Table sugar vs Candi sugar

spkrtoy · Post by **spkrtoy** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 12:31 pm

Robert keeps his Iodophor next to his candy

brew captain · Post by **brew captain** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 12:49 pm

Uh, sanitation is a good thing Lyn, paranoia on the other hand is not...

The process is very simple. I just googled "make candi sugar" and found everything I needed to know after browsing a couple sites. You need a good candy thermometer and a little patience thats all. Go with a very slow rise in temperature and error on the "light" side of whatever color you want. It continues to darken after you take it off the heat. I think the color comes mostly from melanoidin formation. Mmmmm, melanoidins!! The coolest part about making the candi sugar was definitely breaking it up after it cools...

It was like a big pane of edible stained glass!!!

Cheers!

Rezzin · Post by **Rezzin** » Sat Jan 12, 2008 1:56 pm

Brew Captain wrote:Take a look here...

Now doesn't that stuff look more flavorful that plain old cane sugar???

Cheers!

It also looks more illegal than plain old cane sugar!

PMR · Post by **PMR** » Sat Jan 19, 2008 10:44 pm

I think the color comes mostly from melanoidin formation.

Not to be picky Robert, but caramelizing sugars is not the same as a mallard reaction. Melanoidins come from combining a reducing sugar (almost any sugar except sucrose) with amino acids at boiling temperature. For amino acids to be present, protein needs to be in solution. There are little to no protein in table sugar, so there are probably no mallard reactions in making candi sugar. Caramelization is the oxidation of sugar. The end result is fairly similar, but definitely two different things.

I've used sugar quite a bit and haven't found a significant difference in inverted versus sucrose. In a strong dark Belgian-style beer, there's nothing better than caramelizing your own sugar, and I think you can get away with using more since there are longer chain sugars are being made that will not be fermented out. I've used corn sugar (dextrose) in Double IPA's (Pliny clones) and it works great at 15%. I wouldn't recommend going above 20% in a beer that's 1.80 or under. In higher gravity beers (1.90+), you could go a bit further, perhaps 30% before you get the cidery flavors. In a beer like Dogfish Head 120 Minute (20% ABV)s, I wouldn't doubt that they would use at least 40% of the fermentables as simple / invert sugar. Just my opinion, for what it's worth.

brew captain · Post by **brew captain** » Sun Jan 20, 2008 6:25 am

"Caramelization is the oxidation of sugar, a process used extensively in cooking for the resulting nutty flavor and brown color.

Like the Maillard reaction, caramelization is a type of non-enzymatic browning. However, unlike the Maillard reaction, caramelization is about oxidation, as opposed to reaction with amino acids." - Wikipedia

Touché Pat! You could say I was close though in as they are both types of non-enzymatic browning.

But that is only if you want to be less picky!

The amber candi sugar I made definitely had flavors far beyond plain table sugar and it added some nice color to the brew too. I think in the end this is less an argument on whether plain table sugar can be used as to how you use it in your brew.

Cheers!

bwarbiany · Post by **bwarbiany** » Sat Nov 08, 2008 4:11 pm

Made some nice amber candi sugar today... 5# of the stuff.

I let it boil nearly an hour, and it came pretty much the perfect color. It's cooling in a full sheet pan right now.

For those of you who haven't tried this, it was INCREDIBLY easy. Even after buying myself a new candy thermometer (< $3 at Wal-Mart), I probably saved $20 over buying 5# of candi rocks at B3...