A ? on brewing a Maple Ale

Has any one tried to make an Red Ale or Brown Ale from maple syrup/extract. If so how was your out come and how did the sugars affect your beer? Are they fermentable or non-fermentable sugars. I'm about to start experimenting for myself but I first wanted to see if anybody had any trials & errors first.
Thanks

Halv2MX said:

Has any one tried to make an Red Ale or Brown Ale from maple syrup/extract. If so how was your out come and how did the sugars affect your beer? Are they fermentable or non-fermentable sugars. I'm about to start experimenting for myself but I first wanted to see if anybody had any trials & errors first.
Thanks

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I make a blonde or canadian ale with maple syrup. I do it during the sugaring season.

I have found that you need a light beer to give the maple a chance. It is somewhat fermentable but the scent gets lost very fast. My best luck has been with a quart added in the last 10 minutes or so and then another quart or more in secondary. Even then, there is little nose and the flavor is late. I like to say it has that 'back of the throat' flavor real maple syrup has. Steer clear of much of any hopping. A bit of bittering is all you want. It is WAY to easy to overpower the syrup.

Cheers

when you say during sugaring season, do you mean you add a quart of sap? or finished maple syrup?

sipNswirl said:

when you say during sugaring season, do you mean you add a quart of sap? or finished maple syrup?

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I use A Grade B or Amber syrup, not the sap. I would not waste the money on anything of a higher grade as it just does not make that much difference. The darker the syrup, the better the flavor.

on maple sap / syrup:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=56320

I have to agree with what the other posters have said. One of my goals when I started homebrewing was to be able to make a maple brown like I tried from Tommyknockers. I added a fair amount during fermentation and most of it fermented out. You could catch a bit of it on the flavor, but not enough that you would recognize it. If anyone else has any better idea, I'd love to hear them. I would definitely recommend that you go light although I think maple would taste great in a stout or porter.

Darren

I've used a quart of syrup in an oatmeal stout. The maple flavor is subtle and pleasant at the back of the mouth . It is one of my favorite to brew.

dmorris3333 said:

Darren

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Yikes
Me too

Darren

if you keg you could always kill the yeast and add it to taste then keg and force carb it.

Thanks everyone I really apreciated the insight and ideas on what you done in the past. I'm going to start this weekend and I will keep you all up to date as I progress.
Thanks
Bill
aka Halv2MX

Something to try would be to get maple extract and add it in secondary (probably sterile enough considering it's around 35% alcohol from what I've read).

http://www.savoryspiceshop.com/extracts/mapleext.html

I have not tried this, just a thought.