Newbie Brewer Attempting Maple Cream Ale

Hello everyone,

I've been brewing for almost a year now and I've been browsing the forum here for awhile just for little tips and tricks but this is my first time posting but right now I need a little bit of advice.

Most of the recipes I've done up until now have been fairly simple but I wanted to try something a little bit different so I found the recipe for a local micro brew I liked and took it to my local shop and got almost everything I needed, here is the recipe:

http://www.beertools.com/library/recipe.php?view=4819

.5 lbs Weyermann Carafa® I; Weyermann
.5 lbs Munich Malt
.25 lbs Black Roasted Barley
3 lbs English 2-row Pale
4 lbs Liquid Light Extract
0.5 lbs Maple Syrup
1 oz Tettnanger - 4.5 AA% whole; boiled 60 min
1 oz lactose powder - (omitted from calculations)
27 tbsp maple syrup (1 1/4 cup to prime at bottling) - (omitted from calculations)
White Labs WLP029 German Ale/Kölsch

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I've sort of adventured out of my little safe bubble so I need a little help with a few things:

1. Where can I find lactose powder? I live in Canada, is it called anything else?
2. When do I add the lactose powder? I've read that I should add most during the boil then add the rest before bottling to taste
3. When should I add the maple syrup? Theres seems to be differing opinions on this
3. Can anyone recommend a good maple syrup for brewing with?
4. ANY advice that would help me out, something that I should consider since this is my first venture "outside of the box"

I won't take hand holding as an insult! I'll appreciate a step by step guide so I know for 100% I'm not messing it up!

Thanks in advance to anyone that offers advice. Your reward will be the pictures of a wonderfully finished success or a hilarious failure.

Cheers!

Wondering if lactose powder is simply skim milk powder? Just a thought, don't take my word for it.

Unusmundus said:

Wondering if lactose powder is simply skim milk powder? Just a thought, don't take my word for it.

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Definitely not. Adding powdered milk to your beer would not be pretty. It includes proteins and other components, and would sour quickly.

Your homebrew shop should have lactose, hopefully? It's at least as common as some of your other ingredients.

Darker grade B maple syrup has more flavor than the lighter grade A. Use any syrup from the local market.

Unfortunately my local shop does not carry lactose powder. I'll be honest, I haven't searched too hard, I went to one grocery store and the clerk there thought I wanted powdered milk.

I was hoping I wouldn't have to run all around town looking for it.

So I tracked down some dark grade B maple syrup and lactose from a health foods store.

When should I add them?