Candi Sugar? Where can I find this stuff?

wbread · Post by **wbread** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 5:54 pm

Hey all, I'm looking to mess around with a brewhouse IPA kit, and I've got a trappist ale yeast that I'd like to use in conjunction with some candi sugar to give the beer some kick. However, I cant seem to find the stuff, although the homebrew place says they grab it the grocery store (redpath brand). Maybe they are using a different kind of sugar that works as well?? Any suggestions would be great!! I'm in London fwiw.

JimC · Post by **JimC** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 6:24 pm

It is not difficult to make candy sugar.

Take sugar, and just enough water to make wet everything. Add a bit of lemon juice and heat. Stir, stir , stir.

For clear candy sugar, hold it in the hard ball-soft crack range and watch the colour. Add water to keep it at the right temp as it boils off. When it gets to the colour you want, bring it up to hard crack and pull it off, and pour it into something to cool quickly. You can run it a bit hotter/colder and get different flavors of caramel out of it.

Soft ball 235-245* F
Firm ball 245-250* F
Hard ball 250-266* F
Soft crack 270-290* F
Hard crack 300-310* F
Caramel 320-350* F

markaberrant · Post by **markaberrant** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 7:40 pm

I just use plain old sugar.

iguenard · Post by **iguenard** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 8:47 pm

Its readily available in any Metro grocery store at roughly 5$ per 500g in crystal format.

matt7215 · Post by **matt7215** » Thu Apr 22, 2010 9:37 pm

bulk barn has it too

rudolf · Post by **rudolf** » Fri Apr 23, 2010 7:20 am

Don't bother using the rock candy type candi sugar. Its just overpriced sucrose.

When Belgian brewers talk about using candi sugar they are referring to liquid products like these:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/d ... 16-oz.html
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/a ... 16-oz.html
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/d ... 16-oz.html
http://www.northernbrewer.com/brewing/c ... 16-oz.html

wbread · Post by **wbread** » Thu Apr 29, 2010 9:12 pm

Thanks for the info guys!
I was at the metro looking, but couldn't find a candi sugar amongst the others. Know if it has a special name? Or am i mental? Both?

JimC · Post by **JimC** » Fri Apr 30, 2010 8:03 am

You are mental. They sell rock candy (sometimes), not what you are looking for. Rock candy is similar, but will not provide the same caramel profiles as you are looking for. You need to ether make it, or buy online. Belgian "Candi" sugar is really just caramel...

wbread wrote:Thanks for the info guys!
I was at the metro looking, but couldn't find a candi sugar amongst the others. Know if it has a special name? Or am i mental? Both?

iguenard · Post by **iguenard** » Fri Apr 30, 2010 9:28 am

JimC wrote:You are mental. They sell rock candy (sometimes), not what you are looking for. Rock candy is similar, but will not provide the same caramel profiles as you are looking for. You need to ether make it, or buy online. Belgian "Candi" sugar is really just caramel...

wbread wrote:Thanks for the info guys!
I was at the metro looking, but couldn't find a candi sugar amongst the others. Know if it has a special name? Or am i mental? Both?

Dont worry about being mental. Any "off-centered-ness" is actually smiled upon in brewing.

wbread · Post by **wbread** » Fri Apr 30, 2010 12:25 pm

Ha, yeah I guess it's not a bad trait, I'm going to try to make a batch up I guess, thanks for the help BT crew