Sugar Substitute?

[jeddog]

I want to make a Belgian Strong Ale with the following recipe
And wanted to replace the sugar with candi sugar.
Is this a good option?
And, if it is
How much should i replace it with?

19.00 kg Pale Malt, Traditional Ale (Joe White) (5.9 EBC) Grain 1 73.0 %
1.70 kg Munich I (Weyermann) (11.8 EBC) Grain 2 6.5 %
0.90 kg Biscuit (Dingemans) (44.3 EBC) Grain 3 3.5 %
0.90 kg Caramel Malt - 60L (Briess) (118.2 EBC) Grain 4 3.5 %
0.90 kg Special B (Dingemans) (290.6 EBC) Grain 5 3.5 %
0.90 kg Wheat Malt, Dark (Weyermann) (13.8 EBC) Grain 6 3.5 %
50.00 g Perle (leaf) [6.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 8 9.7 IBUs
100.00 g Tettnang (leaf) [4.80 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 9 8.7 IBUs
50.00 g Perle (leaf) [6.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 10 3.5 IBUs
1.72 kg Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (2.0 EBC) Sugar 7 6.6 %[/size]
3.2 pkg Belgian Ale (Wyeast Labs #1214) [125.10 ml] Yeast 11 -

This will be my first attempt at a Belgian Strong Ale..
Any tips would be good.

cheers jeddog

 

[MHB]

You could but frankly unless you want the flavour of the Candi contributed by the darker syrups I wouldnt bother.
You only have 1.72 Kg of sugar about 10% of extract (give or take) more than reasonable for a Belgian.
Mark

 

[manticle]

What colour candi sugar?

What colour do you want the final beer?

My experience of adding sugar to belgians is that the beer benefits from having it added in increments when primary fermentation is close to finished or finished. For a 20 L batch with 6-800g of sugar, I will add 200g at a time and let it ferment out before adding the next lot.

Candi sugar is essentially sucrose so in terms of fermentables, you would add the same amount of sugar. Liquid/candi syrup contains water so 1 kg liquid will not necessarily equal 1 kg dry. You making your own or buying?

However I asked about colour you want and colour of intended sugar as obviously amounts have an effect in that regard. For the answer to your question it will be a matter of balancing the fermentable amount you want with the colour contribution you want and that's dependent on what you mean by candi sugar.

The darker bought syrups have a pretty amazing flavour so that comes into it as well - you want dates? dried fruits?

If it's just because you want invert, save cash and buy dextrose. If it's just because you want to play with making your own, use the same weight of sugar in your mix.

If you don't care about invert, then save even more cash and use table/raw sugar. Homebrand.

 

[Ross]

As Mark said there's really little reason to spend the money. But if you do, you'll need 2.15kg or 1.5L of Candi syrup.


cheers Ross

 

[jeddog]

Thanks Mantical, Ross
I was thinking dark candi.
color wasn't a worry.
i am buying my own.
dates and dried fruits would be nice..
think ill stick with the sugar, maybe add a little candi
The sugar thats in this recipe, should i add like you have mentioned Mantical? at the end of ferment ..

 

[manticle]

My experience only (well: reading and other brewers' suggesteions borne out by experience) - Yes.

You can add a small portion to the boil and the rest in stages after primary. When I've added too early, I've got warm/hot alc and unpleasant flavours.

If you get acetaldehyde [possibly] from adding sucrose/table sugar, simply rest it until it dissipates before giving it a good lagering time. Recent belgian golden strong I did had a distinct apple flavour recently after adding sucrose (usually I'd use dex) but I just let it sit and condition at ferment temps a bit longer and that soon vanished.