Saturday, August 29, 2009

Bottled Maple Brown Ale

Earlier this evening, I finished bottling 2 cases of my maple brown ale. The beer was in secondary fermentation for 4 weeks per the recipe, which is a bit longer than the 20 days I'd been used to for previous beers. Can't wait to try the finished product...

I checked the final gravity before priming w/ maple syrup & light malt extract, and it came in at 1.012 (above the minimum value of 1.010). I was a bit surprised that it was on the lower end of the range for this style, but will see how it all comes together in 2 weeks. Had a taste of the beer before mixing in the sugar-- definite roasted flavor from the dark chocolate malt, but a bit drier than I was expecting. It appears the majority of the maple syrup flavor has fermented out. A fellow BeerAdvocate recommended adding a spice called "fenugreek" to the boil next time for maple flavor that will remain after fermentation. Will first see if any maple flavor from the priming syrup remains after 2 weeks...

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