Belgian Candi-syrup clear

[OkanaganMike]

Looking at a Humulus Insani DIPA recipe that calls for 0.85 lb of Belgian candi-syrup clear but my LHBS doesn't carry it. Seriously considering just making it myself as a simple syrup since its clear after-all. Thinking I could just simmer a little longer than normal to thicken it up and take it off before it starts to brown.

Anyone ever do this?

 

[Nosybear]

Use a table sugar syrup at 32 ppg. Or just add the equivalent amount of sugar to the boil.

 

[Mark Farrall]

Strange that it's called Belgian. I'm constantly reading and hearing that the Belgians use table sugar 99% of the time if they're adding sugar.

 

[Nosybear]

Strange that it's called Belgian. I'm constantly reading and hearing that the Belgians use table sugar 99% of the time if they're adding sugar.

Some do use burnt or caramelized sugars but you're right. Clear candi syrup or sugar is just a scam - it's nothing but sucrose.

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

Supposedly it’s inverted sugar, but white table sugar will work just as well. The yeast won’t react any different.

I have used honey in IPA’s with great results, but in the end, you really can’t tell there is honey in it. It just lightens up the beer and keeps it from being too sweet. Table sugar works really well in DIPA’s.

 

[J A]

If you want to make invert sugar, just add cream of tarter. Or if you use lactic acid or phosphoric in your brewing process, that'll work too. ratios are easy to find. I've made syrup a number of times, clear and dark. The acid keeps the syrup from crystallizing in the jar and it keeps pretty much forever.

 

[Mark Farrall]

I read that invert sugar does the first step that yeast do when they start trying to eat sucrose (turn it into glucose and fructose). So that seems of some benefit if you want to get going sooner. Don't they know/speculate that a decent amount of sucrose/glucose/fructose early in the fermentation will cause the yeast to floculate out when it's eaten all those simple sugars and ignore the maltose?

That would have to be strain specific though I guess, especially as invert sugar seems to be staple in the historic British reco[es I see every now and again (sorry for the thread derailing).

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

I read that invert sugar does the first step that yeast do when they start trying to eat sucrose (turn it into glucose and fructose). So that seems of some benefit if you want to get going sooner. Don't they know/speculate that a decent amount of sucrose/glucose/fructose early in the fermentation will cause the yeast to floculate out when it's eaten all those simple sugars and ignore the maltose?

That would have to be strain specific though I guess, especially as invert sugar seems to be staple in the historic British reco[es I see every now and again (sorry for the thread derailing).

It is one those items that is true, but has a very small affect on the overall beer. There's is basically more glucose in inverted sugar than in table sugar. Both contain glucose and sucrose, but healthy yeast doesn't have a problem converting the more complex sucrose. I have added the sugar in the form of simply syrup at high krausen to avoid the crabtree effect. This is suppose to reduce the production of high alcohols (rocket fuel), but I've added it in the boil and it worked fine.

Funny thing is, maltose is even more complex and the yeast blow right through it.

 

[Nosybear]

It is one those items that is true, but has a very small affect on the overall beer. There's is basically more glucose in inverted sugar than in table sugar. Both contain glucose and sucrose, but healthy yeast doesn't have a problem converting the more complex sucrose. I have added the sugar in the form of simply syrup at high krausen to avoid the crabtree effect. This is suppose to reduce the production of high alcohols (rocket fuel), but I've added it in the boil and it worked fine.

Funny thing is, maltose is even more complex and the yeast blow right through it.

Every sucrose molecule is a glucose bonded to a fructose. Inverting the sugar is an unnecessary step, at least in normal-strength beers: Candi sugar or syrup is sucrose - table sugar! Yes, the yeast will attack it first, but I've done both ways, table sugar in the boil and table sugar at high krauesen, neither have resulted in stuck fermentations or fusel alcohols. Faced with wort, a complex blend of sugars, the yeast will break the sucrose down into glucose and fructose, then digest those, then go on to maltose and if capable, maltotriose. I wouldn't add sucrose to the boil of a really big beer - there you might get a stuck fermentation because the yeast is too worn out to digest the maltose and at 1.072 (I believe), that's big enough I'd go with sucrose as a late addition. But inverting the sugar certainly won't hurt anything and if you feel it helps, by all means, invert.

 

[OkanaganMike]

What I thought, thanks all!