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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Digest Janitor: pbabcock at hbd.org


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Contents:
  Inline Aeration/Candi Sugar ("A.J deLange")
  re: oxygenation (Joe Katchever)
  Re: Belgian sugar and "candi" (Tim Bray)
  candi (Matt)


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Date: Sat, 17 Jan 2009 08:27:48 -0500
From: "A.J deLange" <ajdel at cox.net>
Subject: Inline Aeration/Candi Sugar

In my own setup I have the inline oxygenation device connected  
directly to the fermenter inlet (the whole path is kettle/hop back/ 
pump/throttling valve/chiller/hose to fermenter/yeast injector/ 
oxygenator/fermenter). There are various reasons for doing it this way  
such as that it is easy to sanitize the assembly by attaching the  
inlet of the hopback to a reservoir of sanitizer and subsequently to  
boiling water (to rinse the sanitizer out) and that the pump (typical  
fractional horsepower homebrewer's pump) primes by gravity (if I  had  
it at the outlet of the chiller it wouldn't  prime. Thus large oxygen  
bubbles never pass through the pump and while I would expect them to  
have an effect on the pump's performance (it will cavitate) I don't  
think that it would be much of a problem, other than less throughput,  
as the pump parts will stay wet. OTOH I don't see any reason why you  
could not put the inline oxygenator downstream of the pump and avoid  
any bubble related problems, small or large. Then again, if the  
bubbles are that large you are pushing too much (from the waste  
perspective - large bubbles obviously aren't dissolving) oxygen.


A quick search on the web will turn up a fair amount of information on  
candi sugar most of which (the information that is) seems to come from  
homebrewers. There appear to be two major opinions - one of which is  
that it is invert sugar which has been subjected to enough heat in the  
inversion process to caramelize it to some extent. The other is that  
it is basically what we call "rock candy" in the US i.e. sugar  
crystals grown on a string from a saturated solution with the color  
induced when the crystals are dried in an oven.

A.J.


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Date: Sat, 17 Jan 2009 10:31:50 -0600
From: Joe Katchever <joe at pearlstreetbrewery.com>
Subject: re: oxygenation

Hi Jeff-
the proper way to do it would be to go from kettle >pump>chiller>o2 
infusion>.fermenter. The unabsorbed gas will cavitate your pump assuming 
it is centrifical. Also, depending on what typoe of chiller you have, 
the gas could pocket inside of it, reducing it's effectiveness.
Cheers,

- -- 
Joe 
La Crosse



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Date: Sat, 17 Jan 2009 09:04:26 -0800
From: Tim Bray <tbray at wildblue.net>
Subject: Re: Belgian sugar and "candi"

According to Stan Hieronymus in "Brew like a Monk," Belgian brewers use 
whatever sugar they want.  They generally do not use the stuff we call 
"candi sugar" (rock crystals) because it's too expensive for the 
purpose.  Most of them apparently use whatever sugar they can get easily 
and cheaply - sucrose or dextrose.  The main purpose of adding sugar is 
to produce a drier beer, with a thinner body and less maltiness.  You 
can do that with any kind of sugar. 

For darker beers, some Belgian breweries use caramel syrup, which is not 
a widely available ingredient in North America.  This was originally the 
stuff called "candi sugar."  Heironymus says the stuff sold in Europe as 
"candysugar" is a partly caramelized sugar in either granular or liquid 
form, produced by Candico in Antwerp.  Maybe that's what you saw in the 
supermarkets?  It will produce a different flavor profile than either 
white or brown sugar, and if you're really trying to duplicate a 
specific Belgian strong dark, you might need it.  Mosher has a recipe 
for making it yourself.

In any case, it's clear that there is no single kind of sugar use by 
Belgian brewers, so you are free to use whatever you want and it will be 
among the "standard Belgian ingredients."

Cheers,
Tim in Albion, CA

> Bottom line to question:  Is the bag of brown-colored sugar
> that is found in ordinary Belgian supermarkets and in the
> kitchen cupboards of Belgian households in fact the type of
> sugar that is among the "standard Belgian [brewing] ingredients"?
>   


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Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2009 11:13:38 -0800 (PST)
From: Matt <baumssl27 at yahoo.com>
Subject: candi

Larry asks specifically about "stuff labeled 'candi' sugar
in Belgian supermarkets" that "looks, feels, tastes and is
priced every bit like the ordinary brown sugar that is
available in every US supermarket"--and the question is does
the brown color in this particular product come from
molasses or caramel?

Hopefully someone can answer more definitively than I can,
but if not maybe this will help:

The larger crystalline form you mention, which as you note
is served with coffee in Belgium sometimes, is brown from
caramel and is the same stuff sold for a pretty penny in
US homebrewing stores for making Belgian style beer.  It's
sucrose crystals with some caramel(ization).  I was not
aware that "candi" is available in granules the size of
US brown sugar--I suspect that these are also caramelized
rather than brown from molasses, but anyway a quick
comparison of ingredients may be helpful to verify they are
the same.

As for brewing application--the Belgian dark ales are generally
dark from caramel only, with no dark/roasted grains in the
recipe.  You need a LOT of caramel to get that dark.  I don't
think it's possible to do it with a reasonable amount (say
20% of fermentables) of the crystalline stuff I've seen.  I
suspect the smaller granules have the same problem.  A dark
caramel "candi" syrup CAN darken significantly and is often
used by Belgian breweries.

I am not sure if any breweries use the crystalline brown form
but anyway it won't add anything that is out of character.

Hope that helps.

Matt





      


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