Making Belgian Candi Sugar At Home
Channel: Sui Generis Brewing
Date: 2013-10-07

NOTE: I have refined this process somewhat since making this video. See ythe link to my blog post #3, below, for optimizations.

I have been working on a method to prepare Belgian Candi Sugar at home.  This is a common adjunct used in many Belgian ales, and consists of bucrose (beet or cane sugar) which has been cooked in a fashion that produces a series of melanoidins - flavour & aroma compounds, as well as some caramelization products.  My method uses commonly available household ingredients to prepare the sugar, and requires no more equipment than you'd normally find in your average kitchen.

I have a few blog posts supplementing this video - if you plan on doing this at home I would recommend reading the blog posts as well:

Sui Generis - Making Belgian Candi Sugar:
Part I: http://suigenerisbrewing.com/index.php/2013/09/10/making-belgian-candi-sugar/
Part II: http://suigenerisbrewing.com/index.php/2013/10/06/belgian-candi-sugar-ii/
Part III: http://suigenerisbrewing.com/index.php/2016/03/15/belgian-candi-sugar-part-iii/

Example of a beer brewed using homemade candi sugar:
http://suigenerisbrewing.com/index.php/2013/10/06/42-a-belgian-dark-strong/

EDIT: I have solved some of the crystallization issues people have been reporting when making candi sugar. Details can be found in this blog post: http://suigenerisbrewing.com/index.php/2015/01/31/quick-simple-invert-sugar/