Maple Brown Ale

I've been using these forums since I started brewing, it's been a great resource. I just got a gallon of Ohio maple syrup from my folks, and I want to make a relatively strong brown ale with it. I am thinking something along the lines of:

1 gallon maple syrup (added at 10 minutes left to boil or at high krausen?)
10 pounds 2 row
8 ounces pale chocolate
4 ounces midnight wheat

Mash temp- not sure if I should mash around 150 or higher due to the fermentability of the maple syrup

I'm not sure about the hops but I see Dogfishhead/ SN's Life and Limb uses Bravo for bittering, and Perle and Sterling for finishing. I'm thinking maybe Centennial for bittering and Sterling/ Cascade for finishing for about 50-60 IBU's. I have some Wyeast American Ale II or S-05 to use for yeast, but I'm inclined to use the American Ale II. I want to know if this sounds good, or if it is a waste of the syrup. If so, what should I brew with it? Thanks a bunch.

Too much syrup. You will have a high alcohol maple mess that is not much like a beer at all. I would think a cup would be good in the last few minutes of the boil, maybe a pound if you want a really maple brown. Mash 154 to 56 to offset drying from sugar. Hop in the beginning for some bittering but limit aroma hops to let the maple shine through. Just how I would do it, based on your nice and simple recipe. Good luck

I made a nut brown last winter and added almost 11 oz maple sugar (for an 11 gal batch size) that I had leftover with about 10 mins left in the boil. Needless to say, the beer was great. I mashed at 154F and I did not notice much residual sweetness. But I did notice a maply aroma and slight flavor that was nice. It only got better with age. We floated that keg in a few months. I brewed on 11/13 and I think we drank the last pint in mid-January.

My recipe:

Here is a recipe for an Imperial Nut Brown Ale Clone (Tommyknocker). It uses almost 10.5 ounces of Maple Syrup.

Tommyknockers Imperial Nut Brown Ale
5 gallon extract with grain
OG=1.080 FG=1.019 IBU=50 SRM=32 ABV=7.9%

Ingredients
2.4 lbs. Muntons Light dried malt extract
6lbs Coopers Light liquid amlt extract[late edition]
1lb. 9 1/2oz Munich malt
1lb. 2 oz. crystal malt 40 L
7.5 oz. chocolate malt
10.5 oz. maple syrup
15 AAU Williamette hops[60 min.] 3oz. 5%alpha acids
Wyeast 1056 [american ale] or White labs WLP001[california ale]yeast
3/4 cup corn sugar for priming
Step by Step
In your brewpot heat 4.8 qts. of water to 165 F.place crushed grain in a steeping bag and steep at 154 F for 45min. in a seperate pot heat 3.6 qts of rinse water to 170F. rinse grains and add water to wort make at least 2.5 gallons. boil for 60 min adding hops and dried malt extract at beginning of the boil. add liquid malt extract w/ 15 min left and maple syrup at end of boil. Cool wort, transfer to fermenter and add water to make 5 gal. aerate wort an pitch yeast. Ferment @ 72 F.

These are some handy looking recipes for beer with maple syrup. My family produces Maple Syrup on a commercial scale at our farm, so I have a ready supply. Anyone know what Grade they were using for this?

I don't know much about the sugars used by yeast to make Beer, but I'd like to note that while the majority of the sugar in Maple Syrup is Sucrose, it can have invert sugars like Glucose and Fructose in wildly unpredictable amounts. I know this makes a huge difference in Candy making, but I'm not sure about fermentation.

For those looking for a real challenge, try making a beer using Maple Sap instead of water. You'll need the full 1 hour boil to kill any naturally-occurring bacteria, but its definitely something I'd like to try.