Acerglyn

I was kind of suprised that there isn't already a thread on maple mead in the forum this time of year. But I am very new to mead making so I would like to recruite you folks to help me formulate a recipe.

I have only drank one mead, it was a traditional dry mead and I liked it quite a bit. I made a gallon of metheglin about 3 months ago that is probably ready to be bottled, but I have not tasted it yet. I have access to very good local honey and maple syrup. I recently aquired a gallon of the maple syrup, so naturally I want to ferment it. My only problem is that I don't know what kind of quantities to add to make a 5 gallon batch. I was thinking two quarts of honey and two quarts of syrup mixed wiht 4 gallons of water. I will also be using RO water so should I add minerals and yeast nutrients? And for those of you who have had acerglyn do you think I should use a dry or sweet yeast?

Does anyone think it would be good to make a cider with a half gallon of maple syrup added to it or would that just be wasteful?

For water to syrup/honey ratio just mix to a target gravity. This is usually the best method as you get a consistent alcohol content and residual gravity if the gravity is too big for the yeast.

You should use some yeast nutrients in particular DAP as honey and I'm guessing syrup does not have the need nitrogen. Some trace minerals are also needed so adding some minerals may be a good idea also, but I don't know what to add.

A maple cider(cyser?) sounds like a nice combination. My honey based cysers have been my favorite wine like drinks I have made. I imagine that maple will also go well with the apple.

I have considered making some acerglyn but even buying from the local farmers with sugar shacks, maple syrup is an expensive product.

Craig

Do you know what kind of target gravity I should be looking for in mead? I was thinking about using the Wyeast 4184 because their dry mead yeast can tolerate up to 18% alcohol so that might be too much. So if I use a sweet mead yeast with an alcohol tolerance of 11% what sort of OG am I looking for to leave the proper amount of sweetness in the mead?

The maple syrup from my local guy is under $40 per gallon, but I got this one for free so I don't feel too bad experimenting with it. A buddy of mine actually helped the guy collect his sap and re-tarred the roof of the sugar shack. So next time he heds up I am going to see if he can score some more syrup or at least some sap.

Two things, how sweet do you want it very dry, dry, semi-sweet, sweet, dessert like? We need to know that to advise a OG for the brew. Also, once this is all said and done, if it's a quality brew perhaps your connection would consider a trade? A few bottles of quality Acerglyn made with his own stuff, in exchange for some more maple syrup?

Tusch said:

Two things, how sweet do you want it very dry, dry, semi-sweet, sweet, dessert like? We need to know that to advise a OG for the brew. Also, once this is all said and done, if it's a quality brew perhaps your connection would consider a trade? A few bottles of quality Acerglyn made with his own stuff, in exchange for some more maple syrup?

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I am thinking semi-sweet or sweet. From looking around it seems that people like the sweeter acerglyns a lot better that dry ones. But if you guys disagree I am still open to suggestions.

As far as working out a trade that is a very good idea. I have been wanting to go up there but it just hasn't worked out, but he certainly the kind of guy who would be into that, he still pulls his carts of sap with horses and does civil war reinactments.

If you use dry mead yeast or champagne yeast then it is not usually recommended to take the yeast to their limits. These yeasts are best used to produce a dry mead.
I would say for a semi-sweet acerglyn using Sweet Mead yeast around 1.095 would work. If you use a dry wine yeast like Lalvin D-47 then a little over 1.100 is better. You can increase those gravities by up to 20 points or more for a sweet mead.
Craig

Thanks baron, that is very helpful. As soon as my apfelwein is done hogging my carboy I will get some of this going.

Well I finally had a free carboy to start this. I made 5 gallons and for the record I used 2 quarts of maple syrup and about 2 3/4 quart of honey to reach 1.095. The must just tasted like honey water with no noticable maple flavors. I am really hoping it starts to come through after some of that sugar is out of the way. I am using the Wyeast sweet mead yeast and it is fermenting quite nicely.

Here is one I made almost 2 years ago .... check out www.gotmead.com for this - and other - Acerglyns:

06/06/2006 – The Omen’s Acerglyn


I made a 6 gallon batch of Acerglyn using the maple syrup that I bought when I was in Kitchner, Ontario a couple weeks ago. I am calling in The Omen’s Acerglyn because of the date I made it – 6/6/6/ (get it?) Here is the recipe:

• 2 Liters of Canadian Amber grade maple syrup
• 12 pounds of Gordon Foods clover honey.
• 3 packs of Lalvin D-254 (24 grams).
• 2 teaspoons of Fermaid K.

Procedure as follows:

1. Filled my 7.9 gallon pail fermenter with 3 gallons of hot tap water – approx. 115 degrees.
2. Added honey.
3. Added ½ a 4 liter bottle of Canadian medium grade maple syrup (the other half will be used during the secondary fermentation later on).
4. Added 2 teaspoons of Fermaid K.
5. Aerated the must like hell using my lees stirrer
6. Rehydrated yeast in 2 ½ cups of 104 degree water with 1 teaspoon of Go-Ferm.
7. Pitched yeast.
8. Topped off to the 6 gallon mark.
9. Aerated like hell again.
10. Put on lid and airlock.

After 3 days (June 9) this mead will be racked into a 6 ½ gallon carboy to continue fermentation. Also, I will be aerating this mead twice a day for the next 3 days using my lees stirrer. Stay tuned for updates.

06/09/2006 – Added 1 teaspoon of Fermaid and aerated the must for the last time in the bucket fermenter. Racked into a 6 ½ gallon carboy and after several hours there are about 25 bubbles per minute coming through the airlock.

06/23/2006 – Fermentation down to about 5 bubbles per minute. Will need to de-gas and add the additional 2 liters of Maple Syrup soon!

06/24/2006 – Used my Fermtech degassing wand and a drill motor to degas the must. Added the remainder of the Maple Syrup which was approximately 2 liters. Used the wand to mix it up. Took a Brix reading before and after = 10 and 14. Stay tuned …..

07/08/2006 – Fermentation dropped to about 2 bubbles per minute, so used my Enolmatic to rack into a 5 gallon carboy and 1 gallon jug. Brix reading = 12.6 or 1.050 SG.

09/12/2006 – Racked off lees into another 5 gallon carboy and 1 gallon jug. Did not take a Brix or SG reading …. Stay tuned for updates …..

02/03/2007 – Racked over 3 ounces of Hungarian Medium Toast Oak.

04/14/2007 – Yummy! The oak character is really starting to come through on this mead. Used my vinometer to get an estimate of the alcohol = 17.5% ABV!

06/02/2007 – Bottled 27 750 ml bottles.

- GL63

well how did it turn out? At the rate this Wyeast sweet mead yeast is fermenting it should be ready to rack sometime in 2011.

I still consider it to be a work-in-progress - I've only drank a few bottles, and although the last one was much smoother and more fully integrated than the first several, it still has another year or two to go before it reaches it's full potential IMHO. This was one of my earlier meads and if I were to make it today, I would have bulk-aged it a minimum of 2 years (like I do with ALL the meads I make these days) before bottling.

Last April I made another Acerglyn, this one using raw, unprocessed wildflower honey, the same amount and type of maple syrup, + chocolate! It is still bulk-aging on oak, which I will be racking off of in about a month or so, and it is developing into something truly special. Do a search on www.gotmead.com for that and many, many other interesting recipes.

- GL63

I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.... nor do I know that it will taste good, but I made an acerglyn.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f30/black-raspberry-maple-mead-348729/