What HOMEBREW are you drinking right now?

phirleh · Post by **phirleh** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 12:13 pm

grub wrote:
lister wrote:Looked like a porter, smelled like a porter and tasted like a porter, just didn't taste like a maple porter. The maple was very, very subtle. I was hoping for something noticeable, more so than say Nickelbrook's Maple Porter and Granville Islands Maple Cream.
from what i've heard, maple is tricky as it tends to mostly ferment out and not leave you with much "maple" character left behind. adding more and more syrup ends up thinning out the brew and not adding much maple. your best bet is to use lower-grade syrups (which tend to be more intensely "maple" and not ferment quite as far) and consider things like fenugreek that can lend some maple character.

You could alternately use a higher grade of maple syrup to prime your bottles for bottling, thus keeping a bit more of that flavour in. I have 2 litres of amber syrup that I'm looking to do a maple dubbel with (like Double De Bonsecours from Broue Pub Brouhaha)

grub · Post by **grub** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 12:53 pm

phirleh wrote:You could alternately use a higher grade of maple syrup to prime your bottles for bottling, thus keeping a bit more of that flavour in. I have 2 litres of amber syrup that I'm looking to do a maple dubbel with (like Double De Bonsecours from Broue Pub Brouhaha)

i'd actually recommend against using it for priming. first, you'd need to know exactly how much sugar it has and exactly how fermentable it is, and be able to make a pretty accurate weight in order to avoid bottle bombs. all that adds up to too much uncertainty and danger for my taste.

also, from everything i've read on the subject, the small amount you need for priming is so small as to impart zero flavour (be it the sugar type, syrup, or extract) in the final product.

xocoatl · Post by **xocoatl** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 1:49 pm

We brewed a maple ale last year that turned out well, with good maple character. We used Canada #3 dark maple syrup, which I think was key, as its much stronger tasting. Purchased from a Mennonite booth at a local farmers market.

icemachine · Post by **icemachine** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 1:54 pm

Dark syrup comes from the end of the season, try to find a local producer and you might be able to get some from for a fair bit less than store prices

phirleh · Post by **phirleh** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 1:55 pm

grub wrote:
phirleh wrote:You could alternately use a higher grade of maple syrup to prime your bottles for bottling, thus keeping a bit more of that flavour in. I have 2 litres of amber syrup that I'm looking to do a maple dubbel with (like Double De Bonsecours from Broue Pub Brouhaha)
i'd actually recommend against using it for priming. first, you'd need to know exactly how much sugar it has and exactly how fermentable it is, and be able to make a pretty accurate weight in order to avoid bottle bombs. all that adds up to too much uncertainty and danger for my taste.

also, from everything i've read on the subject, the small amount you need for priming is so small as to impart zero flavour (be it the sugar type, syrup, or extract) in the final product.

You would probably be safe with 2/3's of a cup to 1/2 cup for a 5 gallon batch. But you would kind of have to be tasting your beer through all stages to see if it needs some more maple flavour at the end.

markaberrant · Post by **markaberrant** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 6:31 pm

grub wrote:maple is tricky as it tends to mostly ferment out and not leave you with much "maple" character left behind. adding more and more syrup ends up thinning out the brew and not adding much maple.

grub wrote:
i'd actually recommend against using it for priming. first, you'd need to know exactly how much sugar it has and exactly how fermentable it is, and be able to make a pretty accurate weight in order to avoid bottle bombs. all that adds up to too much uncertainty and danger for my taste.

also, from everything i've read on the subject, the small amount you need for priming is so small as to impart zero flavour (be it the sugar type, syrup, or extract) in the final product.

This is exactly my experience. Leave the maple syrup out of your beers. You'd have better results trying to mimic "maple" with a combo of crystal malts, low IBUs, and maybe a touch of maple extract.

grub · Post by **grub** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 8:29 pm

phirleh wrote:You would probably be safe with 2/3's of a cup to 1/2 cup for a 5 gallon batch. But you would kind of have to be tasting your beer through all stages to see if it needs some more maple flavour at the end.

meh, i'd still disagree. "probably safe" could leave you with a beer that's flat (if the syrup wasn't as fermentable as you guessed) or the worse bottle bombs (if it was sweeter than expected). why spend the time to make a brew if you're just going to guess at packaging time and not even get any maple out of it? work on the flavour elsewhere where you know it'll work and prime normally. plain old sugar (calculated based on your desired co2 volumes and weighed carefully) is the only thing you should be using for bottle conditioning.

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 10:09 pm

I've used the Dark #3 (baking grade?) to prime, and I still couldn't taste a thing. I think you'd need to use a lot in the secondary to get much character, which could cost a fortune. I considered going straight to the sugar bush and using sap instead of water, but never got around to trying it.

markaberrant · Post by **markaberrant** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 10:36 pm

The point of carbonating is to carbonate to the desired level, not add flavour or screw around with alternative sugars.

Had a similar discussion recently where someone was against using corn sugar to carbonate because it is "bad for you." I suppose it isn't great, but the amount is small, and it gets the job done reliably. force carbonating does it even better.

I know this from experience. don't use maple syrup to carbonate. you are just asking for problems.

phirleh · Post by **phirleh** » Tue Mar 27, 2012 10:12 am

grub wrote:
phirleh wrote:You would probably be safe with 2/3's of a cup to 1/2 cup for a 5 gallon batch. But you would kind of have to be tasting your beer through all stages to see if it needs some more maple flavour at the end.
meh, i'd still disagree. "probably safe" could leave you with a beer that's flat (if the syrup wasn't as fermentable as you guessed) or the worse bottle bombs (if it was sweeter than expected). why spend the time to make a brew if you're just going to guess at packaging time and not even get any maple out of it? work on the flavour elsewhere where you know it'll work and prime normally. plain old sugar (calculated based on your desired co2 volumes and weighed carefully) is the only thing you should be using for bottle conditioning.

Quite true, I've only bottle conditioned with measured amounts of sugar in my brews, those amounts are only from what I've read of other people's experiences. I may save my maple syrup for pancakes.

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Tue Mar 27, 2012 11:44 am

I use to play with different sugars for priming, and I tried to use the thicker Belgian bottles. But yeah, ~3/4 cup in 5 gallons really doesn't do much... especially since most of it is Fermentable. I started adding a significant amount of sugar to the secondary as well (in Belgian brews, as the primary ferment would scrub off some character). I think 'Radical Brewing' has some suggestions about the amounts for priming.

Other things I've tried Jaggery (very nice, with a good portion in the ferment as well), Demerara, molasses (can leave crud in the bottle), Lyle's Golden Syrup and Honey (carbonation is a REAL crap shoot).

I haven't used anything but plain sugar in over 5 years now. It's consistent.

Derek · Post by **Derek** » Wed Apr 04, 2012 9:36 pm

My California Extra Special Blonde.

Gambrinus ESB, Citra hops (1 oz @ 60 min; 2 oz dry), US-05 yeast. It has a chardonnay, gooseberry-like flavour to it.

Ukie · Post by **Ukie** » Sat Apr 07, 2012 1:42 pm

Dont know if it still qualifies as homebrew but I picked up a six pack of the Samuel Adams 2011 Longshot winners homebrew contest.

Kinda cool, never saw them before:

Dark Night In Munich
Derf's Secret Alt
Five Crown Imperial Stout

More info here:

http://www.samueladams.com/promotions/L ... fault.aspx

markaberrant · Post by **markaberrant** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 12:11 pm

Drank 19 different pilsners last night. 6 were pretty damn good. For whatever reason, there was another 6 that all had plastic/spicy phenols, and the other 7 were somewhere inbetween the 2 extremes.

Also did an interview with a newspaper journalist, and did a photoshoot for another publication while judging at the same time!

phirleh · Post by **phirleh** » Tue Apr 10, 2012 3:33 pm

markaberrant wrote:Drank 19 different pilsners last night. 6 were pretty damn good. For whatever reason, there was another 6 that all had plastic/spicy phenols, and the other 7 were somewhere inbetween the 2 extremes.

Also did an interview with a newspaper journalist, and did a photoshoot for another publication while judging at the same time!

http://www.leaderpost.com/life/Beer+bat ... story.html

This one?