

Where it gets interesting though is the cooking process, you can carmelize the sugars to a degree making for some interesting flavors. Basic brewing radio had a good podcast on a sugar experiment they did.

If you look into many of the great Trappist brews, they use sugar. Sugar certainly does something to the body and mouthfeel that imho is pretty awesome if used properly.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the link to the podcast I listened to it and learned a bunch (I think) I am going to take the advice of Mike and use some of the dark syrup like he made and I am only going to use about 1# of it per 10 gal batch and the rest I am going to use the dark Belgian candi sugar my Aunt is bringing me back from Belgian next week.
also do any of you know where to get the ammonium carbonate??? I think I would like to use that instead of the diammonium phosphate.

Cheers
JJ
 

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