Looking for feedback on this new recipe I’m trying. I have 2lbs of C grade maple syrup and trying to figure out how best to use it. Got inspiration from Funky Buddha French Toast Double Brown but decided to go with more of a Porter. Adding Brown Malt for a bit of a bready flavor. I see Crisp Brown Malt listed at my local HBS…is that the same thing? Any thoughts/suggestions?
French Toast Porter
6.5 lbs Pale Malt 2 Row
.5 lb Caramel/crystal 60L
1 lb Munich
1 lb Brown Malt
.5 lb Chocolate Malt
1.5 oz Fuggles @60 min
.5 oz Fuggles @10 min
1 lb Maple syrup at flameout
Add in secondary: another 1 lb Maple syrup, cinnamon stick and vanilla bean (scraped)
I added 1.87 lb of maple syrup to a big RIS. It’s a little over a year now and still has a noticeable maple flavor. I added it all to secondary. However, I didn’t wait for fermentation to completely end. I waited till it was noticeably slowing down by a fair amount and the racked to secondary with the maple syrup. I’m happy with the results. I want to change the recipe a bit, but it’s the malt bill. The amount and way of adding the syrup with stay the same.
I would definitely cut back from that amount if you’re planning on drinking it fresh. While I enjoyed the maple flavor, fresh it was a touch too strong. After a year it’s really hit it’s stride, but I was planning on sitting on this for at least a year anyway.
2 lb maple syrup will dry out your beer a lot. To compensate, mash really high at like 156 F for just 40 minutes and/or add a half pound of lactose. If at the end of ferment it does not taste mapley enough, add a little fenugreek which is the artificial flavor used in artificial syrup.