Re: Maple Syrup

Kyle <abuse@localhost> wrote:
*** Adams <rdadams@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Phil <dogglebe@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"nickstrachan" <nickajstrachan@xxxxxxx> wrote:

I have been fooling around with the idea of making an ale with a slight
maple flavor as well as a smokey undertone...The syrup is homemade if
that makes a difference, but i'd think it would be as near sterile as
store bought due to the rigorous boiling and reducing of the maple
sap...

A great idea is to take 16 oz of existing ale, add 1/4 tsp of Maple
Syrup to it, and see how you like the taste. You can add a little
more as you go along as long as you refill with ale between drinks.
This is call research and is an excellent excuse for drink a gallon
or more, but it only works on gullible women.

that's a good idea and will work if you're adding maple *flavoring*.
If the original poster is adding maple syrup to finished beer, expect
the sugars to ferment out leaving a significantly different flavor
profile after adding syrup to the brew.

I agree with you. My point is for the original poster to decide
if he really likes the taste of maple syrup in beer. Considering
the cost of Maple Syrup (for me it's twice the price of honey),
he better like it before he tries it.

That point aside, I'm curious to try a maple brew or maple mead. I
just acquired a gallon of grade B syrup I intend to use for one or
the other (or both).

Grade B is the better grade for beer and mead because it has
a higher sugar content than Grade A. Another issue is that
you can boil Maple Syrup without concern for stripping out
any flavors - something you should NOT do with honey.

That said: I put Maple Syrup into my meads when I rack into
the secondary. In my limited experience, fully fermented
Maple Syrup does not taste that good. I have asked several
Maple Syrup harvesters why they do not make Maple Wine and
got two answers:
1) I can't make that much more money from the wine as I
can from selling the syrup.
2) You have to drink it while it is young (poor shelf life).

One harvester told me he had made 500 gallons from sap at the
end of the season and took it to a distiller who turned it
into brandy. It took them 6 years to sell all to tourists.
It wasn't good enough to do again.

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