Maple Heff

[Newton]

I'm going to try to brew a Heff with a gallon of maple syrup added after primary--as this is what John Palmer recommends so the syrup doesn't ferment all the way down.

Has anyone tried this with sucess?
Does this dilute my recipe?
Do I need to pasteurize the syrup first?

Thanks!

 

[phished880]

Wow that's gonna be an expensive brew. Here a gallon of grade b costs about $60. I would recommend grade b it has more flavor, it will have a huge impact on the abv. It sounds like way too much for that type of beer.

 

[Newton]

A friend is giving me the syrup in exchange for half of the batch. Palmer says in his book that much less than a gallon per 5 gallon batch and the maple character will be undetectable.

 

[kanzimonson]

I brewed a brown ale with a half gallon of maple syrup and it was insane. Waaaaay too much until about 6 months of aging. It almost had a gaggy, round flavor that you get from eating melons. After some aging it was like an Imperial Stout brewed with a Belgian strain. I think I calculated that each bottle had a tablespoon of maple syrup in it. Imagine drinking that.

If you want a beer for aging, go for it, but if you want to drink it now then cut way back.

 

[phodog]

Not true I did a mild with 3 quarts and was seriously overpowered. had to make an american brown to mix 50/50!

 

[Newton]

When you guys are talking about mixing, are you adding your syrup to the boil or in the secondary?

 

[kanzimonson]

I added it in the last 5 min of the boil. Just enough to incorporate it but not to boil off too much aroma.

 

[phodog]

I took mine to 170 and held it and added in three additions over the course of about 5 days, just after the hardest part of fermentation.

 

[boater]

I just did a wheat and added pure maple syrup 15 minutes left of the boil. I only added a quart, and it turned out great. I also have a free supply of pure maple syrup, but don't ruin your beer by over-powering it with maple!! Everyone who tried my brew, LOVED it. GOOD LUCK!!!!

 

[Reno_eNVy]

I've tried a gallon of grade b maple in a cream ale.... it isn't worth the cost IMO (but in the OPs case, it's being bartered so whatever.) Maple syrup is highly fermentable and the mapley flavors will be scrubbed off by fermentation. I dumped it into a secondary vessel and racked the beer on top of it. It really only produced a woody character.... not saying it's bad but you're not going to think "Mmmm, pancakes!"