Priming with maple syrup: slow carbonation?

Hey,

I bottled a batch of maple wee heavy--primed with 5 oz. of Grade B maple syrup--about three weeks ago and cracked open a bottle last night. The stuff tasted as great as I'd hoped, but there was no head. Some small amount of bubbles in the brew itself, but even though I poured it down the middle, I couldn't coax any head out of it.

This brew's one to age and age, so I'm in no rush, but was wondering if anyone else has experienced slow carbonation with maple syrup as a priming sugar.

Cheers,
Nige

Every wee heavy I've ever had poured that way. Very little to no head and very low carbination. Are you following a recipe or is this your own?

I have no experience using maple syrup as priming sugar, but if the beer is higher gravity, it may take a bit longer to carb up than usual.

Thanks. The recipe was a Northern Brewer kit that I modified with a bunch (2/3 gallon) of maple syrup. That said, the style for English/Scottish ales is low carbonation (less than 2 volumes of CO2), but I've always gotten at least some foam when pouring commercial wee heavies. I'll be patient with it.

Just to note: I added some hydrated dry yeast at bottling since the brew'd been sitting around a while (brewed late January) and wanted to ensure carbonation and conditioning.

that may not of been enough maple syrup. corn sugar has 92% solids with an extract yield of 42 and is 100% fermentable. maple syrup on the other hand is 67% solids with an extract yield of 31 an is 100% fermentable.

assuming you calculated you needed 5oz. corn sugar you would need 6.8oz. maple syrup.

x = (5oz. * 42 * 100%)/(31 * 100%) = 6.8oz.

reverse calculating you added the equivalent of 3.6oz corn sugar. which should be enough to give you some head but maybe not as much carbonation as you where thinking.

Hmmmm. I did my research thoroughly prior to deciding on that 5-oz. weight.

According to Palmer in How to Brew (as well as a few other books/sources/online priming calculators I checked), 5 oz. (weight, not volume) of pure maple syrup would be correct for a 5-gallon batch. I was concerned, after I did it, that it could be a bit too much for the appropriately low level of carbonation for the style.

Maybe it's just a matter of waiting....

Just curious, but did the carbonation ever get any better?

I'm surprised that Palmer would give a standard "5oz" measure for 5-gallons, as maple syrups tend to vary quite a bit in specific gravity (and therefore sugar contents) from one batch to the next - never mind the grades!

What I would do is this...

Since both maple syrup and corn sugar (fructose) are 100% fermentable...

Measure 4oz (weight) of corn sugar into one cup of water, dissolve until clear, and take a gravity (or refractometer) reading.

Measure 4oz (weight) of maple syrup into one cup of water, do the same thing, and find the difference.

If your readings are different, your coefficient will be:

corn sugar mixture SG - 1.000
------------------------------
maple syrup mixture SG - 1.000

so if your corn sugar mixture is 1.048 and your maple syrup mixture is 1.060:

48/60 = 0.80 (80%).

So if you'd normally use 4oz of corn sugar, with maple syrup you'd use 4oz * 0.8 = 3.2 oz.

[Yes, I am aware that there are dissolved minerals that play on the gravity of the maple syrup mixture, but they are mostly negligible].

M_C