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philmac
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Using maple sap? - 2008/03/07 14:55 I guy I work with harvests maple tree sap and boils it down to make maple syrup. There is about a 40 to 1 ratio after boiling to make syrup. He asked me if I was interested in any of the pre-boiled sap or partially reduced sap to either use in beer or for mead. My question. Has anyone ever tried using the sap for any such purpose. Obviously the concentrated syrup can be used as an adjunct for brewing or in mead, but can a fermented beverage be made from just the sap alone. Anyone ever tried?

Phil
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bevenson
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Re:Using maple sap? - 2008/03/08 17:55 I haven't ever done it, but I did a quick look and found that Heritage Brewing up in Ontario makes a maple lager using maple sap instead of water (http://www.heritagebrewing.com/seasonal.html). If you figure a 6.5 gallons pre-boil volume and the 40 to 1 ratio that you mentioned, that would roughly equate to 2 1/2 cups of maple syrup. I think that would be enough to get some character. Sounds like a fun experiment.
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bstclair
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Re:Using maple sap? - 2008/04/14 15:19 I did that a few years back using all sap instead of water. It took two or three days to collect it, I think I had 2 or 3 taps with plastic buckets on some big maples back in the woods. My problem was that I don't know what kind of maple tree I tapped, or if it makes any difference.
The beer had a really nice flavor, it was a nut brown ale recipe, but there was a slight astringency to it that I didn't care for. I would like to try it again after confirming which trees were sugar maples.
Go for it!
Brian St Clair
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