First try at an Ale

[Ijp11]

My first take at Maple Ale open to critiques.

5 Gal batch.

9Lbs. 8 oz. Pale 2-Row US
2Lbs. Caravienne Malt
1Lbs. Caramel/Cryastal 20L
8 oz. crushed and roasted pecans mashed for 30min.

BOIL

60 min 2 oz Willamette
1 oz maple syrup at burnout

Yeast fermantation

i pkg. White labs wlp002 English ale

Secondary

Steep 5 oz. maple coffee beans whole for 20 hours before kegging/bottling

Any tips for single infusion mash all grain recipes?
First try!!!

 

[Cavpilot2000]

I would suggest that that's WAAAY to much caramel malts for any normal beer, but it sounds like you may be going for a sweet, more dessert-ish beer (because 3 lbs of caramel malts in a 5 gal brew are going to probably come across as cloying heavy/sweet, which may be appropriate for a dessert beer).

Also, you will never taste one ounce of maple added to the primary. It will ferment out clean and you'll never know it was there. To taste it in the finished beer I would think you'd need more like half a pound minimum (disclaimer: I have never brewed with maple, but use honey a lot and they ferment similarly).

That's just my two cents though.

 

[Ijp11]

Thanks for the input👌👌
Will decrease caramel

 

[Ijp11]

would you suggest
1 Lbs of Caravienne
.5 Lbs of Caramel

 

[TasunkaWitko]

I like the basic way it looks -

In my experience, pecans are wonderful in an amber ale. I didn't roast mine, and the flavor came through very nicely and well-developed. Roasting them "should" be nice, but be careful not to over-roast them.

I added brown sugar at knock-out (1/3 cup for a 1-gallon batch) and maple syrup as a priming sugar for bottling. It seems to me that they DID impart some qualities; if not sweetness, then something. But I am absolutely no expert...it could have been the grains as well.

I have added maple syrup at knock-out with other beers, and while I don't recall any sweetness as a result, I do believe there was a smoothness and an "under-tone" that resulted because of the addition.

 

[Ijp11]

Thanks for the input TasunkaWitko,
Definitely have to try the sugar. I was going to use the maple syrup at boil out to maybe drive up alcohol content and dry it out a little.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

I also agree with CavPilot about the caramel malts, but I have no idea what the proper amounts would be. There are percentages that are "optimum," depending on the desired effect, but I am not sure what they would be.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Sorry to keep tagging replies on, but I forgot to mention:

When I did add maple syrup to recipes, the amount called for was 3/4 cup (for a 1-gallon batch); knowing myself the way I do, I probably bumped that up to 1 cup (for a 1-gallon batch).