Max Maple Syrup for a Smoked Maple Strong Ale

[Ritzkiss]

Hey all,

I've come across a cheap supply of maple syrup for brewing. While I have a number of years of all-grain brewing under my belt, this is the first time I'll be brewing with maple syrup...

Much of the research I've read here and elsewhere states the trouble of brewing with maple syrup as: limited flavor (as it ferments out) for high cost.

I think I've settled on adding the syrup to the secondary. So, with cost not being a factor, I am wondering what's the max syrup one could add to a beer without it being totally dried out... I've seen a couple threads toss comments such as 'as much as a gallon' but I've not seen any recipes doing this much.

I'm thinking of a smoked and oaked strong amber/old ale type beer that showcases both the maple and smoke and I'm working on a grain bill that can match a hefty amount of maple syrup. Thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated as I've not seen anything that tries to add this much maple syrup.

5.5G batch, all grain

7# 2Row (33.7%)
2# Cherrywood smoked malt (9.6%)
2# Crystal 120 (9.6%)
1# Crystal 60 (4.8%)
.5# Aromatic Malt (2.4%)
3L/8.25# Maple Syrup in secondary (39.8%)

Even with this, the syrup bumps the OG into 1.102-1.114 territory depending on the program used the calculate (fermentability of maple syrup factor?).

Any thoughts, suggestions, warnings, etc would be super useful at this point. Thanks!

 

[treebeerd]

I would think that high of a percentage of maple syrup would have to considerably dry out the beer, which might intensify the smoke character as well. In my mind syrup as 20% of the fermentables would still be a lot.

I understand that you want the maple character to carry through fermentation, but I'm not sure that upping the percentage in the recipe is going to have any effect on how much maple flavor is present. Maybe adding smaller amounts at different points during fermentation would help, even at bottling to replace priming sugar.... If you do decide to add that much sugar during fermentation I would suggest adding it in steps to feed the yeast through fermentation, like they do with some strong Belgian ales.

PS: I have added a pound of syrup to 5 gallons at high krausen, with little to no maple flavor carrying over, but a considerable drying effect.

 

[WestMichBrewer]

I wonder if boiling the syrup alone to reduce it before you use it in a recipe would help any.

 

[anteater8]

I brewed 4.5 gallons of imperial stout with maple, coffee, vanilla & bourbon (13.1%). I also had oats in the recipe and a 1.132 OG which both helpd keep a thick mouthfeel. I used 1.4 lbs of maple syrup at flameout. Nothing fancy, just some generic organic brand like this: https://c1.q-assets.com/images/products/p/kts/kts-1983_1z.jpg

Then I added 0.75 tsp of this maple extract at kegging: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0001M0Z4S/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

This got me exactly the type of maple flavor I wanted. Pretty sweet but perfectly balanced with the roast of the stout and coffee. I wouldn't change a thing if I were to make it again.

 

[treebeerd]

Sounds good! Post the recipe?

 

[Ritzkiss]

I wonder if boiling the syrup alone to reduce it before you use it in a recipe would help any.

Boiling, from all the sources I've seen, removes the flavor compounds of the maple syrup and is not recommended.

 

[Ritzkiss]

Sounds good! Post the recipe?

Still working it out, but I'm working with Papazian's quote that you need a gallon of syrup in a 5G batch and trying to work out a recipe that allows me to get as much syrup as possible in without going over the 10% ABV mark

Here's the malt bill I'm working with so far...