# Maple Syrup wine



## Runningwolf

I am posting a recipe that Julie and I are looking at and asking what other members think about it before I make it. I went to five sugar shacks today and no one knew of any recipes.  Any suggestions appreciated.


Maple Wine 
Ingredients:
1 gallon maple syrup 
6 oranges or 3 lemon, sliced thin 
1 package wine yeast 
Place 1 gallon of maple syrup in primary. Add water and sugar, if needed. Add oranges or lemon and ¼ tsp of meta. Let sit overnight. 
Next day, Specific Gravity should be 1.090 - 1.100. Stir in yeast. Stir daily for 5 to 6 days or until Specific Gravity is 1.01. Strain out fruit and squeeze as much juice out of it as you can. Siphon into secondary and add airlock. 
Note:
Add yeast nutrient and it won't hurt to add energizer as well. Take an acid test before adding yeast make sure you have an acid of at least .55% 
Ferment to dry, stabilize then back sweeten with maple syrup. Ready to drink in one year.

It takes about 40 gallons of maple sap to make one gallon of syrup. It only takes 12 gallons of maple sap to make one gallon of maple wine.


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## 1ChuckGauthier

I was raised in northern michigan, and my grandmother and I made maple syrup every spring, man that was some good stuff.......lots of sugar in it so should not need much added.......looking forward to hear how it comes out.


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## GerardVineyard

I currently live in Northern MI and have collected 80 gallons of sap so far. I was thinking about setting some aside for wine. I wonder how maple wine would go with pancakes in the morning!!!!


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## 1ChuckGauthier

I've never tried wine with pancakes, but for sure the homemade syrup sure is good......maple wine sounds interesting but is not going to happen out here in Wa State without a lot of money.........


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## bruno

I just picked up 60 gallons of maple sap to make into wine.


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## Runningwolf

Bruno are you going to boiul it down on the stove? Can you post your recipe, please?


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## bruno

Here it is, right off Jack Kellers website.
MAPLE SAP WINE

* 1 gallon maple sap
* up to 2½ lbs granulated sugar
* 1 large or 2 small lemons
* 12-15 cloves
* 1/8 tsp tannin
* 1 tsp yeast nutrient
* 1 pkt Reisling wine yeast 

First measure the specific gravity of the sap with a hydrometer to determine how much sugar to add to achieve a starting specific gravity of 1.085-1.090. Different saps will contain different amounts of natural sugar, and even the sap from the same tree will differ from year to year. In an enamel- or teflon-coated pot, stir the required amount of sugar into the maple sap and bring to a low boil for 15 minutes, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. In a separate pan, combine a cup of the sap with the cloves and zest of the lemon(s) and simmer for 10 minutes. Strain the latter into a primary and add the boiled sap, juice from the lemon(s) and yeast nutrient. When cooled to 75° F., add the activated yeast. Cover the primary and stir daily for 8-10 days. Transfer to a secondary and fit airlock. Ferment to dryness (6-8 weeks), rack into a sanitized secondary, refit the airlock and bulk age 12 months, checking airlock from time to time to make sure it doesn't dry out. Rack, sweeten if desired and bottle. [Adapted recipe from Steven A. Krause's Wines from the Wilds]

I made a 3 gallon batch a couple of years ago, came out real nice. The cloves and lemon zest gave it somewhat of a mulled spiced wine taste. Very light and delicate, took a good year of aging.


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## Runningwolf

Thanks Bruno, so are you making syrup also with some of that sap or all wine?


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## bruno

I'm turning it all into wine. Went out yesterday and purchased 150#'s of sugar since the beginning SG is only 1.008. Also 60 lemons and a bunch of cloves. Have the sap in a 80 gallon flex tank. Temp was 36 degrees when we got it, wrapped the flext tank with an electric blanket and some two-sided aluminum insulation and it is now up to 76 degrees. Will be pitching the yeast today.


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## Chateau Joe

50/50 maple syrup and Wild Turkey. That's my recipe!


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## sjo

bruno said:


> I'm turning it all into wine. Went out yesterday and purchased 150#'s of sugar since the beginning SG is only 1.008. Also 60 lemons and a bunch of cloves. Have the sap in a 80 gallon flex tank. Temp was 36 degrees when we got it, wrapped the flext tank with an electric blanket and some two-sided aluminum insulation and it is now up to 76 degrees. Will be pitching the yeast today.



There is not much flavor in maple sap. It seems to me you would be better off adding water to syrup to get your desired sg. or cook the sap down to get desired sg. 

sjo


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## Runningwolf

SJO that is exactly what I was thinking. I had two people that were suppose to be sending me the recipes they use and I am still waiting. I want to compare them to what I have read before I make my batch. I picked up a gallon of dark syrup last weekend but not in any hurry to start it.


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## REDBOATNY

I have a great Maple Porter recipe if you are interested. I started by reducing 5 usg by half. I may also work for wine, but have not tried. Had to switch from beer to wine making though, got too fat!


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## Wannabe

What would be the difference between Maple Porter and Maple Wine? Porter is a term I haven't heard before

If I'm reading this thread correctly, the intend is to add water to the syrup until you get the correct sg and then proceed. And, that would be only add water if necessary so depending on the syrup, you could actually be starting your primary frementation with straight maple syrup? Right?


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## RedNeckWino

Would like to try this blended with my Raspberry wine. Might be a good breakfast wine.


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## REDBOATNY

Wannabe said:


> What would be the difference between Maple Porter and Maple Wine? Porter is a term I haven't heard before
> 
> If I'm reading this thread correctly, the intend is to add water to the syrup until you get the correct sg and then proceed. And, that would be only add water if necessary so depending on the syrup, you could actually be starting your primary frementation with straight maple syrup? Right?



Porter is a beer type, very dark and malty. I was refering reducing maple sap straight from the tree, not syrup for this recipe.


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## Mud

2 weeks ago I took the family to a small maple syrup producer's promotional event. Took along a barrel to see if the owner could be persuaded to draw some off at 25% sugar or so. 

He said he could but wouldn't bother to as the maple flavor we are all familiar with isn't developed until the final boil. His evaporator heats the sap up to a near boil and then injects air to break surface tension. 

I was surprised to hear this and questioned him a bit. He assured me that wine made from his sap could also be made with sucrose (table sugar) and be nearly indistinguishable. He said lots of unscrupulous syrup producers used to fortify the sap with white sugar and it was impossible to detect.

This gentleman is not a wine maker but he was absolutely certain of what he said. Needless to say the barrel came back empty.


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## Runningwolf

Hey Mud, I also picked up my gallon of syrup on a sugar shack tour. Exactly what you said is why I went with the syrup. I did not start it yet though.


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## Mud

Dan, I actually meant to post this in the maple sap thread. Was reading them in tabs. 

You should be able to sub maple syrup into any mead recipe but the amounts will be a little off. Maple syrup is supposed to be 66 or 67 percent sugar (depending on whether or not you're in vermont) and honey should be about 80% sugar so use an extra 20%. 

Every spring I want to do a maple wine but am torn between a gallon of syrup, etc or buying another fruit tree to plant. Might actually get to it when the orchard is full.


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## Runningwolf

Thanks for the info Mud. I just ordered a dwarf Honey Crisp apple today from stark Bros.


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## Runningwolf

With this wine what acid level should I be shooting for. What kind of acid should I use, if I need to increase it?


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## Runningwolf

Ok I started my Maple Syrup wine today. I started with 1 gallon of dark maple syrup. I added 4 gallons of water and enough simple syrup for a starting sg of about 1.85. Acid was 0 and ph of 6.0 PH could be off as my meter crapped out right after that. I added 8 sliced up oranges and yeast.


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## Runningwolf

Tasted this wine a month ago and I thought oh crap. The next day I added another qt of Maple syrup the next day. Today I sampled it and you know I think this just might be a winner. Needs another 6 months though.


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## seth8530

Sounds very good, ive heard that maple syrup wine should be treated like a mead.


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## Runningwolf

Seth I added another qt of maple and 5 pounds of honey. I think it'll take a while to come around yet.


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## abigtroutt

Pure maple syrup is BIG  here in Florida. Could you use the cheaper store bought? 

While I was reading this thread all I could think of was pancakes and waffles!! And I can't eat flour products until January 2012!


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## SarahRides

Runningwolf said:


> Ok I started my Maple Syrup wine today. I started with 1 gallon of dark maple syrup. I added 4 gallons of water and enough simple syrup for a starting sg of about 1.85. Acid was 0 and ph of 6.0 PH could be off as my meter crapped out right after that. I added 8 sliced up oranges and yeast.



So Dan, did you add anything other than the oranges to adjust the pH? My hubby came home with a gallon of Grade B (darker) maple syrup in the hopes I would make wine out of it! I plan on making a 3 gallon batch of it. Would adding just maple syrup to it (instead of syrup and simple sugar) make the maple overpowering? Or could I use just all maple? 

With Mikael's guidance, I'm also planning on starting a mead on Wednesday as well.......so it will be interesting to see how the two of these similar wines come out!


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## Runningwolf

SarahRides said:


> So Dan, did you add anything other than the oranges to adjust the pH? My hubby came home with a gallon of Grade B (darker) maple syrup in the hopes I would make wine out of it! I plan on making a 3 gallon batch of it. Would adding just maple syrup to it (instead of syrup and simple sugar) make the maple overpowering? Or could I use just all maple?
> 
> With Mikael's guidance, I'm also planning on starting a mead on Wednesday as well.......so it will be interesting to see how the two of these similar wines come out!



Sarah as I was reading through your thread I was going to suggest using honey to sweeten but it looks like Mik has that covered. It is still in the carboy and I have added another half gallon total to back sweeten and flavor so far. Still not calling it a success story yet. It'll be a good year or so.


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## Tokengimp

*Maple Syrup or other Tree wine*

Have you thought about trying Birch Or Box Elder? 
They can be tapped for sap and made into syrup as well.


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## LoneTreeFarms

abigtroutt said:


> Pure maple syrup is BIG  here in Florida. Could you use the cheaper store bought?
> 
> bump. i'm also wondering if people are using maple sap or store bought maple syrup.


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## Runningwolf

LoneTreeFarms said:


> abigtroutt said:
> 
> 
> 
> Pure maple syrup is BIG  here in Florida. Could you use the cheaper store bought?
> 
> bump. i'm also wondering if people are using maple sap or store bought maple syrup.
> 
> 
> 
> I bought mine fresh right at the sugar house it was produced in. We have sugar houses/shacks all around our tri state area.
Click to expand...


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## vinoveritas

This all sounds fantastic. I am looking at making a maple syrup wine. I am in the process of researching recipes. My plan is to add lemon and a blubbery puree to give a nice balance to the wine.


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## weasnerarchery

*Maple syrup wine.*

I use the same recipe as id do for dry mead. 3 pounds of pure maple syrup, 1 tsp of nutrient powder, 1/4 tsp of Tannin powder, 1 1/2 tsp. of Tartaric acid, 2 1/2 tsp. of Malic acid, 1/2 tsp. Energizer. Lalvin d-47, or champagne yeast. Add enough water to make 1 gal. Ferment in primary for 5 to 7 days, rack into secondary and let it finish, I do mine in my cool basement and sometimes it takes 6 to 9 months to fully ferment, if I rack it I will top it off with pure maple syrup which will make it work longer and increase the alcohol content. when it is finished I add ascorbic acid and potassium sorbate. then sweeten to taste with Maple syrup. came out fantastic.


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## Chateau Joe

Any updates? I've been following this thread.


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## andy123

I tried some maple syrup for backsweetening a fruit wine and it wasn't my cup of tea.


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## dmerlak

Great to hear someone else is going to experiment with Maple Syrup Wine. We make maple syrup also in the spring. 

I found using lemons creates a nice balance with the sweet smoky flavor of maple syrup. 

Just make sure you rack it off extra.

Good Luck
Dean


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## dmerlak

The store bought will be too sweet and heavy texture.

Dean


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## astrologica

Here it's: Apple juice, maple syrup and EC1118. Yum!
I've been making my last 15 or 20 batches with 100 percent maple syrup. One of the last 3 batches is made with molassas. We'll see how that turns out.


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## Forgetthegrape

abigtroutt said:


> Pure maple syrup is BIG  here in Florida. Could you use the cheaper store bought?



"Store bought" maple syrup (aunt jamima and others) are not real maple syrup. The real maple syrup is expensive compaired to the stuff you buy at the supermarket. I havent done a maple wine yet, though it is on my list, but when I do I will get the straight sap and render (boil) it myself so I can get the right sugar/water content before fermentation. Real maple sap syrup could be used too, just have to get it hot enough to accept more water.


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## peterd

I am still looking for a simple Maple Syurp wine recipe. HELP!!!!

Peter D.
The wine maker


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## ckassotis

Yeah I would not use the store bought "cheap" syrup for this as it is not real maple syrup. It is a lot of water, artificial coloring, flavoring, and sugar. I wouldn't like to know what would happen to all of that stuff if you tried to ferment it. You want maple syrup where you can look at the ingredient list and see ONLY: 100% Grade A/B Pure Maple Syrup or something similar.


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## GerardVineyard

How about an update on the wine? It's been a little cold here in Michigan for a good flow of sap, should warm up this week.


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## Lenna

I am new to the Site. I've never done maple syrup/sap wine but I have a birch sap wine in fermenting now. This is a first time but the recipe appears to be quite similar. The one I used was kinda cobbled together from more than one I read through. Anxious to see how it turns out.

Lenna


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## vtwinemaker

I have 3 pints of fresh maple syrup and considering how much wine that I can make with it. If I start with S.G. of 1.085 to 1.090, will it ferment to the range of .990 to .995? If I use the 3 pints of maple with sugar added to get the must to 1.090 to get one gallon of must, will the wine have enough flavor, body, etc.?

Thanks

VTWinemaker


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## BernardSmith

vtwinemaker, Can maple syrup ferment naturally or is it like honey - with too much sugar in it to allow yeast to thrive? How much would you have to dilute it to enable it to ferment? What would be the SG of that must? The taste of maple may be too diluted to be worth the effort. People who have made wine from the sap rather than the syrup talk about how much like sap it tastes!


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## wineon4

Just came across this thread. I make maple syrup every spring and this past spring I decided to make some into wine. After I was done making my syrup I saved 70 gallon of sap and boiled it down to 5 gallon then proceeded to make wine as normal. Added acid blend and all the normal ingredients and low and behold " A GREAT WINE" I then added mulling spice to 1/2 of it when I bottled that stuff is great warmed now that the fall weather has arrived. I will post here soon with the exact details.


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## wineon4

Ok here it is :My Maple Wine"

After my son and I were done making syrup, had enough made for our needs. I kept 70 gallon of sap. 

Boiled 70 gallon of maple sap down to 5 gallon
Tested SG and found it at 1.13 about 19% ABV, very high, but it is almost maple syrup (Do Not ADD Sugar )
5 tps of acid blend or to 3.4
4 tps peptic enzyme
4 tps yeast nutrient
4 tps yeast energizer
Lavin EC 1118 yeast

Fermented in the primary for 2 weeks then into the secondary until the yeast died around 1.004 for a ABV 0f 16.8% and it tastes like it. Added superkleer to clear. after it cleared I racked and stabilized it. 1 month later I racked and bottled. In 1/2 of the bottles I added 1 tps of mulling spice for a spiced maple, that is just great. We warmed 3 bottles in a crock pot this past Sunday to take to a Steelers Game Day party at a friends and it was the biggest hit of the day certainly better than the STEELERS. So good I plan to uncork the others and spice it.

Photo of the syrup making process at my camp notice my guard dog.

Another photo of some finished syrup and some concord wine Easter Morning 2013

Notice in 3rd photo my boiler is also my smoke house

4th photo is our Easter ham I cured and smoked in the smokehouse as I was boiling sap.

Last photo second from right top 2 bays are maple dark is spiced and amber is plain


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## amclippe

How many gallons is this recipe for?


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## homesteader26

Wineon4 have you tried your maple wine yet? Curious how your recipe came out as I might use it. Would love an update - thanks,


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## calvin

I would like to know as well. I got a crazy idea that I am going to try to make maple syrup next spring. Then maple syrup wine


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## Jericurl

I'm interested in hearing how this came out as well.

I've recently acquired some hickory syrup from someone and wonder how it would be in a wine or mead as well.
It is so delicious.


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## wineforfun

I just started an acerglyn(honey/maple syrup mix). It is very similar to wineon4's recipe. I have the recipe and progress listed in this thread. I am hoping it turns out well as it is not cheap to make. Recipe is based off of Ctmaro's(Mark) recipe he gave me.
http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f5/november-2014-wine-month-club-47468/index2.html


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## Michael J Hadley

Has anyone ever tried to get a real solid maple flavored wine using only maple products no exceptions. I've heard the 12:1 boil for maple wine, my issue with this is you lose all the developed flavors and darkness the long term cooking all the way to syrup provides. Starting idea is as follows: 5 gallons fresh filtered sap strait, no boil. Add b grade very dark commercial cooking grade pure maple syrup, add maple sugar to reach desired gravity. What am I missing? Isn't there plenty of nutrient in the sap to satisfy yeast requirements? I'm a purist, with probably undiagnosed OCD. I would buy this product if I could find it. Im going to try it when I have about $200 laying around to buy the pure maple sugar and syrup.... Also may age on maple chips from tree sap came from. Somebody stop me. My wife and I are large, if she sees me feeding 3lbs of syrup to yeast she may kill me.


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## John Pichnic

I have been recently pondering maple wine myself, I was interested in mead until I heard that it tasted like honey without the sugar....not to appealing to me. I was thinking 3lbs/gal like mead but will probably abandon that and use one of these recipes. A side note: I was surprised by what Mud posted about sugar syrup being indistinguishable from maple syrup, but then I remembered the homemade cane syrup I bought last year, it tastes just like Aunt Jemima's Maple syrup. I think that I might like that as a wine.


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## Rice_Guy

John Pichnic said:


> I have been recently pondering maple wine myself, I was interested in mead until I heard that it tasted like honey without the sugar....not to appealing to me. I was thinking 3lbs/gal like mead but will probably abandon that and use one of these recipes. A side note: I was surprised by what Mud posted about sugar syrup being indistinguishable from maple syrup, but then I remembered the homemade cane syrup I bought last year, it tastes just like Aunt Jemima's Maple syrup. I think that I might like that as a wine.


Mead—- there was a blue ribbon one in contest called a”brouchet” with knock your Sox off flavor! The process was to boil the honey till dark which creates more non fermentable sugars. You might accomplish the same to up the honey notes by back sweetening with honey. An interesting comment from the primary mead maker in the club is that the honey flavors become stronger as the mead ages.
Maple syrup—- have had twice, it showed up in contest last month, overall toasted sugar with light sweetness. The first maple syrup wine carried toasted notes and was dry, could not recognize the maple syrup flavor in it. 

Hope it turns out well!


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## HighD

I added a quart to my primary rhubarb apple and you would never know it now. Note to self. Save Maple for back sweetening until further notice.


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