Maple Brown Ale help

[sebastienzeman18]

I have been looking to try to make a Maple Brown Ale for a while now and have tried reading other threads on this topic, but there seems to be so much contradictory information. Does someone have information, technique, proven recipe etc that works and could help me. Been wanting to take the dive but don't feel comfortable without more information.

Cheers!

 

[McKnuckle]

I think you'll find numerous proven brown ale recipes, so depending on basic style - American, English, Cascadian/hoppy - you should be able to find one easily. The trick is in incorporating maple syrup, which, being nearly all sugar, is a difficult flavor to preserve.

You probably will want to select a malt-forward, relatively sweet brown ale style, and add the maple syrup as late in the process as possible. If you bottle, this will be difficult. If you keg, you're in much better shape... I would prime with maple syrup and allow it to partly carbonate in the keg, then put it in the cold to hopefully stop fermentation. Force carb the rest of the way.

I could share my current house brown ale recipe, which is a smooth American version, but I don't want to be presumptuous, because I've never added maple syrup. Have you encountered any basic recipes yet that intrigue you, or are you looking only for ones with maple syrup? I think you should start with the foundation first.

 

[sebastienzeman18]

I think you'll find numerous proven brown ale recipes, so depending on basic style - American, English, Cascadian/hoppy - you should be able to find one easily. The trick is in incorporating maple syrup, which, being nearly all sugar, is a difficult flavor to preserve.

You probably will want to select a malt-forward, relatively sweet brown ale style, and add the maple syrup as late in the process as possible. If you bottle, this will be difficult. If you keg, you're in much better shape... I would prime with maple syrup and allow it to partly carbonate in the keg, then put it in the cold to hopefully stop fermentation. Force carb the rest of the way.

I could share my current house brown ale recipe, which is a smooth American version, but I don't want to be presumptuous, because I've never added maple syrup. Have you encountered any basic recipes yet that intrigue you, or are you looking only for ones with maple syrup? I think you should start with the foundation first.

Thanks for the feedback. This is specifically for a maple recipe. One problem I have read about at length was struggling with keeping the sweetness from the maple syrup. The idea of making it very malt forward and sweet before adding the maple syrup makes a lot of sense.

I was thinking of adding half the maple syrup at the end of secondary fermentation to really get a nice woodsy mapley taste, and then cold crashing it and adding the other half after the transfer to the keg. Therefore fermentation won't begin again (hopefully) and it should add a little more sweetness, maple flavor taste to it. I have read about "cheating" a bit and using artificial maple flavor but I wan't to avoid that as much as possible. Your idea with priming using maple syrup and then cold crashing the fermentation could be an interesting technique to try out.

The biggest problem with this style of beer is trying to keep that sweetness you get from maple syrup, so I think you are right about the importance of finding a proper brown ale recipe. Somehow I still haven't brewed a brown ale before so I guess I will have to mess around making a brown ale recipe till I find the sweetness I think will work.

Cheers!

 

[McKnuckle]

I don't think it's essential to preserve the sweetness from the maple syrup, but rather the flavor is the key component. Sweetness can come from anything. Think about chocolate. You could put the most bitter, pure cocoa into a drink and mix it with plain sugar (which didn't come from the cocoa), and mmm chocolate. But you first have to infuse the cocoa essence successfully. Luckily, cocoa is a pretty powerful flavor.

Maple syrup, though, is rather delicate, so I think we need to treat it gently. So that means definitely no boiling or primary fermentation. I think your recipe should have a good percentage of crystal malt, say 10%, and you should mash high to create unfermentable dextrines (156-158). Pick a moderately attenuative yeast as well. Keep strong, competing flavors out of the grain bill.

If I were to make something up on the spot, I would try:
78% pale ale, 10% C60, 5% brown, 5% torrified wheat, 2% Carafa III Special
OG 1.054, FG 1.016 (70% attenuation)
Northern Brewer hops @ 60 min to 27 IBU

And then follow your ideas about adding syrup to the keg. Good luck!

 

[sebastienzeman18]

Great thank you so much for the help. Look forward to giving this a try over Christmas time!