Soft Belgian Candi Sugar

[rupal]

Just wandering if anyone here has had any experience using this "Soft Belgian Candi Sugar" link: http://craftbrewer.com.au/index.php?page=s...t&Itemid=29
and how the results were? Also, Would i use the same quantity by weight (eg: 500g) as i would for the Rock Candi Sugar to achieve the same specific gravity ?

 

[wildschwein]

I don't think I'll be trying it at that price. I think I would just make my own candi syrup or sugar. Probably a bit cheaper.

 

[Rod]

I make my own belgian sugar

about to bottle a tripple today ,

made the candy a bit darker this time , about the colour of golden syrup

probably make the beer a little toffee flavoured

one of the advantages of making your own sugar is that you can make it to your taste

my previous tripple is now 14 weeks old , ready for a first taste , made with light candy sugar , about honey colour

used 1007 German Ale yeast

I got two cans of Brewferm tripple and a Wit Beer for $25 , the lot ,at a old stock sale

 

[Rod]

ps

I make my sugar on the day i am going to use it

After you reach the desired colour I add about a litre of water , very slowly at first to prevent boil over , it is then easier to add to the brew

When you let it go solid , even on baking paper , it is hard to get back into solution

 

[kook]

Used it in a dark belgian strong a week or so ago. It's probably too early to tell, but so far I've noticed a great rum & raisin character which could be attributed partially to the sugar. It tasted brilliant though, almost like muscovado sugar, much stronger in flavour than rocks.

 

[neonmeate]

i'm in the market for a recipe kook, want something to throw my WLP530 cake on in a week or two. how much did you use?

 

[kook]

I used 450g, along with 500g of rocks I wanted to use up.

Recipe is a little vague as it was a partigyle brew. Grist consisted of 95% Pale malt and 5% Caraaroma. ~ 30 IBU worth of Bramling Cross. OG in fermenter was 1.112

 

[neonmeate]

I used 450g, along with 500g of rocks I wanted to use up.

Recipe is a little vague as it was a partigyle brew. Grist consisted of 95% Pale malt and 5% Caraaroma. ~ 30 IBU worth of Bramling Cross. OG in fermenter was 1.112

what was your wort volume kook?
i'm about to brew a quad with a whole packet of it (450g), only i'm only aiming for 11L final volume, OG 1100 or so - do you think that will be too much candi flavour based on your experience - should i cut it with some dextrose?

 

[kook]

I don't think so, though it's difficult to tell as mine is still in primary. I'd give it a go, as it seems like a good percentage.

 

[neonmeate]

OK: a reworking of my gouden carolus clone from 2005 (this one aiming for cuvee van de keizer, 22P, 11%)

12.5 litres
Mash Efficiency: 72 %

Ingredients
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
150g. English Amber Malt
150g. Weyermann CaraMunich II
1.0 kg. German Dark Munich
150g. Weyermann CaraAroma
3kg. German 2-row Pils
240g. Wheat Flaked
450g. Soft candi
14 g. Styrian Goldings (Plug, 4.2 %AA) boiled 90 minutes.
14 g. Styrian Goldings (Plug, 4.2 %AA) boiled 30 minutes.
8 grams ea. coriander, curacao + 1 teaspoon Grains of Parramatta flameout
Yeast: White Labs WLP530 Abbey Ale


Original Gravity: 1.093
Terminal Gravity: 1.010
Color: 21.26 SRM
Bitterness: 21.5 IBU
Alcohol (%volume): 11.0 %

 

[Rod]

Had my Tripple last night

made from Brewferm and home made belgian candy

14 weeks old

nice drop , toffee notes

I will leave it now for about another 4 months

 

[Stuster]

Had my Tripple last night

I will leave it now for about another 4 months

Do you think it needs to be aged that long? I've read other brewers who suggest that tripels do not need long aging. Anybody care to comment on that?

 

[neonmeate]

tripels are tricky - in my experience they need a while to get drinkable, then they only peak for a fairly short period before they start going downhill. in particular you need enough time for the alcohol to mellow out, but not too long so you lose the hops or spice. that's if you're making a westmalle sort of tripel. more caramelly beers will probably age a bit better?

i aged a bunch (about 10-12) of different belgian tripels under my house for two years. most of em went a fair way downhill. some were good though. depends on the beer. de dolle dulle tieve was amazing. trois monts was good too. most of the rest oxidised, or tasted flat or stale, or onedimensional. but all the dark belgians without exception aged really well.

 

[kook]

Do you think it needs to be aged that long? I've read other brewers who suggest that tripels do not need long aging. Anybody care to comment on that?

Tripel isn't traditionally a beer for aging, it's normally drunk "once it's ready", ie, after lagering or storage. It's not a quick process like weizen, but it's still not meant to be left to sit down for months. There are obvious exceptions though such as those noted by neonmeate. De dolle use very distinct yeast, and often have bacteria in their brews. Many of the beers they produce age very well.

I'd imagine if you're using german ale yeast though you may want to lager it for a long time to flocculate. I'm not all that sure how you'd get the same flavour profile to begin with though, which is normally associated with the distinct belgian yeast strains. At the end of the day though a brewer can call a beer whatever he likes.

 

[Stuster]

I don't think anybody mentioned German ale yeast, kook. :unsure:

It was what I'd read and assumed as well, just checking from those with more experience in making tripels than me after reading Rod's post above that he intended to leave his tripel for 4 more months before taking another taste. So it might be worth while just getting stuck in there, Rod. :chug:

 

[kook]

Not to sound like a prick, but has anyone who keeps posting about using home made candi sugar actually tasted the Soft Brown Candi Sugar from Craftbrewer, or the Dark Candi Syrup from G&G?

Both are very distinctive tasting products. The former is similar to genuine muscovado sugar, very rich and rum-like in taste. The Dark Candi Syrup is almost as strong tasting as treacle! It has a very strong raisiny aftertaste too.

If you can produce candi sugar at home that replicates these flavours then I'm all ears, but in my experience all you end up with is kids toffee. Real one dimensional sugar flavour which is totally different to the products actually used by Belgian brewers.

 

[kook]

I don't think anybody mentioned German ale yeast, kook. :unsure:

It was what I'd read and assumed as well, just checking from those with more experience in making tripels than me after reading Rod's post above that he intended to leave his tripel for 4 more months before taking another taste. So it might be worth while just getting stuck in there, Rod. :chug:

Rod uses german ale yeast for his "Tripple"

Personally for pale belgians (ie Tripel) I can't see the sense in using anything other than plain old white sugar. In my experience thats what most of the brewers use, though in some cases it's glucose syrup.

It's only the dark beers where the sugar really has any influence in the flavour.

 

[Stuster]

Ahh. Missed that. German ale doesn't sound like the choice for a tripel to me. :huh:

Talking of this, I tasted DJR's golden strong last night. It was the wort from our last brew club brew day. It was a basic strong golden/tripel recipe with 15% sugar by weight and the malt split 80/20 pils/vienna. He fermented it with the Scottish ale yeast (1728) that is supposed to be the yeast Duvel pinched their yeast from and it certainly had some Belgian character to it. :beerbang:

I certainly agree with you on white sugar as well. :super:

 

[DJR]

Ahh. Missed that. German ale doesn't sound like the choice for a tripel to me. :huh:

Talking of this, I tasted DJR's golden strong last night. It was the wort from our last brew club brew day. It was a basic strong golden/tripel recipe with 15% sugar by weight and the malt split 80/20 pils/vienna. He fermented it with the Scottish ale yeast (1728) that is supposed to be the yeast Duvel pinched their yeast from and it certainly had some Belgian character to it. :beerbang:

I certainly agree with you on white sugar as well. :super:

Thanks, heaps cleaner than a typical belgian beer though, the 13C primary ferment might have had something to do with it. Certainly establishes 1728 in my mind as a pretty good general purpose yeast. It'd probably do quite well at a Dubbel/Quad i reckon.

Getting a bit off topic now

 

[rupal]

I am planning to make a Trippel using the Brewferm kit. Would it be alright to use the Soft Candi for it ? just for something different then your average Trippel, or would it would not be a very good mix, do you think?