Maple Brett Brux Drink

This is a little experiment that I am doing right now to see how it turns out, and I am figuring that I will keep you all informed as I do it.

I was unable to find any recipes that were an all maple syrup fermented drink, so I decided that I should venture down this not-so-traveled road.

I made a 2 liter starter for my roughly four gallon batch in the hopes that I won't see two much of a delay before visible fermentation begins. The starter got some nice vinegar smells mixed with the maple. My hopes is that a small taste of the vinegar will remain in the finished product.

I added some spices to round out the maple syrup. Some of these are odd, but you will have to trust that at least the must/wort tasted amazing.

Spices:
Cumin Seeds - 1 tablespoon
Sage - 1 tablespoon
Cinnamon - 2 sticks
Clove - 3 whole cloves
Caraway Seeds - 1 tablespoon

To my surprise, when I took a gravity reading, it was really low (I used 3 quarts of maple syrup). I added corn sugar until I got up to 1.040.

I used Wyeast's Brettanomyces Bruxellensis strain.

I am really looking forward to find out how this experiment turns out. I will be posting pictures as I get a pellicle and any other major events.

sounds interesting. i'm assuming that you diluted your 3 quarts of maple syrup... into how many gallons of water?

did you add any nutrients? i'm not sure that maple syrup has everything that yeast needs to reproduce.

I made a 4.5 gallon batch. I actually ended up having to add corn sugar to get the original gravity up to at least 1.040. I did not anticipate having to do that since I figured it would have had the concentration of honey. I also added yeast nutrients just to be sure that there is something to help the health of the brett.

The wort/must tasted amazing, but obviously a bit heavy on the tongue with all the sweetness. I am letting this one ferment a bit on the warm side by just letting it be in my ambient room temperature (74) instead of in a swamp cooler. Hopefully I don't get too many fusel alcohols this way. I plan to let it go for at least 4 months before I start testing to see if the gravity remains even.

marvaden said:

I made a 4.5 gallon batch. I actually ended up having to add corn sugar to get the original gravity up to at least 1.040. I did not anticipate having to do that since I figured it would have had the concentration of honey.

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maple syrup isn't quite as dense, sugar-wise, as honey. i'd have to check beersmith or an online calculator, but i'm pretty sure that even with honey you'd be well below 1.040 with 3 quarts in 4.5 gallons. so the fact that maple syrup came out below that isn't too much of a shock, IMO...

It all worked out in the end. I think had I gotten the sugar content high enough just using the maple syrup, the taste would have ended up being cloying at that point. The way it is now, judging by the taste of the wort/must, I anticipate this being very drinkable.

So, as an update, last night I had to attach a blow off tube. The consistency of the stuff that is being blown off is the same as snot. I am a bit grossed/weirded out by this.

I think it's blowing its nose in my blow off tube/bucket...

look forward to hearing how this turns out.

Just as a quick update, there are some weird things going on. I had already mentioned that it was blowing off snot, but it appears the whole beverage may have a weird consistency. I will post pictures later, but it actually has visible air bubbles throughout the entire carboy in the same manner as what you see in jello.

it may be that it's going through the "sick" phase due to some bacteria like pediococcus (http://embracethefunk.com/2011/08/01/beer-must-be-sick-to-be-stronger-after/). on the other hand, a few years ago, i tried brewing with maple sap, which had the alarming texture of spit/snot so maybe it's the ingredients...

I think he's only using Brett B, no pedio. It has to be an ingredient thing.

BryanThompson said:

I think he's only using Brett B, no pedio. It has to be an ingredient thing.

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or an infection.

Hmm... I've never seen an infection like that. Is wild pedio common?

BryanThompson said:

Hmm... I've never seen an infection like that. Is wild pedio common?

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lacto is a more common infection, but pedio can certainly happen too.

and whether common or not, if you've got it... you've got it

not saying that it is an infection, we don't have enough info to make that determination. and you've got brett in there, it'll take care of any pedio infection leftovers (if that is indeed what you have).

I doubt that it's an infection. For one, it did this instead of forming a normal looking krausen. I believe that this is just the nature of an all maple syrup fermentation. I'm curious to see whether this is just an optical illusion, or even if it isn't, whether it will resolve itself and be liquid by bottling time a couple months from now...

I only put Brett B in there, and also there are the spices, so those should technically help prevent any infections from taking hold. The carboy was brand new and was washed with oxyclean and I used one step sanitizer right before pouring the (wort? must?) in.

brett is kinda slow, if i understand the timeline of your posts it took 3 days for the brett to take off. that's 3 days for other stuff to potentially take hold. there's some debate about how good a sanitizer One Step is. Note that it needs 2 minutes contact time with the surface to be cleaned/sanitized to do its job.

but again, i wouldn't bet on this being an infection. it's probably just something about brett, maple syrup and sugar that does this.

i believe that technically maple syrup + sugar + water would be a must...

The timeline was that I had the 2 liter starter going for three days, but it only took less than six hours for fermentation to start since i pitched such a large starter of brett. (I have been a bit slow with the updates).

(The dark thing in the picture is a small piece of maple wood. If there is an infection, it's from that).

Here's what it looks like:

So, just to see , I tilted the carboy slightly. I think what happened is that it has roughly the same consistency as syrup now that it is cool. I don't know what to make of this. I am making alcoholic syrup? Drunk pancakes anyone?

Ok, I tried to pull a sample and the stuff is too thick to even go into a wine thief. I think I made alcoholic maple jam.

starting to sound more and more like pedio. you brew is sick. give it some time, the brett will clean that up in a few months.

Yea, you may be right. I suspect that it was something living in the maple pegs that I threw in. Mostly this is disappointing that it will take longer to find out whether or not this will end up as a good drink.

Since this is a low OG, how long do you suspect that it will stay in this sick phase?

i have no experience with sick beers, so i can't help you there :-/

I still have a hard time accepting that this is a pedio infection mostly because this was blowing off snot within 24 hours. From all that I have read, it would take bacteria at least a couple days before it has grown to a large enough colony to affect the overall product in such a way. Though, I don't have a microscope, nor experience, to really tell whether this is an infection or not. (It is smelling better today, but is just as melty jello as it was before)

On that note, if anyone that visits this forum and is a microbiologist (pro or not) is living in or near Kansas City, PM me. Also, I will gladly start sharing my beer with you. I don't drink nearly as much as I brew. (I would laugh if some of my redditor friends saw this and pieced together who I am.)

I could be wrong but wouldn't the boil down of maple syrup also concentrate pectin? So with a ton of pectin you end up with well jelly or jam. I don't know if thats whats going on but it could be possible. Also its been my experience with pedio viscosity that it takes two weeks or more for viscosity to show up.

It may be pectin, but what would be able to be done if it is? I have already started fermentation, and that is probably about FG (if not already there) by this point. I thought the enzyme to bust up pectin was to be added before fermentation, or can it be added afterwards?

I have no idea, it was the only thing I could think of other than pedio.

I added the pectic enzyme that is usually used for cider, but it doesn't seem to have done anything. I might end up having to sit teh carboy in hot water in order to re-liquify this and pump it out.

I'd say I definitely learned something from this: don't try to make an all-maple syrup beverage. It just stays way too thick.