Brew 4 gallons instead of 5?

[maida7]

I'll do the research to make sure I don't overdo the priming and end up with bottle bombs (vs. flavor bombs!) all over the place.
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This is super important. I have a friend who wanted sweet cider and added way to much sugar to the bottles and they blew up and a piece of glass went thru his eye. He is now blind in one eye for the rest of his life.

 

[DKershner]

So, I'll look to add some maple syrup (not a gallon--maybe a quart or two) to the boil and then will also use it, boiled with water (Right?) as my priming sugar. I'll do the research to make sure I don't overdo the priming and end up with bottle bombs (vs. flavor bombs!) all over the place.

This is fine, and glad you did the research, but realize that the canadian company is not using your other ingredients for their base beer, so you may have a very different (drier/less sweet) beer. I would go as far to say likely.

5 seconds on how to make things drier or sweeter:
Drier:
- Simple sugars: Honey, Maple Syrup, Sugar, Corn Sugar, Candi Sugar, Molasses
- Some AG techniques you can worry about later

Sweeter:
- Malto-dextrine
- Some AG techniques you can worry about later.

If you really want to have the beer you named, then you should find a clone, or ask the forum to help you clone it. I think you will end up with something you like much better, and is much closer.

 

[DKershner]

One other thing you might consider before going down this road is non-sugar flavoring. People use these with much success for making Raspberry Hefeweizens and the like.

Maple isn't as prominent, but I found some flavoring here: http://www.barryfarm.com/nutri_info/flavorings/mapleflavor.html

This will allow you to get maple flavor without affecting the beer otherwise (mouthfeel, ABV).

 

[Revvy]

One other thing you might consider before going down this road is non-sugar flavoring. People use these with much success for making Raspberry Hefeweizens and the like.

Maple isn't as prominent, but I found some flavoring here: http://www.barryfarm.com/nutri_info/flavorings/mapleflavor.html

This will allow you to get maple flavor without affecting the beer otherwise (mouthfeel, ABV).

Yeah I was just going to google something similar and suggest that.

To really get the flavor of something like a honey, or maple syrup you really have to find an unfermentable version of it and that may mean an extract or something like a rind that has the essence of it. Or a grain like the honey malt.

One thing I have somewhat been toying with is trying to infuse lactose with a flavor essence. Like taking a small amount of it and placing it in a jar with orange peels. Or boiling some like you do priming sugar and adding something to that and then adding it to the boil. (maybe similar to a simple syrup) Hoping that the flavor and aroma infuses the lactose and carries on during fermentation.

 

[doghousechef]

Fenugreek is an herb that imparts a maplish flavor. It is also nursing aid and it is said that women that take a lot of it end up with maple smelling sweat (I wouldn't worry about that in the quantities you'd use for brewing). I came across that info when my wife asked me for a nursing beer. I'm going to add it to an oatmeal stout (oats and hops also being lactation aids).

 

[chelero]

OK, 1st of all what doghousechef said-that's very cool..mmmm...nursing beer!
the only thing I wanted to add is about making a more concentrated recipe. I inadvertently did this a couple of times-was making 6 gal recipes for my 5 gal fermentor- because I didn't realize the recipes were for 6 gal fermentors. anyhoo, what ended up happening was high-ass OGs, cloyingly sweet beers that don't carbonate completely and have head retention problems! once I learned how to scale the recipes on beersmith to my setup(thanks HBtalk), everything worked out. I know you've moved on and have an idea about how to make the beer you're wanting to clone, but since this was originally thrown out there, I just thought i'd share my experience.