THE FULL MOUNTIE (Maple Brown Ale)

An American take on a naked Canadian

STORY
Brown ales are awesome. I have always preferred malty beer styles, to their hop-driven brethren, and figured it was time to try my hand at a brown ale. Shorts' Bellaire Brown, has been one of my favorite beers for as long as I have been drinking beer. Shorts has a tap room down the road from my old ski chalet, and no ski trip is complete without picking up a pint from Shorts. We will order a few flight of Shorts' latest brews, and most people will order their favorite in a pint, but I regularly find myself going back to Bellaire Brown. My other favorite, Big Sky's Moose Drool, is my default Rocky Mountain draft. Despite all the amazing beers that flow from Colorado, this Montana brewery sources my go-to camping beer. Neither of these beers blow your socks off with crazy flavors or weird techniques, but they are simple, and don't need to be fussed over. I don't dissect them like other beers. I just relax and enjoy. They are straight-up delicious and I envy their simplicity. 

I decided to make my own straight-up delicious homebrew, but ignored the whole simplicity thing. This brown ale has a large grain bill, ferments with maple syrup, and is aged over bourbon soaked oak cubes.

RECIPE (PRINTABLE VERSION)
Grains (15.1 lbs)
     12.0 lbs Maris Otter
      2.0 lbs Dark Munich
      0.5 lbs Aromatic Malt
      0.5 lbs Chocolate Malt
      0.1 lbs Special B
Hops (13.0 AAUs)
     8.5 AAUs Northern Brewer (1.0 oz | 8.5%)
     4.5 AAUs Fuggle (1.0 oz | 4.5%)
Yeast

Wyeast 1272 (American Ale II)

(Med | 72-76% | 60-72°F) [10% abv tolerance]

Misc

     12.5 fl oz Grade A/B Pure Maple Syrup 
     2.0 oz Medium-Plus Toasted American Oak Cubes
     2.5 oz Bourbon (Recommend Bulleit, but could substitute with your favorite)
     Maple Extract (to taste - ~3ml/gal)
     
A few notes about maple syrup. Firstly, expect most of the maple syrup flavor to ferment out of the beer. Given that maple syrup is essentially sugar water, do not anticipate a ton of flavor coming it. However, if added after the boil its possible to get some maple smells in the end product (similar to aroma hop addtions). Additionally, I use maple syrup which has 53g carbohydrate - 50g sugar per serving (according to the nutritional information), but most syrups are 53g carb -53g sugar. The hope is that the missing 3g lends itself to taste. Additionally, purchased maple extract to fine tune the beer prior to bottling (if necessary).

STATS

OG: 1.066 (targetted 1.081)

FG: 1.013
ABV: 7.0% (targetted 9.0%)

SRM: 24 (via BrewersFriend)

IBU: 29 (via BrewersFriend)

MASH SCHEDULE

Strike
26 qts water @ 163°F for 1:00

Should settle to 152°F
Infusion

Maintain temp (150-155°F)
Add ~8qts throughout

Sparge

Prep water @ 175°F

Continue until 6.5 gallons gathered

*BG should be ~1.061

BREW SCHEDULE

1.0oz Northern Brewer @ :60

Irish Moss + Yeast Nutrient @ :15
1.0oz Fuggle @ :10
1.0 lbs Maple Syrup @ :00

Cool in Ice Bath to 64°F
Pitch Yeast

FERMENTATION SCHEDULE

     On brew day prepare oak cubes

          - Soak 2oz American Oak cubes (Med-Plus toast) in Bourbon

     Transfer beer to secondary after 2-3wks

     Add oak cubes prior to secondary along with beer

     Taste periodically (1-2 per week)

     Once oak flavor is as desired bottle immediately

     Prime to 2.4 vol CO2 (~.85oz/gal)

     Condition at room temp for 3wk or more

     Cold condition for 1wk

     DRINK!

FERMENTATION NOTES

Soak the Oak (1-2 Weeks)

     - Boiled 2 oz Med+ Toast American Oak          cubes for 2min

     - Strained cubes and added to mason jar

     - Poured in 2.5 oz of Bulleit Bourbon

          - by the way it is pronounced "bullet"

     - Covered with plastic wrap

     - Pierced with pin to allow evaporation                                

By poking holes in the plastic wrap, the bourbon is able to partially evaporate. This is important because we want the bourbon to add flavor not alcohol (or mouthfeel), and evaporation concentrates the liquid and flavors without affecting the body of the beer. You can easily see in the pictures below, that after 10 days with the oak cubes, the bourbon will lose significant amount of volume and drastically change colors. The oak cubes absorb a decent amount of bourbon, and in return release some of their compounds into the bourbon. What you cant see in the photos is the amazing smell that the oak gives this bourbon, though. I almost took a swig, just to experiment, but kept strong and fed it to the beer instead.

After Oak (10 days)

Before Oak

After adding the oak cubes (and remaining bourbon, if you like), be sure to test your beer periodically. I pulled at least 1 sample every week which I believe is that absolute minimum sampling frequency. I would recommend 2 samples per week. 

Before adding the priming sugar, I slowly added maple extract to the beer. The maple extract is not fermentable, so the maple flavor will survive the minor priming fermentation. Using a pipette, add a few drops, take a small sample, and repeat until the maple profile suits you.

Prime to 2.4 vol CO2 (.9oz/gal)

SESSIONS

     Aug, 2015
     Oct, 2017 *no bourbon/oak

NOTES

     Oaking - I have written up a quick guide on how to oak your homebrew.
     Maple Syrup - Given that maple syrup is essentially sugar water, I do not anticipate a ton of flavor coming from it. Some people use it as priming sugar, some people use it in the secondary, and some people use sap as brewing liquor. However, I added it after the boil, in hopes of getting some maple smells in the end product (similar to aroma hops). I considered throwing it in the secondary, but I didn't want it to interfere with the oak cubes. Additionally, the maple syrup I bought was 53g carbohydrate - 50g sugar per 1/4 cup (according to the nutritional information), but most syrups are 53g carb -53g sugar, so I'm hoping the missing 3g of sugar means it is slightly less fermentable. As a backup plan, I purchased maple extract to fine tune the beer prior to bottling. An alternative to maple syrup is fenugreek, which is used to flavor imitation maple syrup.