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maple sap as an ingredient

Maine Homebrewer

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I'm going to see if a friend of mine can get me some maple sap to substitute for water in a batch. In one of Papazian's books he said he tried a batch made with it, and said it had a woody character to it.

As far as ingredients go, I've got pils and pale malt, carapils and crystal, wheat, roasted barley, chocolate malt, and black patent. For hops I've got Fuggle, Saaz, and Tettenager. For yeast I've got Safale US-05 and Saflager S-23.

I'm open to suggestions for a style/recipe that could let the subtle flavor of the sap shine.
 
Maybe keeping it simple is the key.  Sort of a SMaSh with the maple sap.  The pale malt and the saaz is what I'm thinking.  This will keep the base beer simple and allow you to feature the maple sap.  Any of the hops would probably be just fine.  It seems that when you want to feature an ingredient, keeping the grain bill simple (at least at first) is the best approach usually.

I'd aim for a balance between hop and malt.

Just my thoughts.  Other opinions might vary.
 
Our local nano does a 100% maple sap pale ale called "Tree Blood," which I imagine they'll be brewing sometime in the next couple weeks here (now that the sap is finally running). I didn't get to try it last year, but the owner says the woody character is pretty faint, and may be more of a placebo effect than anything else. It does lend a modest amount of sugars--very modest, as in less than 1.010. They mostly due it for the uniqueness of the offering rather than for any specific character in the resulting brew.

Certainly not trying to dissuade you--as a matter of fact, I'm using sap in my 90 IBU IBA next weekend, simply for the free sugars--but I wouldn't count on getting a lot of maple or even woody flavors out of the beer, even in a SMaSH. Maybe I'll try fermenting some with my kefir grains though... hmmm....
 
I can't imagine the sap gives much character at all but if you can get it and it's cheap, it's a cool idea. So much of the flavor we think of as maple comes from the boil it's hard to even see the sap as the same thing. I put ~2 lb of syrup in a barley wine and it's a note. certainly not up front. and it does give a slight wood aged note to the beer which is cool. the rest of the recipe was pale and munich 10L. I think the munich helps accentuate the syrup a bit because of the similar boiled sweet malty notes.
 
Oh, I agree with that--that's why I said go for it, but don't have high hopes for pronounced flavor.

I did an oatmeal stout many, many moons ago that used about about a quart of Grade B homemade maple syrup that was done in an open pan over a maple fire. It was a.w.e.s.o.me. The syrup itself was almost as dark as the stout, and super-thick, with a definite but not overwhelming smoke flavor. I got gallons of the stuff for free because the family that made it didn't like it (lucky for me that I did). I added so much at flame out that it most definitely came through in the final beer. Probably one of my favorites ever... sigh.
 
I just talked to my friend, and he said his friends didn't even tap the trees last year. So it might be a bust. But he'll be talking to them later today.

I'm thinking ale. As much as I like crisp lagers, I do think that this flavor would lend itself better to an ale than a lager.

Scott, good call on the Saaz. Normally I don't use noble hops in an ale, but I think with the maple it would work well.

On another note, today is Maple Syrup Sunday here in Maine, and I went to an orchard to treat the kid to some beans made with maple syrup. They ran out of food, but I did get to enjoy a wine tasting. Three apple wines and one grape. Loopy at one thirty.

https://www.facebook.com/BoothbysOrchard

The Honey Crisp was out of this world.
 
Dang. Looks like there isn't any sap from that source this year. Thank you all for entertaining the prospect.
 
While pumping gas today I struck up a conversation with a guy who was filling several cans.  Turns out he needs the gas for vacuum pumps for maple sap. Got his card, and when it warms up I'll give him a call. Might charge me five bucks.  See what happens.
 
I got offered the sludge from the evaporator for free. This stuff is useless for the sap maker, but probably holds the most potent maple flavor for a brewer (I'm guessing because I haven't tried it yet).
 
He wants a buck a gallon. Think I'll buy ten and boil them down to eight. Then use that for the beer.  Boiling it down will increase the flavor while making it less likely to mold/ferment in the few days between when I acquire it and when I use it. He said it's high in sugar, about a 30/1 ratio of sap to syrup. Did the math and that comes out to the equivalent of around two and a half pounds of syrup. That should add some flavor for sure.

After some thought I think I'll simply pasteurize/chill it on Thursday and do the boiling on Saturday.
 
Maine Homebrewer said:
He wants a buck a gallon. Think I'll buy ten and boil them down to eight. Then use that for the beer.  Boiling it down will increase the flavor while making it less likely to mold/ferment in the few days between when I acquire it and when I use it. He said it's high in sugar, about a 30/1 ratio of sap to syrup. Did the math and that comes out to the equivalent of around two and a half pounds of syrup. That should add some flavor for sure.

After some thought I think I'll simply pasteurize/chill it on Thursday and do the boiling on Saturday.

just be aware that much of the flavor comes from the boiling down process and I would wager that most of it comes from the last 10% or so of the reduction. still, it's only about 3 times as much as RO so go for it!
 
just be aware that much of the flavor comes from the boiling down process and I would wager that most of it comes from the last 10% or so of the reduction.

I never thought of that. Turns out they live off of a dirt road that's in bad shape, so I'm not picking it up until Saturday. Maybe I'll reduce a few gallons myself and add the syrup back into the boil.
 
Yep, you go from sap, to concentrated sap, to less concentrated sap, to even less concentrated sap, to syrupomigoshnowitscarbon. The magic of maple syrup is in knowing that relatively brief sliver of time when it's at its most goodest.

Also, be sure to boil the sap outside if you're planning on doing any sort of reduction. My neighbor thought she'd try making syrup indoors, and fought off plagues of sugar ants all last summer.
 
I went and got two buckets of sap. I'm boiling one of them right now to concentrate the flavor. The steam smells like wood. Will use the other tomorrow in substitution for water when I make the beer.
Going to take advantage of my cold basement and make my last lager of the season using 7.5# pils, 1# carapils, 1oz each Black Patent, chocolate malt and roasted barley, hopped with Saaz, 2oz for sixty, and 0.5oz for 30 and 15. Will see how it goes.
 
I don't know what name to attach to it. Look at my last post. There's the ingredients list. Will be fermenting with Saflager S-23 and mashing around 150 to ensure some sweetness to bring out the maple flavor.
 
Didn't realize that was meant for the same beer.  Gotta get off the pain killers.  Hopefully Tuesday.
 
Yep, you go from sap, to concentrated sap, to less concentrated sap, to even less concentrated sap, to syrupomigoshnowitscarbon.

You weren't kidding. It went from boiling sugar water to boiling sugar in just a moment. The way to tell was the steam. It just stopped. Anyway, thanks for that. I may not have been babysitting it if not for that comment.
 
Mashed with sap and added the syrup at the end of the boil.  It's chilling as I type this. Can't really taste the maple in what otherwise promises to be a damn good beer. Maybe it will be more noticeable after fermentation is complete.
 
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