Brewferm kits - candy sugar

[chorltonbrewers]

Hi,
I'm about to start a Brewferm Kriek kit (I bought it before I read the terrible comments about it on here!). I have got candy sugar as the instructions suggest - just a simple and probably stupid question - do I put the sugar in in its hard lumpy form or do I need to dissolve it by boiling it with water?? Also I bought the cherry syrup after reading on here that it doesn't taste much of cherry - at what stage do I put that in? Final question - do I still prime with sugar in the same way as I do for an ale - I will be bottling it.
Thanks

[brewin_bear]

When I did my Grand Cru (now at 7 weeks and tasting very very nice.. but I am still leaving it for another few weeks to crack into it properly) I disolved the Candi Sugar in boiled water on the stove - basically boiled the water for about 15 mins first to sterilise water and pan - tipped in the sugar and stired and simmered until dissolved. Seemes to have worked very well. Like you, I was concerned that it wouldn't readily disolve in the wort... maybe it would but seems obvious to pre-disolve to me.

I do the same with spray malts and other powdered sugars as well to remove clumping.

[injac]

Anyone know of a good place to buy candy sugar?

[chopperswookie]

http://www.brew-it-yourself.co.uk/shop/ ... cts_id=618

[Mogwyth]

Anyone know of a good place to buy candy sugar?

Candy Sugar is inverted sugar and you can make it yourself http://oz.craftbrewer.org/Library/Metho ... ndy.shtml, failing that an acceptable substitute is golden syrup.

Cheers
Bill

[KarooAnimal]

I am almost totally new to home brewing, having only started a few weeks ago with a Woodfordes Great Eastern, and have just joined this forum. Greetings. Are you guys talking about priming sugar or do the brewferm kits not come with a can of malty gunk?! And if using golden syrup, do I use the same weight to volume ratio as suggested for household sugar (190g per 21l, I think it was for priming).

I have the following in mind for my next three brews: the Grand Cru, Framboos, and Woodfordes' Wherry. Have about 3 weeks yet before the Great Eastern is ready but quite enjoyed slurping some remainder from the bottling phase.

[Mogwyth]

Unlike most ales, many Belgium ales are traditionally brewed using candy sugar in addition to the malt, so yes you will get a tin of "malty gunk", but you will need to add Candy sugar at the brewing stage, you can use ordinary sugar for priming.

Cheers

Bill

[KarooAnimal]

Hi Bill,

Thanks for the reply - most helpful. If I'm using golden syrup, do I just use the same weight as suggested for candy sugar?

Cheers,
KA

[b.all]

check to see the sugar content of it. you will probably need slightly more golden syrup as it has a proportion of it which is liquid in just the same manner as liquid malt extract is to dried malt extract. Adding more will make up for the liquid content of the golden syrup. i would guess golden syrup was around the 15-20% moisture area.

[KarooAnimal]

Ah, excellent, of course! Thanks very much for the reply. The framboos has arrived this morning so reckon on a brew up at the weekend. Huzzah!

[Mogwyth]

Yep off the top of my head I used about 15% extra syrup.

Cheers

Bill

[Curious Brew]

I'm going to double up a Brewferm Grand Cru again for Christmas.

Good tip on the golden syrup.

[steve_flack]

Anyone know of a good place to buy candy sugar?

Candy Sugar is inverted sugar and you can make it yourself http://oz.craftbrewer.org/Library/Metho ... ndy.shtml, failing that an acceptable substitute is golden syrup.

Depends upon what you actually mean by candi sugar. The solid lumpy stuff sold over here is plain sucrose at varying levels of refinement. You can buy the clear stuff in big bags in asian stores. Alternatively you could just use plain old table sugar as it's exactly the same. The darker stuff has more impurities (and hence flavour). I'm not sure if it comes from heating a sugar solution to darken it or if it's less refined sugar. If you're trying to make a clone of a dark abbey ale then neither will give you the flavour you want - you need dark candi syrup.

Candi syrup (which is what most of the Belgian brewers actually use) is a whole different ball game. The darker versions taste nothing like golden syrup although the clear/pale versions are pretty similar. I don't think you can substitute the real thing. Home made candi sugar/syrup tends to have a lower fermentability than the real thing - which is important in strong Belgian ales.

[KarooAnimal]

Which begs the question, Do you know a source for supplying the real McCoy?

[steve_flack]

I bought some from Brouwland in Belgium.

http://www.brouwland.com/shop/product.a ... 4&shwlnk=0