Maple Beer

[tasty_beverage]

I am interested in making a beer with a noticeable Maple syrup taste to it. I am new to this and am using the coopers home brew kit with the lager malt extract. What im wondering is when to add the maple syrup (primary or secondary fermentation) and how much to add to get a noticeable flavor.
Thanks tasty_beverage

 

[Epimetheus]

I have tried maple syrup and organic maple extract. Most people here will tell you the flavor of maple syrup vanishes unless you use a massive (read: expensive) amount. In my small experience, that is true. I had more success adding maple syrup extract at bottling time. I chose to use organic extract, not for health reasons but to reduce variables - many chemicals change flavor in the bottle conditioning process and I guessed that organic stuff would behave more like maple syrup.

I did a test batch and bottled with varying amounts of maple extract. IMO, the amount used in baking is too much for brewing. It is difficult to measure quantities below 1/2 teaspoon. This was my procedure:

1. Plan to add maple extract at bottling.
2. Reserve 1 quart of wort and add 1 tsp extract to it. This makes a sizable reference concentration and you can easily measure small amounts of extract.
3. To 2 gallons of wort, add 1/4 the reference volume. Taste for maple flavor. Adjust. Bottle 1 gallon.
4. To the remaining gallon, add another 1/4 reference volume. Bottle 1/2 gallon
5. to the remaining 1/2 gallon, add 1/4 the reference volume and bottle the rest.

Each time you are increasing the amount of extract in a very measurable way. You are not risking an entire batch. After bottle conditioning, you can decide what amount of a particular extract will work for your particular brew.

 

[tasty_beverage]

Thanks for a quick reply, now all I have to do is convert it all to liters haha

Tasty_beverage

 

[Bamsdealer]

Not sure that maple would go all that well with a lager kit.

I think you'll be much further ahead using maple in an ale. Amber, brown or porter would be my first choices. A friend of mine uses a pound in his porter and it gives the beer a nice maple background.

 

[barleyhole]

I recently put about 24 fl. oz of grade A amber syrup in secondary with my nut brown. My thought was that if I racked over enough yeast it would eat most of the syrup and leave a nice balanced toasty/nutty/malt/maple flavor. But, after 3 weeks I tasted it and it was a maple bomb and super sweet too. I repitched a yeast packet and it took off. Now after another 4 weeks it still has some maple but is getting there.

I'd say use pure maple syrup in secondary. Start with like 8 fl. oz and taste after a week if you notice the fermentation starting up and see how much flavor it removed. Try to rack over some yeast but not too much.

I've also used syrup in place of priming sugar at bottling time with a subtle, but nice maple flavor in a porter.