Percent Sugar in a Belgian Golden Strong

[Hopper5000]

So I am coming up with a recipe right now for a Belgian Golden Strong that's basically pilsner malt and sugar/candi syrup. I am trying to figure out what an appropriate percentage of sugar would be for this brew. BJCP guidelines (I am trying to do this to style) say up to 20% sugar, but that is on the higher end I would imagine. I have no problems going that high I am just wondering what you all found that works for you? I am thinking of using a combination of Candi Syrup and sugar to keep the cost down. Curious also why folks use table sugar in these vs corn sugar? Thanks.

 

[Fathand]

Interesting you should post this as I was researching this yesterday.

I have never made a BGSA so take this with a grain of salt as I am just sharing information I've found.

I am basing my recipe off a Duvel clone from a BYO book in which their percentage of sugar is 13% (I'm planning for just over 10% in my recipe). Also the BYO recipe states cane sugar and makes no mention of Candi Sugar. What I can gather is Candi Sugar is more appropriate in the darker Belgians.

Here is a thread that discusses candy sugar vs. straight sugar
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/belgian-golden-strong-candi-syrup-466099/

Last here is a link to a site that shows you how to make candy sugar. Doesn't seem to hard if you own a candy thermometer.
http://joshthebrewmaster.wordpress.com/2010/11/27/how-to-make-belgian-candi-sugar/

Hope this helps

 

[Hopper5000]

I understand your points. I have read that the lighter candi syrup/sugar doesn't really contribute any flavors. I am just trying to make something that is accurate to the style. I was also shooting for somewhere around 15% +/- a few % points with the sugar. I guess my other question is why cane sugar vs corn sugar. I thought that sugar was 100% fermentable so it didn't really matter what kind was in there, however, a lot of recipes I have been looking at specifically say white cane sugar. Just wondering why...

 

[motorneuron]

I always just use plain table sugar (sucrose, cane sugar) in my light Belgians. Corn sugar (aka glucose or dextrose) is easier for the yeast to metabolize, but as I indicated in one of those linked threads above, I don't notice any problems using table sugar, which is cheaper and easier to find. I think they say cane sugar just because it's cheap and standard.

As to the percentage sugar, it probably varies a bit by gravity. The point of the sugar is to keep the FG low while increasing OG. All else equal, the higher the OG, the higher the FG. So in a bigger beer, you need a larger percentage of simple sugar to keep the FG down and get that characteristic dry finish. But 15% as a benchmark for a golden strong is fine. Even 20% for a bigger beer (say, 1.075 OG, sugar included, or more) would be totally fine.

One piece of advice, though, is to add the sugar separately at high krausen. That should be better on yeast metabolism--it's better to train the yeast on more complex sugars (e.g. maltose) first. You can add the sucrose all at once after 36 or 48 hours, boiled in water to sanitize and then cooled. It'll induce a temperature spike (metabolic spike for the yeast), so be aware for cooling.

 

[CountryGravy]

I just sampled a Tripel I brewed two weeks ago. My reading today was 1.009, after an OG of 1.74.


Table sugar amounts to 19% of my fermentables (52% pils, 26% 2-Row, 3% Carapils). If this dries out much more, I will be a little low as far as what is officially "in style", but my attenuation is already at 87%, which is higher than anticipated for this yeast. I would imagine this is from a combination of sucrose and because the yeasties (Wyeast Strong Belgian 1388) had an initial surge in temp up to 76F on day two due to my ineptitude at keeping the temp down.

Sample was wonderful, though there was plenty of alcohol "heat". I'm hoping some aging, proper carbonation, and cooler serving temperature will mellow this out. If it does, then this will probably be my favorite recipe I've made and brewed thus far.

Hope this helps a little!

Edit: I added the sugar to the last 20 minutes of the boil, not as a step in fermentation like some others. This obviously wasn't a problem for this yeast at this ABV, as there are no off-flavors that stand out.

 

[Hopper5000]

I was just wondering about the corn sugar cuz I have about 6 pounds of it laying around in my supplies. I am playing around with the OG numbers right now but I am thinking I was this brew to be about 8% or so which puts the OG at around 1075 or so. When I brewed the Tripel I added the sugar at the last 10min of the boil. I know the reasoning for adding it high krausen and such but I feel like if you pitch enough healthy yeast then it doesn't matter an whole lot. I probably will add the sugar at high krausen this time, however, because the Tripel finished at the high end of the style and I want to see if I can drop this beer a little lower, even though I am using a different yeast and such.

As far as fermenting I am going to use wlp 570 and try to have it be around 70 or 72 for the first 3 days and then let it ramp up.

 

[FatsSchindee]

According to "Brew Like a Monk", Duvel (the best example of the style - BJCP) uses 17% table sugar


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[thegreatmaibockaddict]

I made a Belgian Dubble which is similar to what you are doing except for a lb of Special B. I used 10 Lbs of Pils (Avangard) along with the Special B, then added 1.5 lbs of candi syrup that i cooked up on the stove (like the link above says) to the beginning of the boil (OG 17.9 Plato, 7.75% est ABV)

A thermometer is helpful, but you can actually see the candi changing from clear to yellow to darker yellow to an orange as it boils. Add it at the color of your choice once the water is boiled off and maybe the thermometer is not needed....

 

[Hopper5000]

Thanks for the heads up. I brewed this a while ago and actually bottled about a week ago. I ended up using about 10% corn sugar and 5% candi syrup. I had thew syrup left over from a brew I did a while ago. Thus I was close to the 17%

 

[TheHairyHop]

Cool. Be sure to let us know how it finishes!

 

[Hopper5000]

OG was 1.076 and FG was 1.012 so I got about 84% attenuation.