How to make Belgian Candi Syrup

I have noticed that a number of members (me especially) have started topics and discussions around Belgian beers over the last few months. Many Belgian recipes call for the inclusion of 'Candi Sugar', and there is a fair amount of mystery surrounding the topic.

First of all, a bit of Chemistry... PAY ATTENTION AT THE BACK THERE, MOLEY MAJOR!!!. Common-or-garden sugar is called Sucrose. It's extensively used in brewing, and comes in a number of physical forms. The only differences between table sugar, beet sugar, cane sugar, brewing sugar, brown sugar or even icing sugar is in the refining, the purity or the size of the crystals. They share the same chemical formula - C12 H22 O11.

Sucrose is a Disaccharide, which basically means 'two sweet bits'. Think of it as an old-fashioned circus weightlifter's dumbell. The two big round weights at the end are the two lumps of sweet stuff, and the bar across the middle is the chemical string joining them together. At one end is Glucose, and at the other end is Fructose. These are individually known as Monosaccharides (one sweet bit).

Before yeasties can get to work, they have to spend energy in splitting the Sucrose into Fructose and Glucose before they can get to work doing the thing we love them for - making alcohol. This splitting of Sucrose into its constituent monosaccharides is called 'inverting' the sugar. It just makes things a little easier (and quicker) for the yeasts to get to work. Candi Sugar is just that - invert sugar.

The reason we add sugar to strong beers (and Belgian brews are amongst the strongest) is to generate alcohol without making the beer too malty, thick and cloying - problems you will have if you try to produce extremely strong beers using just grain. There is one other advantage of making Candi Sugar - you can colour it to suit the style of beer you are making. This thread will take you through the process from start to finish.

Candi Sugar comes in two forms - solid (toffee-like rocks) or liquid (syrup). My advice to anyone considering using rocks -can be summed up easily. The short version is "Don't". The long version is "Don't - ever, under any circumstances". There is no advantage whatsoever in going through the process of inverting the sugar and then solidifying it (by driving the excess water off), because the first thing you will have to do before using it is to dissolve it in water again.

If you are tempted to just toss the rocks into your copper during the boil, again, DON'T. The sugar is heavy, it will fall below your heating element and it will stick to the bottom of your boiler. Worse still, it might caramelise and burn. From now on, this thread will ignore the existence of the horrible, unuseable muck (yes, I did make some myself, and it took me two hours to melt the resultant toffee off my boiler).

Apply exactly the same rules you would use if you were making beer - everything that comes into contact with your sugar after the boil should be sterilised. This amounts to just the container you will store it in and any funnels you might use. Better safe than sorry.

Just use your usual steriliser. I always use one of those 5 litre water containers to store my finished Candi Syrup. I usually make a kilo at a time - you make the amount you are comfortable with. You are only limited by the size of your pan. Remember that your finished volume will depend on how thick or thin you dilute your syrup, but the equivalent will be 1 kilo of sugar (in my case).



Ignore the crutch. That's only necessary if you have a hip replacement operation and is not essential for the brewing or sugar making process.

The equipment you will require is as follows:

1. A sterile container to hold your finished syrup
2. Sugar (I always use table sugar but if you want to waste money, by all means use brewing sugar)
3. A kitchen acid (citric acid i.e. lemon juice, potassium acid tartrate i.e. cream of tartar)
4. Non-stick saucepan
5. Wooden spoon
6. Teaspoon
7. Dessert spoon
8. Sugar or jam thermometer
9. Kitchen scales
10. Water
11. Stove
12. Beer

Gratuitous equipment shot...



Weigh out the amount of sugar you want to use. This will be your end total too, irrespective of how much you dilute your syrup.

Add boiling water to your sugar and stir to dissolve. The smaller the amount of water you can get away with the better. The first thing you will have to do once you have got the sugar dissolved is to drive off the excess before you can get to the interesting bit - unless you like sitting in front of a boiling saucepan for half an hour, of course.



Affix your jam/sugar thermometer to your saucepan. Make sure that the bulb of the thermometer is well clear of the bottom of the pan.



Once your sugar is all dissolved in the hot water, add a small amount of acid to the syrup. Stir continuously until dissolved. I use around a quarter of a teaspoon of Cream of Tartar to one kilo of sugar. The sugar will not 'invert' without the presence of acid.

You will find that the syrup will start to boil at a temperature a little higher than the normal boiling point of water. Gradually the temperature will increase as you evaporate the excess water.



This is the most boring part of the process, and it is useful to get something else to do while you are waiting. In my case, in best "Here's one I prepared earlier" style, a large glass of a Belgian Golden Ale (brewed with Candi Syrup) is as good a way of passing the time as any, and better than most.



The convesion occurs between 125C and 135C. Keep a close watch on the temperature at all times and adjust it accordingly. Too high and you will make toffee, too low and you will be here all day (although if you have several bottles of beer to get through, it's worth considering).



The way to control the temperature is by adding water as it climbs towards 135C. Keep a cup of cold water with you all the time.



Each time it approaches 135C, add three or four dessertspoons of water and stir - CAREFULLY. It may spit and boil a little so be careful. You will need to repeat this exercise many times in the next hour or so.

After just a few minutes, you will notice that the syrup starts to darken slightly. The longer you keep the temperature between 125C and 135C, the darker it will get. At first you will hardly notice the change...



But the longer you continue, adding water as required to keep within the desired temperature range...



...the darker your syrup will become...



...through amber...



...and even copper coloured...

...each time going slightly more orange/red. These photographs were taken at 10 minute intervals...



Of course, you stop when you have reached the colour you desire (or you have run out of beer to drink). In this case, I want a deep colour because this syrup will be used in a Dubbel...



Here you get an idea of the colour changes that the syrup underwent in a little less than an hour and a half...

Once you have reached the desired colour, turn the heat off and start the cooling/dilution process. You must add water very carefully at first. If you add it too quickly, you run the risk of boiling over. If you don't add water to dilute, you will end up with a sticky mess to chip out of your saucepan - so add water by the dessertspoon, stirring continually...



Once the temperature is below 100C, there is no longer any danger of a boil over, so at this stage you can increase the rate at which you add water. What you are trying to do is to produce a syrup that is convenient to handle and not too heavy or sticky. When you come to add it to the boil, you want it to mix in easily and not just settle on the bottom of your copper.



Now you can complete the cooling process. Cover the pan with clingfilm and plunge into your cold bath...



When the syrup is cool, pour into your container...



...and we're done.

great informative thread that ed. I've got a duvel glass like that. My local is offering a free glass with 3 bottles of duvel at 3.50 each. Its the new glass with little black specs, might invest.

top thread ,go to top of the class, makes me want to brew somethin dark n strong

Great post E, well done :thumb: so inverted sugar is not a myth

robsan77 said:

great informative thread that ed. I've got a duvel glass like that. My local is offering a free glass with 3 bottles of duvel at 3.50 each. Its the new glass with little black specs, might invest.

Click to expand...

The pub I used to frequent in Nottingham get a fair number of Belgian glasses. If you ask them nicely, they will give you one in exchange for a couple of quid donation in the charity box. Unfortunately I now work 50 miles away in the opposite direction (Coventry).

so we are talking a light to medium caramel with acid to break the molecular bond of the disaccharide carbohydrate into monosaccharide glucose and fructose...(appologies to all for flippancy, been cooking sugar for a long time )... :rofl:
(old pastry cook )

ohbeary said:

so we are talking a light to medium caramel with acid to break the molecular bond of the disaccharide carbohydrate into monosaccharide glucose and fructose...(appologies to all for flippancy, been cooking sugar for a long time )... :rofl:
(old pastry cook )

Click to expand...

Paaaaasties, oi opes?

:rofl:

HI Eddie

I've just recently done a Brewferm kit - Trippel. I just used brewing sugar, rather the candi sugar.

What difference in flavour will result from using normal sugar, as compared to sugar prepared as you describe?

good thread, cheers.

shearclass said:

HI Eddie

I've just recently done a Brewferm kit - Trippel. I just used brewing sugar, rather the candi sugar.

What difference in flavour will result from using normal sugar, as compared to sugar prepared as you describe?

good thread, cheers.

Click to expand...

In reality, probably none. I just like to be busy and pretend to myself that I know what I'm doing, but at the end of the day I'm as out of control as any brewer (if we are truly honest with ourselves, we are all really 'winging it' and hoping that the yeasts are clever enough to sort out our ****-ups).

I'm also quite pissed now, watching Rory McIlroy ripping the record books to shreds so I'll try to produce a more measured response when I'm sober (about Thursday, given the amount I've put away tonight).

Bravo, bravo - just what I needed this LE!

I did some candi sugar last night, and put it to cool on greaseproof paper, that batch went in the bin, as the "toffee" had hair on it (the separation of greaseproof paper!)

I popped out today to buy a silicone baking cake tin, and my candi sugar is currently cooling in that. I was going to ask if I need to melt it again! You answered that, cracking post mate.

I am off to get a Brewferm Triple in the morning - to give me something to look forward to doing at the weekend when I come out of hospital!

:

I've just done a bit of research re golden syrup (i.e. reading a few lines further down in Wiki).

They (Tate & Lyle) do invert the sugar in the same way (acidify and heat) but when it's done, they mix it with sucrose. I have no idea of the percentages, but it's going to be a lower percentage of invert sugar than doing it yourself.

Incidentally, they acidify with hydrochloric acid and neutralise with sodium hydroxide.

HCl + NaOH -> NaCl + H2O

I never knew that golden syrup contained salt.


I think the colour is the selling point for doing it yourself. 30 minutes for a tripel, 60 minutes for a golden ale, 90 minutes for a dubbel might be a useful guide. I wonder how long for an imperial stout?

luckyeddie said:

In reality, probably none. I just like to be busy and pretend to myself that I know what I'm doing, but at the end of the day I'm as out of control as any brewer (if we are truly honest with ourselves, we are all really 'winging it' and hoping that the yeasts are clever enough to sort out our ****-ups).

I'm also quite pissed now, watching Rory McIlroy ripping the record books to shreds so I'll try to produce a more measured response when I'm sober (about Thursday, given the amount I've put away tonight).

Click to expand...

Have you sobered up enough to answer this yet mate?

shearclass said:

luckyeddie said:

In reality, probably none. I just like to be busy and pretend to myself that I know what I'm doing, but at the end of the day I'm as out of control as any brewer (if we are truly honest with ourselves, we are all really 'winging it' and hoping that the yeasts are clever enough to sort out our ****-ups).

I'm also quite pissed now, watching Rory McIlroy ripping the record books to shreds so I'll try to produce a more measured response when I'm sober (about Thursday, given the amount I've put away tonight).

Click to expand...

Have you sobered up enough to answer this yet mate?

Click to expand...

It's 7:45 pm and I've just come home from work - therefore I'm only on my second glass of 10.6% Belgian 'take no prisoners' beer, which means I'm in full control of my faculties.

Without referring back to the original post because I'm lazy, but trying to remember what it was about, golden syrup is not inverted sugar - it is a mixture of inverted (glucose/fructose) and sucrose because they want it to look nice. Making your own is cheaper, you will have 100% confidence in how much sugar you have, there's no salt in it and you control the colour.

The negative is that you need to set aside a couple of hours to do it justice. I think it's worth it though. I haven't made a Belgian beer so far without that 'WOW!!' factor. Two planned for this weekend - a Dubbel and a Blond (a sipping beer for the missus).