Homemade Belgian candi syrup

[jtmenzel]

I made my first gf beer last week after brewing "normal" grains for a few years. My first beer was a stout, and for extra color and fermentables I used a lb of D180. Liked the color, loved taste, hated the cost.
I spent a few hours reading blogs about how to make it at home and saw that each blog said the previous was doing it wrong.
I decided to chose one and go with it. The recipe I used was based off of Ryan Brews blog
http://ryanbrews.blogspot.com/2012/02/candy-syrup-right-way-hint-weve-been.html?m=1

I did mine this way
3 lbs white sugar,
1.5 c water
1 t cacl (lime)
2 t wine yeast nutrient

I bright the first one to a boil and it was a nice amber color within 10 minutes. By the end of the 40 minute boil it was pretty dark, but I'd say just darker than D90. I decided to try again to see if it was repeatable.

The next time it wasn't going as quickly as the previous batch. By 20 minutes was still just barely past clear and nowhere near the dark amber color it was on the first batch. While doing the experiment I was also bottling a cider and needed to walk away to grab some bottles and have my wife watch. By the time I got back five minutes later it was much darker and actually darker than the first batch. I mixed 1oz of the syrup in 1 c water to see that each was 1.036. Then I mixed them in water equivalent to 1 lb/ 5 gallons of water to see the color contribution. I'm actually glad I got one lighter and one darker for use in different beers.
The flavor was pretty mild. The amber had more raisin and fruity flavors , the darker was milder fruitiness and some complex toffee tones. Now I need to come up with a gf Belgian dubbel and quad recipe.
I got 8 lbs of syrup for $5 in ingredients I'll definitely try this again.







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[palys2]

Nice write up. I may try this for my Gulden Draak clone which uses 3 lbs of candi sugar.


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[glutarded-chris]

corn or cane sugar or does it matter?

 

[jtmenzel]

Cane sugar. Got my 10 lb bag from Costco for about $4.


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[ChasidicCalvinist]

This is fantastic. Do you can it or how do you store it?

 

[jtmenzel]

Put it in sanitized mason jars when still warm, lid and let cool. Should last for years if sanitary. Once open you can refrigerate, but not necessary.



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[ChasidicCalvinist]

do you think this method could be used to make Golden candi syrup?

 

[The_Professor]

Interesting. I had found articles like this and this about invert sugar. Not really boiling.

 

[Osedax]

This is similar to what I do. It is important to know your water chemistry as well. For instance, I know that I do not need lime. The amount of DAP seems to be very important. Go real low and slow. Use dashes of water to keep temps down. If it blackens to early it won't taste right. Should take hours to get pitch black. I do a lot of it by feel. Realistically, it needs to be in a set temperature and pH range. It took me a few tries to get it right.

Also, only use as much water as it takes to dissolve the sugar. Add a bunch after the color is reached to dilute. Otherwise, it might crystalize. This can be dangerous. Add the water slowly.This sugar is well above 250F.

The store bought stuff still tastes better but, I would rather make it. If you know a candy maker, they should be able to point you in the correct direction.

Just my $ .02 :beer:

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[ChasidicCalvinist]

How can I test my water? I'm on a well.

What is the procedure? Is the water brought to a boil with the sugar and then the lime and yeast nutrient added?

 

[jtmenzel]

Ward labs is good for water testing.
I added all ingredients at the same time. Again, as I said there are a ton of recipes I've found, it just happened to work well for me. Next experiment is using turbinado sugar and making a lighter version.


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