Belgian Candy Syrup….The low cost way.
From the day I started brewing beer (circa 1992), I have always looked for the least expensive way to produce quality brew. This is why most of my equipment was bartered and/or traded for, with very little of it actually purchased outright. (OK, so I’m a cheap Bastard) Anyway, I have experimented with a variety of sugars over the past few years with some success’ and some failures. Despite success’, I never quite got that flavor you’d find in some of those tasty Belgian beers; you know, those ones like Chimay, Westvleteren 12, Bob’s Dubbel, etc… Now you might say, “well crap Shaun, all 3 of those brews have hundreds of years of experience behind them” (Sorry Bob, couldn’t resist that crack!), whelp… they also use Belgian Candy sugars! So, what’s the big deal? What’s up with Belgian Candy Sugar, can’t I just use the sugar in those packets that were left over from breakfast at Denny’s? I was told that the secret was that those resourceful Belgians used Beet sugar and we only have Cane sugar here in the US, so we couldn’t possibly make the same thing as them without the magic bullet, Beet Sugar…..
A little look-up will reveal that Beat sugar is this special blend of Fructose and Glucose that are bonded together to form a molecule called, WHAT???, Sucrose?, No way! Hey, isn’t that just S-S-S-S-Sugar?? You mean to tell me that Beat sugar is Sucrose is Cane Sugar? That same sugar I bought at Stater Bros. for about $2 for 5 lbs.
Yes, it is!
So why is the Belgian Sugar so much better for brewing? Long story short, they break the rules, or at least the molecular bonds! Somehow, somewhere, sometime, some brewer discovered that using a form of sucrose with the fructose/glucose bond broken makes yeast very happy. (Yeasty want inverted sugar).
As it turns out, yeast love sugar, but yeast don’t particularly like having to work harder to do their jobs than they have to. Jeez, I must be turning into a yeast as I get older;-) They are the true spirit of the old saying “work smarter, not harder”. Yeast have to expend a great deal more energy to break that bond in Sucrose that ties together the glucose and fructose molecules, and that just doesn’t make them all warm and fuzzy. As a matter of fact, they would rather have you break that bond for them. And you shall, it’s easy. Here’s how it’s done. It’s called inverting the sugar.
To make Belgian Candy Syrup from low cost Stater Bros. granulated sugar all you need is sugar, water, a good non-stick, heavy-duty pan and a low flavored acid like lactic acid. I just bought 150 ml of 88% lactic acid from Jim and Murrieta Homebrew Emporium for less than $3. This is enough to produce roughly 75 lbs of candy sugar at 10 ml per 5 lbs. If you bought a 5 lb bag of sugar for about $2, it would cost you about $33 to make 75 lbs of Candy Syrup. B3 offers a 1lb bag of candy syrup for about $5.95. At that price, 75 lbs would cost you a whopping $446.25. That’s a savings of $413.25, for doing it yourself!

The recipe and time-line….
I made 1lb of candy sugar using 2ml of lactic acid, 1 lb of granulated sugar and about 3/5 cup of water (for your information, 1lb of sugar is about 2 cups).
In a heavy bottom, non-stick pan mix 1 lb of sugar and 3/5 cup of water (or 5 lbs sugar and 3 cup water, 10 ml lactic acid), place on a medium flame (don’t be in a hurry!) When the heat starts to clarify the sugar water, add the 2 ml of lactic acid (I used an old cough syrup measuring spoon and remember, “Do as you Otter, pour acid into water”, as my old chemistry Prof. would say) The acid and heat is what breaks the fructose/glucose bond. Now all you have to do is maintain a medium flame and keep a good eye on it until it is caramelized to your liking.
My time-line, beginning with the initial boil:
15 min - light color
18 min - looks like melted butter
20 min – getting light caramel in color
22 min – med/light caramel
23 min – med/dark caramel
24 min – Amber
27 min – mahogany…I stopped here, but you could go to the dark side!
You can put you syrup into a sanitized mason jar and seal with a lid by turning upside down while cooling if you want to store your syrup for later. I just poured mine into a pyrex bowl and covered with foil until I brew.
*Warning! Please, please, please. Don’t make candy syrup with children or inquisitive pets nearby. When sugar boils it is like Napalm. It sticks to you and burns, burns, burns. Do not dip your finger in to test it. Be careful with hot sugar! Also, it will taste different than when it used to be sucrose. I think it’s much less sweet. Remember, you aren’t necessarily looking for sweet, you want yeast food with a depth of flavor.
Disclaimer: I am not a chemist, so don’t give me crap if I may have some slight issues with my take on the Sucrose bonds.
Cheers and happy brewing,
Shaun.

The file is also attached as PDF.