Belgian Candy Subsitute

[David Kitchen]

Hi, does anyone have ideas on how to make a dark belgian candy subsitute at home? I am after a stronger dark candy flavour, but without the Belgian price tag. Grateful any assitance with this.

 

[Pollux]

Make your own

Yet to try that method myself, need to get some citric acid tomorrow....

 

[Cannibal Smurf]

Google is your friend, search candi sugar or inverted sugar.

Boil some white sugar, for about 60-90 mins to get dark candi sugar. I tried with citric acid, as per some recipes I read, and found it to make the candi too bitter. So I ditched the citric acid and just boiled some CSR White sugar. Let it cool and off you go.

 

[glenos]

I did it a couple of weeks ago and it is a doddle, I didn't have a thermometer so I guessed it based on the boil rate.

 

[glennheinzel]

It depends on what flavour profile you are trying to achieve.

As per this experiment, the (expensive) candi products adds complex and rich taste to the beer-
http://madfermentationist.blogspot.com/200...experiment.html

Home made candi syrup made a drinkable and fruity beer-
http://madfermentationist.blogspot.com/200...at-tasting.html

Going back to my original point, choose the product that will give the end result that you are looking for.

 

[kabooby]

Make your own

Yet to try that method myself, need to get some citric acid tomorrow....

I have had good results with fresh lemon juice and omitted the citric acid

Kabooby

 

[David Kitchen]

Google is your friend, search candi sugar or inverted sugar.

Boil some white sugar, for about 60-90 mins to get dark candi sugar. I tried with citric acid, as per some recipes I read, and found it to make the candi too bitter. So I ditched the citric acid and just boiled some CSR White sugar. Let it cool and off you go.

HI. Did you have any issues with the Candi sugar not fermenting, like the Mad fermentationist had problems with? I need the flavour, but don't want any extra sweetness in the beer.

 

[petesbrew]

Make your own

Yet to try that method myself, need to get some citric acid tomorrow....

Did this last year. It was pretty easy and all went well. Citric Acid, and a candy thermometer (bought from House, around $7ish, I think)

A tip from a workmate, who learnt the hard way, don't use foil when you pour it out to cool, use baking paper.

 

[KHB]

I made some of my own on the weekend went into a belgian dark stong ale.

Easy as!!

KHB

 

[Interloper]

I have had good results with fresh lemon juice and omitted the citric acid

Kabooby

Same here. I didn't like the citric acid at all... Too much sour/tart citrus acid flavour - and not in a good way (bitter orange Hoegaarden anyone?)

The first time I made this I used white Coles cheapo sugar and the juice of one lemon and it was awesome. Very nice candy profile for about $1.80

I wouldn't bother with the citric acid next time, or I would use a 1/16 of a teaspoon instead of the half teaspoon I did last time.

 

[hazard]

[quote name='Interloper' date='Mar 16 2009, 04:12 PM' post='431032'
I wouldn't bother with the citric acid next time, or I would use a 1/16 of a teaspoon instead of the half teaspoon I did last time.
[/quote]

Well, the instructions do say to use "a pinch" - don't know how big your pinch is, but mine is not half a teaspoon.

I have used these instructions to make candi sugar for a belgian dark ale, and its pretty easy. If lemon juice works too, then thats great.

 

[manticle]

I'm making some at the moment. Because I use orange zest in my belgian ale I just squeeze the juice of those oranges into the sugar and water. No thermometer regulation - I just boil and simmer until it's the colour I want (fairly dark.

Just monitor it and give it an occasional stir so it doesn't burn (burnt sugar syrup is terible to clean up).

Costs roughly around $3 for 3 oranges and kilo of castor sugar.

 

[Pollux]

Well I just made some.....

Used the juice of 1/2 a lemon, 1.5kg of sugar and some water....

I now have 3 trays of redish candi sugar sitting on the bench cooling...


Question is, I intend to slowly feed this stuff to the yeasties once it is fermenting, will it dissolve in the semi finished wort? Or just sink to the bottom?

 

[warrenlw63]

Pollux can't see any reason why it wouldn't. Cooper's carbonation drops are essentially crystalised sugar and they dissolve with no problems.

Warren -

 

[Pollux]

Fair call.......

I just have to hope it is easy to remove from the greaseproof paper when it's nice and rock hard..

 

[manticle]

If you have trouble just hit it sharply with a clean implement (even the back of a spoon) and it will crack. You should be able to peel it off the paper.

 

[SumnerH]

Well I just made some.....

Used the juice of 1/2 a lemon, 1.5kg of sugar and some water....

I now have 3 trays of redish candi sugar sitting on the bench cooling...


Question is, I intend to slowly feed this stuff to the yeasties once it is fermenting, will it dissolve in the semi finished wort? Or just sink to the bottom?

If you're paranoid, either:
a. add it to the boil (near the end); or
b. boil it in a small amount of water (mainly to sterilize, but also to ensure that it dissolves) and let it cool a bit before adding to the fermenting wort.

The latter is pretty common among people who do incremental feeding (where you let the yeast process the more complex sugars from the malt before adding simpler sugars). Personally I don't think it matters much either way, and (a) is easy.

 

[kabooby]

You may want to test that first. I am not sure that it would disolve in the fermenter. I have always melted it first and then added it to the boil.

The one I am doing atm is going to be disolved and then added after a few days in primary

Kabooby

 

[rich_lamb]

HBF, if you're making your candi or caramel from plain old sucrose it will ferment. You don't create anything unfermentable that will leave residual sweetness by making these products.
(this assumes your yeast are plentiful and healthy of course)

But you can cook, heat or burn all sorts of different sugars to get the flavours you want, eg. I reduce golden syrup into a toffee/caramel and this gives a rich, slightly roasted sweetness. The sky's the limit really - you don't have to be limited to any particular way of doing it. Concentrate on the effect you want, without worrying too much about the science or details.
A lot of these recipes specify "inverting" the sugar but (without opening that can of worms again) that is not necessary for flavour or fementability as yeast can do that themselves.

 

[Pollux]

mmmm, oh well it has some time as the wort concerned is just about to be cubed and I won't have a free fermenter for at least a week....

For now I'll crack it and leave it in the freezer, I might do a test in a jug of plain water at 20deg with a spoonful and watch what happens.