Maple Sap/Syrup Beer

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eschatz

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my friend has 5 gal of sap and one pint of syrup that his family makes. Tell me what you think.

5 gal of sap instead of water
1 pint of maple syrup
4 # of DME
Nottinghams Ale Dry yeast
2 oz of Tettenanger

Special grains:
i really dont know. I guess i'll use about 12 oz of Crystal 80L. probably about 4 oz of Chocolate. I dont know what else to use. Someone give me some info on what the hell i'm making. I guess this is kinda like a maple mild brown. i'm not sure on the style points. all i know is that it'll make beer!
 
From the sap and syrup in the boil. You might try priming your bottles with the syrup... 1 cup (added to 1 boiling cup water) for 5 gallons and use the darkest syrup you have (B grade or Dark Amber). More of the maple flavor will survive with priming than boiling.

YMMV
 
I have not seen to many maple sap recipes so be patient someone may come along.............eventually:) Is maple sap as thick and sticky and pine tree sap? What happens to it when heated and have you ever boiled it?
 
Maple sap is very thin; maple syrup is boiled down sap. It takes quite a bit of sap to make a little syrup.
 
I read something in the "Joy of Homebrewing" by Papazian that he liked to substitute 1-2 gallons of water for equal amounts of Maple sap when it is in season.

I thought to myself, 1-2 gallons makes... how much maple syrup? a tablespoon? I don't see how it could hurt though.

nick
 
I recently made a maple wine with 3L of maple syrup, brown sugar, and a lemon. What I learned is that maple is a very strong flavour, and that maple derivatives have a higher sugar content than you think. My maple wine came out quite strong, but with plenty of sugar left over to be sweet. Granted, you're using highly diluted syrup, but don't underestimate the maple; it is a very strong flavour. It sounds like it could be tasty if you use the right grains. My intution suggests making something dark, or perhaps a cream ale.
 
I have friends who have brewed with maple sap and I have tasted their brews. IMHO, the results are unimpressive. Because of those results I have been dissuaded from trying a sap beer Maybe its something about the boiling of the wort and / or fermentation, but little of the maple flavor remains. To get significant maple flavor you'll need at least a gallon of dark syrup (at ~ $40).

Go ahead and use the sap, but try my suggestion of using dark syrup to prime your bottles. It works. I made a tasty extract porter last spring that had more maple flavor than sap beers.

Or you might try pure maple extract (not maple flavor extract) added much like vanilla extract (end of boil and additional in secondary to taste)

YMMV
 
yeah, i think you're all right. i didnt get much maple flavor when i tasted the wort before primary. so i think i'll add a pint to the secondary and if that's not enough when i taste it at the bottling i'll add it to the bottles and condition as such. who know what could happen with this stuff! : )
 
because of the volume of sap you need to make syrup it's unlikely you'll get any intense maple flavour...but it's not tap water and it's gotta taste better than chlorine and fluoride. i say thats a great way to brew everyday!
 
I have brewed an Oatmeal stout kit and added a quart of maple syrup for the last 20 min of boil. After about 4 or 5 weeks in the bottle the maple flavor is very pleasant in the back of the mouth. Not real strong but nice.
 
Maple sap to syrup is about 40 to 1. So using 2 gal of sap in your boil is about 1 cup of syrup. I'm guessing thats below the threshold of tasting.
I'm surprised syrup in Vermont is so expensive. I can usually get a gal from local sugar houses for under $30. Ofcourse in retail stores it will go for around $40.

Craig
 
I first tried 5 gallons of early sap in an extract beer, replacing water. No maple flavor. Then I repeated, using 10 gal of late sap (darker, stronger). Tiny bit of flavor. Then I added a quart of syrup at the end of an all grain boil. Tiny bit of flavor. OK, try again with two quarts. Boring. Three. That got me somewhere, there's some flavor there, and enough for people to notice. The 4 quart batch is in the primary now. I also did a wild rice/all grain beer using 2 pounds of wild rice, pre-cooked for 2 hours. Mashed with 10 pounds of grain. Used only maple sap, no water for the mash and sparge. SUCCESS. Maple and wild rice flavor both came through in the final product. I was teaching a class when we did this, and all the students were thrilled with the flavor. Sap will be running here next week, and I've got a number of all grain sap brews planned.

-Steve
 
My wife's family makes real maple syrup for a living. I've tried to decide best how to incorporate maple into beer. In theory it sounds great. As such, I think beer made with maple sap might have a nitch market (organic, all-natural what-have-you). But, it's the idea you'd be selling / promoting IMHO.

I just don't see how maple sap will do much for you in practice. Especially if you are doing AG and have to worry about sap chemistry / pH, etc. That, and the tiny amount of sucrose (which is what maple sugar is) which would be essentially fermented 100% out, and the fact that the ratio (varies granted) is on the order of 50 gal maple sap : 1 gal maple syrup. In a full boil, we boil off what 30% maybe? To get maple syrup that's boiling off 98%.

My theory will be to use maple candi sugar (granted I have a pretty unique source) either in the boil (as you would Belgian Candi sugar) or to prime with. Basically, they boil down some of the syrup down even further to get candi. Scraps are produced, which are perfect for my purposes.

It'll take some time to put together the proper recipe, but I think I am onto something with this idea...

Cheers,

Mike
 
In The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, Papazian states that making a sap-based beer will not give a noticable maple flavor. If I recall correctly, he said it had a pleasant woodsy hint to it, but it wasn't strong.
 
My friend and I made 5 gallons of maple beer this past spring. We collected 10 gallons of sap and boiled it down to about 4 gallons, added the ingredients to make a standard 6% ale, then primed with maple syrup made from more of the same sap.

The beer has a citrus flavor. It does not taste much like maple, but it is strong and so I've been aging some of it. I estimate it is close to 10% abv due to the extra sugar content. I think I do taste more maple as it ages, but it's not what we expected. Still, the taste has grown on me and I would consider doing it again. I liked walking out through the snow to collect sap every day, then standing outside boiling it down in the evenings.
 
I think im gonna boil the sap down about 50% and do an all grain batch with it. i usually do a red ale and add a bunch of syrup to that so im set on trying this. ill just use it like my mash water and see what i get. the worst that can happen is ill get beer thats not very maple flavored. i dont really like maple syrup much anyway so its just a matter of propane time and drinking :)
 
Be careful here. Maple sap has a large amount of minerals in it. Make sure you find that out before you mess-up a mash!

JP

I think im gonna boil the sap down about 50% and do an all grain batch with it. i usually do a red ale and add a bunch of syrup to that so im set on trying this. ill just use it like my mash water and see what i get. the worst that can happen is ill get beer thats not very maple flavored. i dont really like maple syrup much anyway so its just a matter of propane time and drinking :)
 
I recently made Jamil's mild, 10 gallons and split it. In the second fermenter I added 3 quarts of Maple syrup a freinds parents made into the seconday, and pecan extract at kegging to taste, and OMG, me likey!
 
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