Maple Syrup in Beer

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

I have a buddy who wants some syrup to make a maple flavored beer. Anyone with experience know what grade would be best or care to share what did or didn’t work for you? I have some half gallons of extra dark with a strong maple flavor I think would be good but am not sure.

[ecolbeck]

This sounds like a challenging endeavour. The fermentation process will cause the loss of maple flavor if you add syrup at the beginning. I have added maple syrup to homebrewed cider and there is no particular maple flavor at the end.

Adding syrup after the fermentation may yield a product that is too sweet and still lacks flavor because of the dilution factor. If you are bottle conditioning, the added syrup would complicate that process as well. If you are forced carbonating, then it seems like less of an issue.

I found this article on the internet. Perhaps it would be helpful?

https://byo.com/article/maple-beer/

[toquin]

Worst beer I ever had was made with sap.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Thanks for the article. I guess I should clarify........he wants the syrup to say it's a maple beer and that it contains pure maple syrup. How much actual maple flavor he is looking for I don't know. This is a guy that owns a brewery, not just just a home brewer. I assume he will try a small batch first. My biggest question is what grade to sell him. That article indicates the darkest grade would be best which is what I was thinking.

[wiam]

I used to work for a guy that sold syrup 15 gallons at a time to a brewery. They wanted the darkest he had.

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Thanks for the info. He wants 5 gallons for now. Sending him some of our last extra dark stock.

[Z/MAN]

I make beer with sap every year. I use 5 gallons of sap and I use a brown ale extract kit. As has already been said here the yeast will ferment most of the maple sugar and flavor out. To make up for this I add 8 ounces of very dark syrup to the beer when I am kegging it. I then carbonate it and it is ready to go. When I first tried this I added 16 ounces of syrup and although very drinkable I thought is was a little too sweet for my liking. The 8 ounces gives a little sweetness and a slight maple flavor. I have friends that love this. The fact that I make this beer out of all sap and no water amazes people. We all know it is mostly water with about 2% sugar. lol

[Kh7722]

Thanks for the article. I guess I should clarify........he wants the syrup to say it's a maple beer and that it contains pure maple syrup. How much actual maple flavor he is looking for I don't know. This is a guy that owns a brewery, not just just a home brewer. I assume he will try a small batch first. My biggest question is what grade to sell him. That article indicates the darkest grade would be best which is what I was thinking.

We made a kettle (15gallons) of maple beer a few months ago. It tasted great, my uncle is a seasoned hobby brewer and does it at local breweries. We used a quart of dark, its recommended to use a pint for proper alcohol levels, he went a little over (double) and ended up with a 6.5% abv. Beer was great, dark but not to strong. Better than any major beer ive had.
Kevin

[mainebackswoodssyrup]

Well I’m meeting up with him next Thursday. 5 gallons for now. He said he wanted darkest we had so his research lines up with what you guys have said. Gave him a deal but to going to cost him a couple 6 packs. Will let you know how it turns out.