Belgian Candy question

[Brewphil]

I am planning to brew a Westveleteran clone that specifies dark belgian candy syrup in the recipe - I cannot access the syrup but can get hold of dark belgian candy - my question : is 1Kg of candy syrup the same as 1Kg of candy in terms of fermentables - if not does anyone have an idea of the conversion for equivalence

 

[3 Dawg Night]

Where are you located? Any of the online homebrew shops will sell/ship Belgian candi syrup.

 

[VikeMan]

The short answer is that, no, they are not the same in terms of fermentables. How much difference would depend on the particular candi syrup and the particular rock sugar. For example:

D-180 Belgian Candi Syrup is 32 PPG.
A rock sugar that is, say, 95% sugar, would be about 44 PPG.

So to get the same contribution to Original Gravity in a constant total batch size, you'd use...
32/44 = ~73% as much rock sugar as you would have used Candi Syrup

But again, the exact answer would depend on the syrup and the rocks in question.

 

[Brewphil]

Thanks for the replies -if the syrup is 73% sugar would using 73% of the candy be a close enough approximation ? think I need to get my calculator out - what do you mean by PPG ? I think I've tried all the UK brewing suppliers - I can get hold of it in very large quantities but not in amounts suitable for a single brew - I think it may just be a stock issue so will keep trying

 

[VikeMan]

Thanks for the replies -if the syrup is 73% sugar would using 73% of the candy be a close enough approximation ?

Well, I wasn't saying that the syrup is 73% sugar. In my simple example, it's actually about 69% sugar. Remember, the rock candy is not 100% sugar either, but it is higher in sugar than the syrup. But since (in my example) the syrup contains 73% as much sugar as the rocks, yes, you could take your recipe's intended syrup weight and use 73% as much rock sugar instead.

what do you mean by PPG ?

PPG stands for Points per Pound per Gallon, and is a shorthand for the specific gravity resulting from One Pound of the product in One Gallon of Wort.

So, for the 32 PPG syrup... One Pound of Syrup added to enough water to reach a total volume of One Gallon would have a specific gravity of 1.032.