I'll be kegging 5 gal of wheat ale tomorrow. I'm adding maple syrup (yeast was already deactivated), not so much that it's sweet, just a hint of flavor. I'm trying to figure out how much to add. I fear if I have to keep adding some, I'll stir in too much oxygen, so I'd like to get it right in one or two tries. I was going to add the Grade B (dark) syrup to the keg and then add the syrup. I'll taste it, and stir in more if necessary. Thoughts on how much to start with? I'm thinking 10 or 12 oz by volume.
I've never added it to a beer where the yeast was deactivated, so I can't comment on how much to add. I can suggest that you warm the syrup up slightly to thin it out (easier to mix that way) and then add it to the keg before filling the keg. This way the act of filling the keg will help the mixing process. To warm it up, you could just heat some water up and then place the syrup container in the warm water for a few minutes.
Okay, educate me. How do you deactivate yeast? That's the first time that I've read that concept in this forum.
You can "inhibit it" by adding a combo of potassium sorbate and potassium metabisulfite to the beer. Or, if you keg, you can simply keep your keg in the refrigerator and the yeast will stay dormant. Problem with the latter option is that you can't then bottle the beer (after extra fermentables were added at kegging time that you don't want the yeast to ferment out) and let a bottle warm up without risking a refermentation in the bottle / bottle bomb.
I'd start with the 8-12 ounces and taste it. I second warming it before adding it. I've only done it twice, and wasn't happy with what I got. That said, I never killed the yeast off, but kept it cold enough the whole time in the keg, it never started up fermentation. It's a tough flavor to nail down, for sure.
I am looking at doing this soon. I noticed some sources say use both and some sources mention one and not the other. Curious why you advocate both personally and if you have any info on ratios and timing. Thanks!
From what I've read, the potassium sorbate inhibits the yeasts reproductive abilities while the potassium metabisulfite helps eliminate oxygen, kills bacteria, kills some wild yeasts, etc. Ultimately, combining the two covers all bases and magnifies the effect each would have independently. Here is a good article describing the action of both substances... http://winemakersacademy.com/potassium-sorbate-wine-making/ As for dosage, I believe last time I used them I used 1/2 tsp per gallon (which I believe weighed out to roughly 1/2 of a gram per gallon) of the potassium sorbate and 1 campden tablet per gallon (campden generally is potassium metabisulfite, although I have read claims that some brands of campden are actually a pre-mixed combination of p. sorbate and p. meta). I might have added a bit too much campden though. I believe 1/4 tsp per gallon of crushed campden is a fairly common dose used by wine makers for this purpose. I just added them at the time I was about to add the late addition fermentables. I've read that, when adding them at the same time, it might be possible for your yeast to begin a small amount of fermenting the late addition fermentables before the potassium sorbate and metabisulfite do their stuff, but I haven't experienced that yet.
I hadn't heard this. But I have heard many times that some campden is potassium metabisulfite and some is sodium metabisulfite. Both supposedly do the same thing, because it's the sulfites that kill bugs. I believe all the campden I've ever used (for chloramine removal from H20, and for sanitizing/preserving wine/mead/cider has been the potassium type.)
