Coffee beans in a blonde ale

Just to be clear, you're looking to brew a vanilla maple honey coffee blonde ale?

 

Where does the blonde ale come in?

 

Geez let him do his thing! Home brewing is all about experimentation.

I would use light roast and go very light on the coffee, you can always add more beans later if its not enough for you. I personally would choose the maple syrup over the honey. I think the maple will compliment the coffee, plus adding all that extra sugar is going to dry your beer out a ton. Hope everything turns out tasty and post back here with the results!

 

Eh? I was asking about his recipe, i.e. why he's calling it a blonde. That said, he is not likely to get any maple flavor even if it's 1/2lb to 1 gallon.

 

Here's my coffee blonde: http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2014/08/blonde-ale-on-coffee-beans-recipe.html

Couple ounces of whole beans for about a day before kegging.

Out of curiosity, what is "maple cane syrup."

 

I haven't returned to that recipe yet. Tasting notes to answer your question on the hop schedule (in a word, lackluster - should have dry hopped with another ounce or two).

S-04 is a solid strain. I like English yeast with American hops, especially in a lower gravity beer where you want to build in as much character as possible.

 

If you're wanting maple flavor I would advise using at the very least 1lb to 1 gallon, and using the absolute darkest syrup you can purchase. Using 100% Grade A (known as Light now I believe) would probably not give you the maple flavor you're looking for...and the stuff you're planning to use is cut with cane sugar, which further reduces the maple potency.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if it's artificially flavored to compensate. That flavor would hold up better than natural maple flavor in beer.

@CADETS3 Using a maple extract might be more economical for imparting maple flavor

 

Certainly a possibility...I don't have any experience with artificial flavorings outside vanilla and almond...and would not use either in a beer. Pure extracts are certainly contenders though.

 

If you're bottling and are adding to taste then, you'll need to factor in the sugars in your priming calculations

 

Any maple sugar, imitation or natural, is pure sugar and will cause fermentation, which as mentioned above will dry out your beer. It's just a question about which product to use to have the best chance to keep some of the maple flavor in the beer. I have not been successful on my two tries with natural syrup, nor have I read any strong success stories that would allow me to tell you how best to do it. There have been threads on this 'maple' topic in the past, so you might want to search for them to read up on all of the opinions for how you want to arrive at your own opinion and choice.

 

If you add some cacao nibs, you'll basically have a White Stout recipe. I brew a White Stout every year that turns out fantastic! I'd go with the lighter roast coffee and for a 5 gallon batch I like to add an ounce or so, course ground, at flameout for about 10 minutes just like a hopstand and then add around 2 or so ounces cold pressed at kegging. The cold pressed coffee flavor goes away quickly in a beer like this and then leaves the flavors hanging just a little as it ages. I add the "beanstand" in there to add some flavor that tends to stick around longer and a very slight astringency that reminds the taste buds that there is coffee in this brew. Most folks like my white stout/vanilla chocolate coffee blonde and I could have won first at a small local competition with it if I would have entered under the "Blonde Ale" category instead of the "Stout" category...all of the judges came up to me afterwards, told me this and then asked for the recipe

IMO, screw that Cracker Barrel maple syrup combo stuff and go get a lesser grade (B if you can find it) syrup somewhere else, as many others have mentioned. I'd think about adding it at high krausen to get the most flavor and aroma, instead of adding it into the boil, where much of these molecules are destroyed. This technique works well with honey, so I would think it would work similarly with maple syrup. Good luck!

 

I don't doubt that this was a tasty beer, but a beer with vanilla, chocolate, and coffee ought to score terribly as a Blonde Ale too, assuming it was a BJCP competition. Spice/herb/vegetable beer would be the ticket.

 

At work right now and don't have the recipe with me...later this evening when I get home, I'll pass it on.

The variety and freshness of the coffee makes a HUGE difference as to how the beer will turn out. I look for a smooth flavor without too many extreme side notes/detractors that could send the beer in a different direction than desired. I've found that around the upstate of SC, The Fresh Market has the best coffee I've ever used in a beer in their "Fresh Market Medium Blend". I've tried maybe 6-8 different coffees in beer and the 2 batches I made with this blend got the best compliments from drinkers. It seems there are Fresh Markets in Texas, but I'm not sure if you are remotely near one. Taste as much coffee as you can to pick your variety, and make sure you can imagine that blend in a beer...you can always cold press some of that coffee and add it to a commercial beer to see what you think of it before using on your batch.