Tips for mashing with sugar maple sap

My understanding of sap is limited as I haven't tried using it myself. But, I figured I could mention what I know.

The two this I have heard or know is this: Sap won't provide the maple flavor as it has not yet been carmelized down to a syrup. Guy in my club last year made a brown ale with sap and he was pleased with the woodiness it apparently added.

Also, I wonder about mash ph when using it as your mash liquor. Maybe someone else with experience can comment on this.

 

Yeah, even if it did work to convert your grains (which I question), I'm not sure why you'd want to do this. Any "mapleness" would likely be boiled off along the way so I'm not sure what benefit you'd reap. Most folks using things like maple syrup, honey, etc add those ingredients as far towards the end of the boil as they can to preserve some flavor.

That being said, I'd be interested as hell to hear how that works if you end up trying it.

 

Yes and yes re: DFH and Lawsons

also found this homebrewing recipe
http://www.byo.com/stories/recipein...experimental-beer/1412-smoked-maple-amber-ale

 

I don't think you will get much maple, but boiling is definitely not going to be the culprit. You boil sap to make maple syrup so anything that would be driven off by a boil would not be present in maple syrup.

 

There is a Basic Brewing Radio podcast in which James and Andy attend the brew day of someone who was brewing with maple sap. I don't recall if it was extract or all-grain. I remember not finding it a particularly useful episode, but maybe there was more to it than I recall.

Good luck if you try it and do post your results. This topic comes up from time to time and my gut reaction is that it won't impact the beer in subtantially good ways; however, I am always glad to be proven wrong when it comes to making tasty beer.

 

I've brewed with sap. There was no impact, that I recall, on the mash.
There was no impact from that on the flavor, either. There was surely a big impact from adding a gallon of syrup at the end of the boil.
The only thing that really sticks out about the beer was that it took 1 1/2 years for it to be any good. I mean, I'd drink a bottle a month and drainpour it. But then, one day... One day it was good. And we drank the remaining case and a half in a week. Holy shit was that ever good beer.

My advice is to try it - to do whatever the heck you want - and see how it comes out. Good luck!

 

Isn't maple syrup made by taking sap and boiling the water away to concentrate and caramelize the sugars? I don't think you can boil away the "mapleness" of the sap that would be boiled anyway. Amirite?

 

I don't see why you maple sap wouldn't facilitate conversion. PH might be a concern, but that can be adjusted. As for boiling off the flavor of the sap, I don't think it's a major concern since maple syrup is just boiled down sap.

edit: looks like I'm a little slow on these comments...

 

Maple syrup is made by boiling ~40 gallons of sap down to 1 gallon of syrup. You're not going to boil away the mapleness in making your beer - you're never going to get anywhere near mapleness! But I still like the idea of using it - it's a nice marketing gimmick (I mean it's a fun idea and people will think it's neat).

 

Yes, I agree with you that you don't get full expression of "mapleness" without the boiling because you don't have the caramelization and the Maillard reaction that generates all the nice toasty, rich flavors. I was just making the point, that one wouldn't lose the flavors in the boil off (as would happen with hop or honey aromatics)