The Bar Towel

I have a question about priming my pumpkin beer. I just got back from Montreal and while there I picked up enough maple sugar (about 250g) to prime 5 gal. of beer IF maple sugar is appropriate for priming homebrew. Will the maple sugar (a) provide sufficient carbonation and (b) infuse the finished beer with any detectable maple flavour?

I use to play with odd sugars in Belgian brews. A couple of times I split batches & primed with different things. Using the same stuff in the secondary & for priming certainly makes it more detectable. (I liked using raw cane/jaggery sugar for secondary & priming dubbels).

It'll probably be subtle, but might add a nice dimension. There's a natural herb or something that's used to flavour Aunt Jemima's fake syrup, and I think it was suggested in Mosher's Radical Brewing for homebrew flavour as well. Can't remember what it is... but you could add a bit to the secondary if you want to ensure some maple flavour.

Sugar rather than syrup is definitely a wise choice for priming. The variable moisture content in syrups is a REAL pain. For the maple sugar, you should be able to find the potential extract (it may even be in Radical Brewing) and adjust accordingly.