American Brown Ale

hundel

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Hi!

I brew with what I have in my pantry and for the last few years started to buy everything in bulk. This results in pretty simple grain and hop bills so I could use some advice. The recipe is nothing I’ve ever made or tasted before, but hey, I’m not sure anything I’ve ever made was something I’ve made before.

Keep doong what you love home brewers. And cheers.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/678888/hales-pride
 
Hi!

I brew with what I have in my pantry and for the last few years started to buy everything in bulk. This results in pretty simple grain and hop bills so I could use some advice. The recipe is nothing I’ve ever made or tasted before, but hey, I’m not sure anything I’ve ever made was something I’ve made before.

Keep doong what you love home brewers. And cheers.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/678888/hales-pride

The recipe looks good to me, but did you mean to set your efficiency to 35%? I think that's the default for extract with steeping grains
 
The recipe looks good to me, but did you mean to set your efficiency to 35%? I think that's the default for extract with steeping grains
Thanks. Translating what I do into the inputs was a bit of a challenge for me. Corrected.
 
When are you adding the syrup? I wouldn't add it during the boil or you could boil off the aroma. Most people I've seen use syrup add it after primary fermentation has stopped to keep more of the flavor and aroma.
 
Sounds like good advice. Im actually not looking for an obvious maple flavor. We have access to it through family and it fills out the sugar profile for the yeast since I can’t fit more than 14-15 lbs of grain in my kettle and bag. I have always added to the boil. You can taste a rich maple “wood” note and it makes a strong ale but no pancake smells. I’ll read up on adding it to the fermenter.
 
You could use some DME if you need to boost gravity without needing any mash tun space
 
or just plain table sugar, actually it would be fine with out it unless you just like higher alcohol
 
I think I’ll keep this one as maple syrup since we know people who produce it from trees on a relative’s land and fits the brown ale profile but I should add it to the fermentor as suggested and look into alternatives for other recipes that push the grain capacity of my setup.
 
I understand that you have the maple syrup and under those conditions, using a simple sugar that costs a whole lot of money to most of us can be easily explained. Now why? Maple syrup contains sucrose, sucrose will thin the beer's body and in an American brown - disregard. Shiner Bock is one of the "examples" of the style and it's rather watery. But back to my point: If you're adding an "exotic" ingredient, you need to be able to tell yourself why you are doing so and how it will affect the outcome. Not that I haven't put a "what the hell" ingredient or two in a beer!

To your question, I'd add it late. Yeast given too much simple sugar early in a fermentation can get lazy and refuse to ferment the maltose. When about half of the sugar has been fermented, thin the syrup to the point where you can cook it, boil it for a couple of minutes to sterilize it, then pour it into the fermentor. If you have a large volume, you may want to cool it before adding it.

Finally, your best alternative to push gravity beyond what your mash tun can handle is DME.
 
That is super helpful buddy. Yes, to be honest I was probably adding maple syrup because it’s fun to tell people it’s in there. Started doing it with a lavender maple porter I wanted to be bigger. Had read a book on alternative additions you could gather yourself. Knowing where the fllavor additions grew was fun. But yes. It’s a precious commodity to me too. Your digging deeper on the “why” of that addition helped me rethink whether it’s right for that recipe. Great example of why I joined the forum already right there man!
 
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Does the DME addition result in a thinner ale with less mouthfeel too?
 
Awesome. I have body to spare in most of these recipes but this is really helpful.
 
Let’s assume for the moment we stick with the syrup but we add it after the boil to protect it. I’ve been told to lay off the hops in my lower-gravity ales (high hops utilization is what they say in the forums). Any ballpark on how much I’d lower the hop quantities if that syrup is no longer present in the boil? I think it accounts for 6% of gravity. (Correction 3-4%) I guess this is where these tools really help, huh.
 
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Let’s assume for the moment we stick with the syrup but we add it after the boil to protect it. I’ve been told to lay off the hops in my lower-gravity ales (high hops utilization is what they say in the forums). Any ballpark on how much I’d lower the hop quantities if that syrup is no longer present in the boil? I think it accounts for 6% of gravity. I guess this is where these tools really help, huh.
If you keep the maple syrup in your grist bill and then clcik the box for "late addition" it will adjust your overall IBUs which should give you an idea.
 
I find the BU/GU ratio in the More.. section of the recipe helps for the maltier beers. Looking at a few shared recipes they're often lower than I'd brew for something that malty, say around 0.3 - 0.4.

I'd say adding the syrup after the boil could mean a touch more hops, as you still want them to help balance the sweetness. Adding it later will give you more flavour, but also a little more sweetness. So pick a level based on the final sweetness.
 
If you keep the maple syrup in your grist bill and then clcik the box for "late addition" it will adjust your overall IBUs which should give you an idea.
Maple syrup as a late addition bumped the IBUs from 25.5 to 26. Removing it dropped the ABV from 6.1 to 5.75. So I’d agree I wouldn’t notice those changes. Unless I can honestly taste the difference in a blind test it’s a non-factor recipe wise. Learning a lot from these tools and you guys advice already. Thanks.
 
I find the BU/GU ratio in the More.. section of the recipe helps for the maltier beers. Looking at a few shared recipes they're often lower than I'd brew for something that malty, say around 0.3 - 0.4.

I'd say adding the syrup after the boil could mean a touch more hops, as you still want them to help balance the sweetness. Adding it later will give you more flavour, but also a little more sweetness. So pick a level based on the final sweetness.
I find the BU:GU ratio to be very helpful and use it almost exclusively now. It helps when you are trying to find a balance of sorts. - BU:GU of .3 - .4 should be great for a brown ale but I assume in a "American" it could be higher as those browns tend to be hoppier.

I've never played with maple syrup but I wonder if you boiled some down in a separate pot so that you created a thick caramelized syrup - that it could be added to the end of the boil to lend some unfermentable sugars and possibly flavors? Time to do some research/reading I suppose!
 

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