Maple Sap Wine

[bruno]

I just got 2 gallons of maple sap given to me. I am going to try the maple sap wine on Jack Kellers website. Anyone ever made this?

 

[Luc]

It is even not available over here

Luc

 

[arcticsid]

Thats sounds interesting Bruno, I hope someone can give you some pointers on using it, that may very well make a pretty decent product. Keep us posted.
Troy

 

[bein_bein]

It is even not available over here

Luc

They don't have Maple trees in the Netherlands??!? All ya gotta do to get sap is drill a small a small hole in the tree (about 2" deep) and put a tap in it that is connected to a bag and viola!!! maple sap! This is the time of year when the sap is running.....
Sounds like an interesting idea Bruno, keep us posted how it goes.

 

[arcticsid]

We have Birch here, it darn sure isn't running yet but would be interested to see what the others have to say about using the sap. And here we say VOILA My buddy had a sled dog a few years ago named Viola, and that dog could run.
troy

 

[bruno]

I started it last night. The beginning SG was 1.010. Added 4 pounds of sugar to the sap and that brought it up to 1.090. Had to boil the sap for 15 minutes. Took 2 cups of sap out and boiled the zest of 4 lemons along with 30 cloves, then added that to the 2 gallons of sap. Then added the juice of the 4 lemons. Wow, was it ever aeromatic.

I tasted the sap before adding the sugar, and it didn't have much of a taste at all, it was just like water. So this will be interesting to see what I end up with.

We have a lot of people around here that are into the maple syrup thing, so if this wine turns out good, there will be an unlimited amount of available sap next year.

 

[arcticsid]

Sounds great Bruno, I personally would have added some yeast and some campden tablets. You did add yeast right? Don't sound to far off the marker though. I hope some of the mead makers can offer thier input, kinda sounds like that. I hope you realize, you probably won't be drinking this for the fourth of July. Sounds good man, I hope you keep it going
Troy

 

[bruno]

Yes, I remembered the yeast. Did not add a campden tab since I boiled the entire mixture for 15 minutes. But will add a campden down the road.

 

[Luc]

They don't have Maple trees in the Netherlands??!? All ya gotta do to get sap is drill a small a small hole in the tree (about 2" deep) and put a tap in it that is connected to a bag and viola!!! maple sap!

We only have cultivated parks around where I live. If you would try do this kind of thing you would get into trouble. Unless you have a garden with maples yourself.

A hundred miles away there are some bigger woods but then you should know some park rangers or so before you could pull this off. And you should live there to keep an eye on the process. We have so little nature around here that is is nurtured carefully.

Remember Netherlands is not a country with vast woods.

Luc

 

[bruno]

Here is a picture of my maple sap wine 3 days into the primary. Looks like it is doing what it should. It has a very interesting aroma to it.

 

[bruno]

Here's a picture of my finished maple sap wine, bottled on Aug 24. Came out clear as a bell after filtering. I didn't have any maple syrup so it was backed sweetened with sugar. Came out tasting nothing like maple but rather a nice light, dryer wine with the hints of cloves and lemon. It was very good when bottled, supposed to improve with aging for 12 months.

Only did 2 gallons this year, but there are lots of sugar shacks in the area, willing to trade the sap for some finished wine. Thinking of doing 6 gallons next spring.

 

[bruno]

Well we broke into a 375 ml sample bottle last night, and has this wine ever mellowed out. It tastes nothing like maple syrup, more like a mulled wine with hints of cloves and lemons. I liked it so much that this spring I will see if I can get 6 gallons from my syrup guy. Shouldn't be a problem, I trade hiim sap for a few bottles of the wine.

 

[Mud]

I used to live in an area with sugar shacks all over the place, but getting those guys to part with sap was nigh impossible. 'Course, I didn't have anything to trade yet. My understanding is that sugar maple sap is about 3% sugar. I'd be more likely to boil it down than add sugar. Of course, you said you like it even though it doesn't taste like maple. Guess you did something right.

And what troy said about mead is spot on. Lots of people substitute maple syrup for honey in mead recipes. Never tried it as maple syrup runs about $40 per gallon. Just can't make myself spend that much.

Birch syrup is going to be even lower in sugar. Runs about 1.5% sugar. Syrup makers use reverse osmosis to remove water because boiling isn't efficient at that low sugar level. It takes somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 gallons of sap to make a gallon of birch syrup. :<

-cheap Mud

 

[sjo]

Bruno,
To get more maple flavor you might want to try boiling the sap down which means you would need quite a bit more than you started with. The better option is to add real maple syrup untill you get the proper sq. Being syrup is just sap with more water removed you could just you would be rehydrating the syrup. I would not expect much flavor at all with an sq of 1.010.
We make maple syrup every spring. We tap 120 trees. Mud is right about guys not wanting to let there sap go. We have 6 kids and they all love to get out in the woods and WORK at syruping time.
Scott

 

[bruno]

I like the idea about adding maple syrup until you get the correct SG. But I imagine that would take a whole lot of syrup. The guy I get my sap from is a fairly large producer, so 6 gals of sap isn't a whole lot to him. I just make sure I give him a few bottles of wine when it's done.

 

[Midwest Vintner]

And here we say VOILA My buddy had a sled dog a few years ago named Viola, and that dog could run.
troy

i worked with a 45 yr old painter named Viola. my boss (jealous female) made her wear a long jacket because us "dogs" didn't get much work done when she was around. never thought a women of her age could look so young and attractive! reminded of a Jenny McCarthy, just better looking and it was all real. she was a real good painter too.

maple sap wine sounds good. only issue is that it takes a whole bunch of it to make syrup, which means it's not very strong flavored.