About to make first brew - a question about candi sugar

[Flamenco]

Hello. I have a brewferm Abdij kit as my first attempt in 20+ years at home brewing. I'm a bit confused about what extra stuff I need to add to the kit (9l). I have bought a 500g bag of medium spraymalt as I I think that is the sugar I need but anything else? What is candi sugar and do I need that as well or instead or not at all?

I have seen some YouTube vids for brewferm kits showing additional packets of hops and yeast (and something else that I can't identify) that I don't have in my kit but they're not in English so no idea what's going on. Do I need special yeast or hops?

I know it may be an ambitious beer to start with but it's the way I want to go. I see me making mostly Belgian abbey type brews and leaving them for a year or so before drinking (well maybe one or two bottles before then...)

If you have experience with the brewferm abbey types I'd be very grateful for any advice for a novice.

Cheers.

[Monkeybrew]

Hi

The Brewferm kits are designed to be brewed with candi sugar but I have read on here about people using spraymalt with good results, but you may end up with a higher final gravity.

It's good to read that you are willing to let your brews mature, because Brewferm kits do need time to peak.

I've never come across a Brewferm kit in the UK that comes with hop or grain additions. You aren't getting confused with the Brupaks Beers of the World belgian kits that do come with hops and grains to steep?

Anyway, good luck with your first brew and keep us informed on how it goes

MB

[Pinto]

Brewferm Abdij makes a fine pint from what im told, but it's also the one that probably takes the longest to mature to its potential - 6 months or more. Once you've got this brew in the bottle, I'd recommend making a BrewFerm Gold, Tarweiber or Ambiorix so you have some mid term (12 weeks and on) brew and finally, Either a Coopers ( Ale, Canadian Blonde, Stout) or Youngs Harvest (Stout, Mild or Bitter) which are more or less ready to rock the moment secondary fermentation has added a little fizz

As MB said, Brewferm kits are designed to made with 100% candi sugar, not malts (as per the true belgian style) - though candi is expensive unless you make your own. I do have a tip for you tho - these kits work very well indeed with golden syrup - cheap and easily available !

Welcome to the madhouse, BTW

[Flamenco]

Thank you fellas!

All very helpful comments.

So what exactly is candi sugar?

How can I make my own?

Should the brewferm instructions have been clearer about this?

Is any old golden syrup ok to use in place of candi sugar?

Thanks so much for your help.

[Pinto]

Candi Syrup is known as invert sugar - basically, its ordinary cane sugar thats been heated with citric acid (lemon juice) until it colours up and then reaches "hard crack" temperature (which means it goes hard when it cools) - do a search on this forum, there are several good guides to making your own candi.

Golden syrup is also invert syrup - just hasnt been heated to the hard crack point - and so can be used in place of candi sugar quite happily; only shortcoming is where you want to use the candi sugar to add darker colour to the brew as well - but in those cases you could always use a touch of brewers caramel.