Golden syrup in place of candy sugar

Herb Powell

I can't find it now (hence the new thread), but I remember someone on here saying that they had done a few Belgian style brews using golden syrup.

I'm going to give it a try there within the next week, but does anyone know what the ratio to normal malt would be? i.e, how much I need to add to expect a certain gravity. I'm aiming for high alcohol content, in the region of 9%

Saruman

Golden Syrup is basically invert sugar. I'm not entirely sure what it will do for your beer that regular sugar will not. It's not fully fermentable so will give you the extra gravity but also residual sweetness.
The reason you can substitute golden syrup for candi sugar is that candi sugar is also an invert sugar.
You can make your own if you like. It means that a manufactured product is not going in to your beer. This video should show you how. Crap video but it shows the basics. Be warned, I did it years ago for a brew and it took a long time. Golden Syrup might be quicker.

Oh and I read somewhere that you should add 15% if using golden syrup. So 1kg of candi sugar is 1.15kg of golden syrup but that might be completely wrong.

The only true way for you to know is test it, but that needs a little candi sugar to run the test.

Herb Powell

Saruman wrote: »

Golden Syrup is basically invert sugar. I'm not entirely sure what it will do for your beer that regular sugar will not. It's not fully fermentable so will give you the extra gravity but also residual sweetness.
The reason you can substitute golden syrup for candi sugar is that candi sugar is also an invert sugar.
You can make your own if you like. It means that a manufactured product is not going in to your beer. This video should show you how. Crap video but it shows the basics. Be warned, I did it years ago for a brew and it took a long time. Golden Syrup might be quicker.

Oh and I read somewhere that you should add 15% if using golden syrup. So 1kg of candi sugar is 1.15kg of golden syrup but that might be completely wrong.

The only true way for you to know is test it, but that needs a little candi sugar to run the test.

That's exactly why I plan on using golden syrup, the normal process looks a bit annoying :pac:.

Sure fucck it, I'll do it live, see what happens. As long as a decent Belgian yeast is used, I'd say it'll be drinkable. I hope.

Saruman

Another thing you can do is check your gravity near the end of the boil when you are adding in the sugar. Once you hit your gravity, you will know you have enough golden syrup in. Just remember that most hydrometers are calibrated for 20c so you will need to let it cool for a bit, take a temp reading, carefully put the hydrometer in and hope it doesn't crack. Then adjust your gravity reading to compensate. There are plenty of tools to do that.

tteknulp

Herb Powell wrote: »

I can't find it now (hence the new thread), but I remember someone on here saying that they had done a few Belgian style brews using golden syrup.
I'm aiming for high alcohol content, in the region of 9%

I usually use 2 tins about 900g with brewferm kits gives 9% ish when brewed to 10ltr

Safele t-58 is perfect for belgians i find .

Herb Powell

tteknulp wrote: »

I usually use 2 tins about 900g with brewferm kits gives 9% ish when brewed to 10ltr

Safele t-58 is perfect for belgians i find .

2x900g tins, or 900g in total?

tteknulp

Herb Powell wrote: »

2x900g tins, or 900g in total?

2x450g