Advise me on Special B

[Clint Yeastwood]

I'm making a strong dark ale today with Abbaye yeast. Shooting for around 10% alcohol. It is not a clone of St. Bernardus Christmas Ale, but it was inspired by it. I want something on the sweet side with a lot of fruitcake/raisin flavor. Someone suggested Special B, so I'm using it.

As luck would have it, the HBS failed to add the Special B to the grain, so I have it in a separate bag. I have 1.5 pounds. In a recent post, people said this was too much.

Is this actually true, for a very strong, dark ale? Beersmith says I'll start at 1.092.

 

[MaxStout]

A little goes a long way. Usually, around 5% is the max. You could bump it a little, but be careful, as it can take over the flavor.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

I just weighed the bag, and it looks like the HBS gave me 1 pound and 0.8 ounces instead of 1 pound and 8 ounces. Never get high on your own product, especially during work hours.

I'm going to go ahead with 16.8 ounces and see what happens.

 

[MaxStout]

If you're aiming for 10% ABV, your grain bill will be big. Just over a lb. of Special B in that might be close to 5%. You'll get good beer.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

Thanks. Things are looking good so far on this brew day.

I had a 6-gallon Torpedo that needed to be cleaned for fermenting, along with a 5-gallon Corny that had been used to dispense something or other. After many months of sitting, the Torpedo smelled like tasty beer, and the Corny stank like ammonia. I wonder if that means the Torpedo was sanitized better.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I'm going to go ahead with 16.8 ounces and see what happens.

I am curious how it turns out. In my recent Quad, I used 0.2 lbs in a 2.5 gal batch (at 2.3%), so less than half the rate of yours. I have brewed Quads without Special B and just used dark sugar to get the color, but I think I like the combo of the dark sugar (D-180) and Special B.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

I pitched yesterday evening, and the CO2 was blowing out when I got up today. I should have results pretty soon.

 

[Dgallo]

Special B reminds me of darkened molasses or like an over cooked toffee. I know that doesn’t sound appealing but it def works well adding complexity to a dark beer. I use about 3-4% in my imperial stout recipe.

 

[Dland]

One thing to keep in mind with special B; it can add a lot of flavor, but can make beer too sweet if over done.

A lot of the sugars it produces are not that fermentable, which is why its wort tastes sweet, so it is not going to help that much with alcohol content.

 

[tracer bullet]

I'm certainly late to this, but would have said it's a lot like a Caramel 120 / Double roasted crystal for me. Side by side I'm sure I'd think they were different, but I lump them together. Personally I keep them to a really low % and only in something dark.

Would be really interested to know your thoughts on it down the road.

 

[day_trippr]

For my latest chocolate stout batch currently in the thrashing throes of fermentation (S-04 is such a beast!) I decided to try something a little different and swapped out a pound of base malt for a pound of Caraamber, which I feel is pretty close in character to Special B, but a bit lighter colored. It is stuffed full of dark and dried fruit character that I can smell before even I get to the brew space - obviously "character" is being blown off but there'll be some left in the end...

Cheers!

 

[mac_1103]

I'm certainly late to this, but would have said it's a lot like a Caramel 120 / Double roasted crystal for me. Side by side I'm sure I'd think they were different, but I lump them together.

I've never used Special B and would be interested in hearing how people who have would say that it differs from the darker crystal/caramel malts.

 

[AlexKay]

I've never used Special B and would be interested in hearing how people who have would say that it differs from the darker crystal/caramel malts.

C120: sweet, notes of dark caramel, one-dimensional
DRC: burnt sugar, raisin, slight roast without astringency
Special B: rum raisin, caramel, brown sugar
Crystal rye: toffee, burnt sugar, nutmeg
Extra special: caramel, toasted marshmallow

I personally think C120 is boring, and find Special B overpowering. DRC and Crystal rye are favorites, though.

 

[MikeCo]

I usually use D-180 and D-90 candi syrups in my quads rather than special B, but I've made a quad with special B a couple times and added around 7% corn sugar or table sugar to dry it out a bit.

 

[dmtaylor]

Special B is very strong. Tastes like raisin, and Cracker Jack, but even more burnt caramel than Cracker Jack (if you've never had it, try it, very dark caramel). Special B is technically about like a Crystal 125, but it tastes more like a Crystal 180. I'd usually limit it to about 2% of the grist, and even that is kind of pushing it.

 

[MikeCo]

I think up to 5% is fine for a BDSA, assuming you are not using any dark candi syrup. This is a recipe I've brewed that turned out very nice.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

I pulled a small sample. The beer appears to have gone from 1.100 to around 1.056. It's still very sweet and reminds me of pineapple juice. The color is not nearly as dark as I had hoped. I was hoping for a shade something like Taddy Porter.

I am letting the sample sit until it clears to see if I can get a better reading.

 

[MaxStout]

You can always steep some Carafa and add it in until you get the color you want.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I usually use D-180 and D-90 candi syrups in my quads rather than special B, but I've made a quad with special B a couple times and added around 7% corn sugar or table sugar to dry it out a bit.

I have not figure out of the well know Belgian breweries use Special-B in their Quads (or Dubbels). My best Quad ever was one that was based on a wort share event. I started with around 8 gallons of Session IPA wort (mostly 2-row, with some Munich and wheat), added 1 lb of D-180, 1 lb of Sugar and boiled it for 2 hours. I tried to repeat that with my own wort once. The beer was okay. Recently brewed a Quad with both D-180 and Special B. It is young, but I like the character quite a bit.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

In typical fashion, I forgot to correct the refractometer reading for fermentation the first time I checked the beer, so the actual gravity was more like 1.025 than 1.056. Today I tried again, and I got 1.011, using Beersmith's correction tool. This is after 4 days in the can, so this stuff goes fast. If it's still at this gravity tomorrow, I'll pump some CO2 in and chill it. Beersmith predicted 1.012. I would be shocked if this beer still had any work left to do.

I don't understand why the color is so light. I was hoping for something that looked like a porter, but it's a deep amber.

I hope I didn't have Special B doughballs that prevented the color from darkening. I checked the mash pretty carefully. When I dumped the grain, the Special B was concentrated in spots, but everything was wet. It passed a starch test, but Special B is a crystal, so I suppose a starch test is meaningless. I don't see how I could get 1.104 with a normal volume if I had doughballs.

The beer is sweet, it's at the end of fermentation, and Special B is the only crystal in it, so the Special B must have done its thing, right?

It's a good beer. No doubt about that. Not for everyone, I'm sure, but I was shooting for something I think of as a dessert beer. Heavy and on the sweet side, with lots of alcohol and carbonation.

The OG was 1.104, which is 0.004 above the target, so pretty close. Everything is just about where Beersmith predicted except for the color. Beersmith believes I am at 12.62% ABV, and it tastes like it.

It don't taste any raisins.

I think I should cut the Sabro with another hop. The beer is good, but I don't know if I want it this close to a pina colada. Maybe Magnum would be a good neutral hop for bittering. I boiled, steeped, and dry-hopped. I'm not sure which stage gave me most of the fruit flavors.

I think this would be a hilarious beer to serve at a Christmas party, to people not used to weird brews. I think women would love it. People would have to be warned about the alcohol content.

I still have time to order another batch of grain before Christmas. Maybe I should break down and buy dark candi sugar to darken this beer up.

 

[Brew_Dude41]

Personally I love special B in my Xmass ale. It really plays well well in that spiced ale.

 

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Personally I love special B in my Xmass ale. It really plays well well in that spiced ale.

Hmmm! Excellent idea. Yeah I can see that.

 

[Brew_Dude41]

Hmmm! Excellent idea. Yeah I can see that.

Thanks, my version has sliced ginger @ 60 and 10 min (+orange peel) and honey at flame out. Only spice that is some crushed nutmeg.
The special B add the rasin and toffee as well a some nice color. Everyone likes it and if you can find "Winter Warmer" from The Brew Kettle they are are very very close to each other.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

Somebody steered me to an SRM chart.

Beersmith has a little cartoon glass that is supposed to show you how dark your beer will be, and it also gives an SRM figure. The glass looks brown in my recipe, and I always assume the glass is right. Looking at an SRM chart, however, I see that 20 SRM is more like the beer I brewed. I guess nothing is wrong, then.

Maybe I'll taste the raisins when the beer is chilled and carbonated.

I looked into ordering candi sugar, and I found out it's just corn syrup darkened with burned sugar. Call me crazy, but it seems like I could burn my own sugar. I do it when I make flan.

I think I may add some roasted wheat malt, along with half a pound of aromatic malt to redden the beer a little. I can knock the Special B back somewhat and cut back the wheat to make room for the roasted wheat. I can use Magnum to reduce the Sabro overload and raise the IBU's a few points.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I looked into ordering candi sugar, and I found out it's just corn syrup darkened with burned sugar. Call me crazy, but it seems like I could burn my own sugar. I do it when I make flan.

It seems that the popular Candi Syrup products are not being distributed in the US and right now everybody seems to be stocking a product with High Fructose Corn Syrup as the first ingredient. Yuck!! I LOVED what the real Candi Syrup D-180 adds to a Quad or Dubbel.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

I see Amazon advertising solid sugar for $13 per pound. I like my beer, but I want it to cost less than Scotch.

 

[mac_1103]

I looked into ordering candi sugar, and I found out it's just corn syrup darkened with burned sugar.

It seems that the popular Candi Syrup products are not being distributed in the US and right now everybody seems to be stocking a product with High Fructose Corn Syrup as the first ingredient.

Any candi sugar or candi syrup product that lists any ingredients other than sugar and water isn't the real thing. Some vendors do seem to have some stock left. Brewhardware is one.

 

[RAmeeti]

It seems that the popular Candi Syrup products are not being distributed in the US and right now everybody seems to be stocking a product with High Fructose Corn Syrup as the first ingredient. Yuck!! I LOVED what the real Candi Syrup D-180 adds to a Quad or Dubbel.

I do not think this is a distribution issue. They are fully available at some sources and not at all available at other sources.
https://fhsteinbart.com/product/belgiancandisyrupd-90dark1lb/
https://fhsteinbart.com/product/belgiancandisyrupd-5golden1lb/

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I do not think this is a distribution issue. They are fully available at some sources and not at all available at other sources.
https://fhsteinbart.com/product/belgiancandisyrupd-90dark1lb/
https://fhsteinbart.com/product/belgiancandisyrupd-5golden1lb/

It looks like it is something with LD Carlson. From https://www.candisyrup.com/: