Ever brew with sugar maple sap?

[zippyclown]

I have a bunch of sugar maples and usually tap them around March every year. Wondering if anybody has experience subbing maple sap (not syrup) for water? Seems like you could mash with it, no? Looking for a recipe or suggestions for a style that wouldn't taste like fermented pancakes...

zc

 

[KidDynamite]

I brewed with maple sap last year (just sparged partially with sap, actually) just for novelty - I didn't taste any affect at all, but I didn't mash with it.

I think the answer you're going to get is that you'll get almost no flavor out of it - the sap is probably about 3% sugar, and the flavor will just ferment out.

I prime almost all of my batches (bottle conditioned) with maple syrup, and even this late stage addition results in somewhere between little and no maple flavor.

 

[TyTanium]

Conventional wisdom is that none of the "maple" flavor comes through, just a subtle woodiness. Definitely worth a try. Easier than boiling down 8 gallons too.

 

[stratslinger]

A buddy in my homebrew club did that last spring with a brown ale. There was definitely a subtle maple flavor to the beer, but since the sap added extra fermentables to the wort, it dried out the finished beer quite a bit. He suggested (and those of us who got to sample agreed) adding some carapils or something similar to bulk up the body of anything brewed in this manner. I'm 90% sure I'm going to try this this spring, just need to settle on a recipe.

 

[zippyclown]

A buddy in my homebrew club did that last spring with a brown ale. There was definitely a subtle maple flavor to the beer, but since the sap added extra fermentables to the wort, it dried out the finished beer quite a bit. He suggested (and those of us who got to sample agreed) adding some carapils or something similar to bulk up the body of anything brewed in this manner. I'm 90% sure I'm going to try this this spring, just need to settle on a recipe.

Good to know! I'd be VERY happy with just a subtle maple flavor. Really don't like mapley flavored drinks. Typically when I boil even 1 gallon of sap it takes a couple hours and has to reduce to maybe 1/20th before it starts to take on the characteristics of maple syrup. So I wouldn't be surprised to taste no maple at all after just an hour boil. Glad to at least get confirmation of that. And thanks for the tip on adding body to the beer. This was the sort of response I was hoping for. Let us/me know if you decide on a recipe.

 

[TyTanium]

I missed the run last year with the warm spring, so I have my taps all ready for this year. Really hope I get to try this. If nothing else, the novelty factor is awesome. Great conversations starter at dinner parties.

 

[zippyclown]

Conventional wisdom is that none of the "maple" flavor comes through, just a subtle woodiness. Definitely worth a try. Easier than boiling down 8 gallons too.

I have a couple friends who are gluten free. Maybe I'll get rid of the grains completely and ferment the sap (with some other non-glutonous ingredients) into something of a "Saison Du Sap" for spring time. If the maple doesn't come through at least I can say I brewed it with my own sap. Or the sap from my trees, anyway. Sorry if I just crossed a line.

zc

 

[tagz]

There was a Basic Brewing Radio episode about brewing with Maple sap. I think the verdict was that there was little to no impact on flavor. It's it their archives if you're interested.

 

[zippyclown]

I need simple math help...

It takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of maple syrup.

So 5 gallons of syrup gets me 16 fl. ounces of maple syrup.

Ok, easy enough. So then the typical sugar content in maple syrup is (or is supposed to be if you make it right) 66%.

So 66% of 16 fl. oz = 10.5 fl. oz sugar

So here's where I blow a fuse... If that is 10.5 fl. oz. of sugar in 5 gallons of sap, how do I know how much sugar I have by weight? If I wanted to be honest with my recipe, I suppose I'd want to know that.

 

[zippyclown]

So here's where I blow a fuse... If that is 10.5 fl. oz. of sugar in 5 gallons of sap, how do I know how much sugar I have by weight? If I wanted to be honest with my recipe, I suppose I'd want to know that.

I got it. It's 1/3lb.

zc

 

[Cider123]

I've heard of people having better success making wine out of maple sap in terms of flavor. I also sugar but just for my family. We only tap about 15 or so trees. I'd much rather save the sap for sugaring. I make gallons of beer, but only a few pints of syrup.
For those that have never done it, you get approx. 1 gallon of syrup for every 40 gallons of sap you boil down.

 

[bandt9299]

Made a porter with 10 gallons a friend gave me, I used it in place of water in all steps of the brew. It was the best porter I ever made, but it really had no maple taste. As far as fermenting dry, mine did not, it finished @ 1.016, the amount of sugar in the sap is really low like 2 % so it doesn't change the beer much at all.

 

[Suminorudder]

Warrens Finest Liquids ( a Nanobrewery from Warren Vermont) made a world class rated beer with maple sugar. Heres a link to the beer advocate page. http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/17980/43978

They got a silver medal in the World Beer Championship (Thats a thing right?) for this beer. Maybe trying to track down a bottle and take notes about it would help you in developing your own recipe as well. It couldnt hurt for sure

 

[bluemoose]

I made an excellent pale ale last year. I boiled 20 gallons down to the amount necessary to mash and sparge. There is a hint of maple in the finish and a bit of a woody flavor up front. I will certainly do it again.

 

[sakeyfour]

I have brewed a few times with maple sap. I usually use twice the amount of sap as I would water boil down like making syrup and then use to brew. Does give a different flavor to the pale ale I make. Little earthy maple notes.

 

[beaston]

What about using maple syrup, like you would use honey in any other brew?

 

[stratslinger]

I just did that with an imperial nut brown ale - 16 or 20 oz of maple syrup at knockout (don't remember the amount off the top of my head). The beer came out very well, but there's almost zero maple character there. Everything fermented out.

 

[mastweb]

I brewed a Northern English Brown Ale (recipe from Jamil's book) with maple sap that was passed through à reverse osmosis filter (concentrated about 3 times). The water was 1.020.
I used it in the mash (and most of the sparge. It raised my gravity of 0.020 points.

The beer was great. It gave it a woody, minerally taste that blend very well with the nutty side of the original beer. You can taste the maple, but it's not sweet. It fermented very well. The beer was 7% ABV instead of 5% (original recipe)

It's worth a try!

 

[Kirkwooder]

If I remember right, the maple sap is almost like pure filtered water with some sugar. I know it it is great to drink, especially if the water is bad in the area you live in. That might be a great reason to try it.

BTW, you can also make cherry suryp from cherry sap, birch suryp, apple suryp, etc, etc,...,... It just takes about twice as much sap due to the lower sugar content!

 

[notAsDrunkMonk]

First time poster, long time lurker. Just tapped 4 trees yesterday, and already have over 8 gallons. Planning on Boiling down 15 gallons on wednesday, and looking for ideas to use my maple sap. Complimentary recipes or flavors. Love the dried fruit caramel flavors from this belgian dubble I made couple of months back. Thinking amber ale or porter. Have a bit of belgian special b and 120L crystal grains for that flavor. Anyone?

 

[TyTanium]

First time poster, long time lurker. Just tapped 4 trees yesterday, and already have over 8 gallons. Planning on Boiling down 15 gallons on wednesday, and looking for ideas to use my maple sap. Complimentary recipes or flavors. Love the dried fruit caramel flavors from this belgian dubble I made couple of months back. Thinking amber ale or porter. Have a bit of belgian special b and 120L crystal grains for that flavor. Anyone?

Cool! What's your location?

If I brew with sap, my recipe will be very simple.
Mostly pale ale malt with a touch C120 and maybe some Munich malt.

 

[notAsDrunkMonk]

Still have some munich malt, but agree that simple would be best. Wonder what type of hops to not overpower the hint of maple.

 

[TyTanium]

Tapped my maple and birch this morning.

10-day forecast looks perfect - above freezing during the day, below at night. Hope I have some sap when I get home!

 

[ODG34]

I've been thinking about trying this myself.

 

[roxbob]

I tried this last year, and wasn't too successful. I only have one sugar maple tree, so it took some time to collect enough to brew with. Even though I accumulated it in a corny keg in my beer fridge, one day the sap suddenly want from crystal clear to cloudy. Point being, it spoils fast, so brew quickly after you collect it! If I try it again this year, I'll probably have to freeze it in 1-gallon jugs until I have enough to brew.

Since it was just starting to turn and didn't taste bad, I brewed with it anyway and made a Kolsch. Wasn't very good, and usually my Kolsch is great. Haven't decided what I'll make this time...

 

[Brewsday]

There's another thread on this at https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/how-tap-make-your-own-maple-syrup-383695/

I posted:
Years ago (1983 to be exact) my buddy gave me 6 gallons of sugar maple sap. I was homebrewing but not very sophisticated (who was? who is???) I didn't even own a hydrometer so I figured "What the heck, boil it hard to kill whatever and then just treat it like water." I then followed a Canadian Amber extract recipe. Nearly blew the lid off the bucket and fermented for weeks! The resulting beer was incredible. Very strong and a noticeable but not overwhelming maple flavor. In fact, probably the only great beer I made in those days. We mostly made super black stouts and blended them with cheap beer for cheap "black-and-tans". I always figured I could attempt to replicate this "Maple Amber" by adding a pint of syrup near the end of the boil...but that's less fun and more expensive!

I set my taps up (2) before the blizzard (we currently have easily 2 feet and growing). My plan is to use it for sparge water. Any idea what the "water aspect is? Is it essentially RO?

 

[vtchuck]

A few comments from a Vermonter:

I am unable to detect any maple flavor from any sap beers I have brewed.

I also make a maple sap mead. The sap ups the abv and likely helps get fermentation started.

A local micro-distillery is making maple sap vodka. Tried a sample.... tastes like vodka.

 

[notAsDrunkMonk]

Been cold at night but warm days. Sap is flowing like crazy. Been boiling what I collect to sanitize it and make room for more. Boiled the 18 Down to 10 but gravity is only 1.014. Will try a maple amber recipe tomorrow and prime with syrup.

 

[TyTanium]

Been cold at night but warm days. Sap is flowing like crazy. Been boiling what I collect to sanitize it and make room for more. Boiled the 18 Down to 10 but gravity is only 1.014. Will try a maple amber recipe tomorrow and prime with syrup.

Location?

 

[zippyclown]

I'm the original poster for this maple sap thread. Lots of replies which I've found very helpful. But we seem split 50/50. Half of you brewed with sap and it added a maple and/or woody flavor. The other half of you firmly believe that it completely ferments out and lends absolutely nothing to the brew aside from a higher ABV.

Really interested to know what the technique was that resulted in flavor? Did you boil the sap down more creating more carmelization or flavor? Does it matter if the sap comes from late in the season vs. early? I know later season sap has a darker and more mapley profile.

Anybody able to identify what helped retain the flavor? In theory it seems like it would ferment out 100% leaving nothing behind, but clearly some of you have overcome that...

In central mass we just got 30 inches of snow dumped on us, but this week the sap should be flowing. Freezing at night and mid to high 30's during the day.

zc