Kegging with Maple Syrup

[remuS]

Hello

I'll be kegging a batch of cider this weekend, and I want to add maple syrup to it. I'm not looking for it to be overly sweet, though I'd like a litle maple aroma and taste to it.

I plan on force carbonating, so the maple syrup wont be consumed by the leftover yeast.

How much should I add for a 5 gallon batch?

Thanks
Brandon

 

[vtchuck]

If you're talking about using real maple syrup, it'll cost about $45-50 a gallon.

Use the darkest grade you can find B or Dark Amber, the lighter grades like Fancy, A or light amber do not have a strong maple flavor.

If you are back sweetening after treating w/ K-meta, I guess I'd add it until it tasted the way I wanted.... probably at least a quart.

If you are planning to just add it when you pitch the yeast, don't expect much maple flavor or sweetness, unless you add a lot of syrup and stop fermentation before its complete by cold crashing

 

[remuS]

Hi vtchuck,

I'm planning on adding it at kegging time and it will go right into a kegerator, so fermentation will be stopped. Would you still expect a quart?

 

[vtchuck]

Hi vtchuck,

I'm planning on adding it at kegging time and it will go right into a kegerator, so fermentation will be stopped. Would you still expect a quart?

Yeah, I guess.... not knowing what your threshold is for sweetness / maple flavor. Darkest grade you can find.

 

[CvilleKevin]

A quart is probably overkill.

I sometimes use maple syrup if a batch comes out a little too acidic and I dont want to wait for it to mellow out. Maple sugar is an alkaline sweetener (as is stevia) so good for smoothing out an acidic batch. 6oz in a keg is usually enough to smooth it out, without imparting a noticeable maple taste. 12 oz in a keg is enough to give it a noticeably maple taste. I've never used as much as 16oz - I expect that would be a bit much for all but diehard sweet tooth.

For any sort of back sweetening - the best thing to do is pour a 4oz glass and then add whatever you are thinking about using in 1/4tsp increments until you get what you are looking for. Then scale it up. Dont dump a bunch of sweetener into a keg without sampling a small batch first, or else you may end up with a keg of expensive cough syrup

edit: also dont add adjuncts until you have chilled and carbed the cider. That will have an effect on the taste. And be careful adding. The cider will tend to foam up and spill. Add a little bit and quickly cover.