Homemade Dark Belgian Candi Syrup at bottom of carboy

So I brewed up a Dubbel last week and decided to make some Dark Belgian Candi Syrup per SpanishCastleAle's methods in the following link:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/making-dark-candi-syrup-102471/

I did about 1.5 lbs and brought it up to 240 F to finish then cooled to room temp. It smelled and tasted great. However, while pouring it into the carboy yesterday, I noticed it was sinking beneath the yeast and trub layer.

After settling, I have a dark syrup layer at the bottom of the carboy, a hops/break layer on top, and a yeast layer on top of that. Activity is pretty slow, but still noticeable. I'm concerned the yeast won't be able to get to the syrup, since it is an ale yeast and not a lager yeast.

I'm planning on waiting at least a week to see what happens, but I was wondering if anyone also encountered the same thing.

Did you add water to the sugar before cooling? If not the sugar will harden pretty much completely (when you measure the temperature of a sugar solution what you are really doing is seeing how much water is left in it.) Try giving it a stir to see if you can get the sugar dissolved into the beer.

Ale yeast and lager yeast both actually do their work suspended in the liquid. Both Make a krausen at the top (although ale yeast generally make a larger one) and flocculate out on the bottom.

Thanks for the reply, Oldsock!

What I did was mix 1.5 lbs of sugar with 2 cups of water and bring that to 350 F before cutting the heat and adding a cup of room temp water. I then raised the temp to 240 F and added another cup of room temp water. Did a final raise to 240 F and just let it cool naturally to room temp. When the syrup cooled it was viscous like honey, but no crystals or solids formed.

I might swirl the carboy this coming weekend if the syrup layer doesn't get any thinner.

I guess I should have added the syrup to the boil this time, but I'm practicing for a higher gravity Belgian Dark Strong Ale where I might need to add syrup a couple times during fermentation.

Nothing magic about raising it back to 240 other than making it thick. If you are going to use it right away, just leave it liquid.

Just a quick update...apparently the yeast had been slowly but surely chewing through the viscous bottom layer of syrup. It was about an inch or so thick when I added the syrup on Saturday, and now I can barely see it underneath the trub layer.

Pretty cool, but I think as Hermit mentioned, I'll probably skip the last temp raise to 240 F for my future syrup creations. In this way, I can target a more homogeneous mixture.

Another update, I just bottled this batch and the final gravity ended up at 1.011 with 7.4% abv. The sample tasted fantastic! This is probably one of my better brews. Here's the full recipe for those interested:

Recipe: Modern Dubbel
Brewer: Copper Hill Brewery
Style: Belgian Dubbel
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 5.25 gal
Boil Size: 7.28 gal
Estimated OG: 1.068 SG
Estimated Color: 23.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 26.5 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.4 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
11.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 75.9 %
1.00 lb Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 6.9 %
0.50 lb Aromatic Malt (26.0 SRM) Grain 3.4 %
0.50 lb Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 3.4 %
2.50 oz Hallertau [3.00%] (90 min) Hops 26.5 IBU
0.50 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 5.0 min) Misc
1.50 lb Candi Sugar, Amber (75.0 SRM) Sugar 10.3 %
1 Pkgs Belgian Ale (Wyeast Labs #1214) Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 13.00 lb
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temp Step Time
Mash In Add 4.06 gal of water at 159.1 F 148.0 F 90 min

Notes:
------
09/04/2010
Before Boil: 7 gal
Boil Gravity: 1.047
Original Gravity: 1.058

09/11/2010
Added 1.5 lbs of homemade candy syrup: 2 cups H20 to 350 F, 1 cup to 240 F, 1 cup to 240 F

09/18/2010
Racked to secondary

10/02/2010
Final Gravity: 1.011
53 bottles