can i add this directly to the fermentation after its been going for a few days?
or should i boil it first in some water?
Sure, add directly. No problem. It’s not my preferred method, but I’ve done it without issue.
Thanks denny. I’ll take a look and see when i get it, sometimes LHBS repackage stuff after buying in bulk.
I also have added straight to the FV. Zero perceptible issues. I love candi syrups in certain recipes of mine! Will be doing a Belgian Blonde next weekend with some.
Yes during active fermentation like day three
Pardon my asking, but why would you want to dump sugar/candy in beer? No, it’s not something we would do as we strictly adhere to the German Purity Law. Guess we are old fashioned!
Adding a few days into fermentation can help kick start the yeast if it’s struggling to ferment a high gravity beer
If it is a Belgian, that makes entirely good sense. I like to add at high krausen to give the yeast the simple sugars after most fermentation is complete. Maybe I am incorrect in that thinking, but I have had good results adding at high krausen (I also add honey or table sugar additions at that point, FWIW).
Interesting, for sure.
Because some of the greatest beers in the world are made with it. There’s a large world of beer outside of Germany. To me, the question is why wouldn’t you use it in some styles?
The Belgian and the British didn’t have the constraints of the RHG. They make some lovely beers using sugar. The Belgian have the Candi sugar, from Beets IIRC, they grow sugar beets. The British use invert sugars from Cane sugar, as they had colonies in the Caribbean that still grow sugar cane.
Hey, I have some homemade Invert #3 to use soon.
it’s funny to think of Belgian Trappist brewers as not being “old fashioned” ;D
Right? We had a lengthy discussion about this on our last “World Beer Meeting” Zoom chat last week. Most, if not all, of the Trappist breweries are operating pretty modern, sophisticated brewhouses. There really is nothing old fashioned about that they do.
The ones that maintain their own yeast have sophisticated labs.
Chimay in particular. Very sophisticated.
Well. I was making the opposite point, however the same could be said of German breweries. Completely automated, highly advanced and modern. However, they both have a long history of “rules” around their styles.
re: belgian use of sugar - i remember reading, probably common knowledge now, that based on old samples of belgian beers from the 70s they had very little if any sugar/candi sugar added, i think 5% or less. so its not a strictly belgian “tradition” if a tradition at all
re: reinheitsgebot. that only applied to bavaria from 1516 until a time in the 20th century really
"The Bavarian order of 1516 formed the basis of rules that spread slowly throughout Germany. Bavaria insisted on its application throughout Germany as a precondition of German unification in 1871. The move encountered strong resistance from brewers outside Bavaria, and imperial law of 1873 taxed the use of other ingredients (rather than banning them) when used by Northern German brewers.[6] It was not until 1906 that the law was applied consistently across all of Germany,[6] and it was not formally referred to as Reinheitsgebot until the Weimar Republic.[20]
In 1952, the basic regulation of the Reinheitsgebot were incorporated into the West German Biersteuergesetz (Beer Taxation Law). Bavarian law remained stricter than that of the rest of the country, leading to legal conflict during the '50s and early '60s.[20] The law initially applied only to bottom-fermented (“lager”) beers, but brewers of other types of beer soon accepted the law as well. "
Considering it guarantees a certain baseline quality for my beloved pilsners/bocks/weisses etc, i do like it, but only because I can choose from the beer of so many other countries. if i had to live under it… phew, ya no thanks
I’d like to know where you read that because I don’t believe it’s the case. AFAIK, Westmalle tripel (for instance) was around and using sugar well before that.
I’m almost certain that Westmalle Tripel has remained essentially unaltered (save for matters of supply for ingredients, etc.) since pre WWII.