Using sap to brew beer

[jjhunter]

Hello all,
I am completely new at this. This is my first year tapping trees. I have several mature silver maples in my yard and i thought this year i would give it a shot.

My plan is to replace all of the water in the brewing process with sap. I want to condense it down in half to concentrate the sugars a bit more. I also want to make some super condensed sap that I would add in the fermenting process. Being new to this, I have run into several questions and would appreciate any help.

1. How long will condensed sap last? For instance I boiled down 3 gallons to 1 quart. I then put it in my freezer. How long will this last before it spoils? Also if i were to just boil 3 gallons to 1 1/2 gallons how long would it last in the cold but not in a freezer?

2. Is there a limit as to how many gallons is ok to take from one tree? I don't want to do any damage to them.

3. What should i do with the tap holes once I am done? Is there any type of treatment that should be added to help seal the hole and protect it from any type of bacteria in that area?

I apologize if these questions are in the wrong forum or are ridiculously obvious. I did a lot of research and unfortunately I couldn't find answers to my specific questions. Plus there isn't much literature out there on brewing with sap so I just want to make sure that I am doing everything correctly.

Thanks ahead of time!

[SDdave]

jjhunter,

First welcome to the maple community.

Hopefully I can answer some questions for ya.

1.)Condensed sap in a freezer can be held for a long time, exact duration do not know exactly. I had some almost syrup that I froze for about a month and had no problem. Condensed sap kept cold maybe a few days?

2.)There is no limit on how much you can take from a single tree...to a point. It is best to go with some established guidelines of 1 to 2 taps per tree. Typically you can expect 10 to 15 gallons of sap per tap.

3.) When the season is done, just pull your tap nothing else is needed to do. The tree will heal that wound in a years time. IF you want to do anything to the tree, I would suggest a hug to thank it for the delicious sap that it produced. Just watch out if it hugs you back!!

Hope some of that helps your quest for maple brew.

SDdave

[happy thoughts]

There are several threads from past years re making beer, Here's one I found off the bat that has some info you may find helpful. Clarkfield farms (formerly known as yeast pimp) is still an active poster here and may stop in to answer your questions.

http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?20423-sap-beer&highlight=sap+beer

1- freeze it if at all possible and it should keep many months. It shouldn't spoil but I'd assume like anything else frozen for any length of time, may pick up freezer flavors depending on how it's packaged. Kept cold (refigerated), it will keep as long as milk would.

2-If you use the tap number recommended for a tree's diameter you will not harm the tree by taking to much sap from it.

3- Do nothing to the tap hole other than pulling the tap. It will seal on it's own. Plugging or sealing it can cause more damage.

[jjhunter]

Wow thank you both for the fast responses! I really appreciate your help. I will move forward with your advice and hopefully be able to make a great beer.

This is something I plan on continuing to do. It's kind of addicting and exciting. I feel like I constantly want to go check my buckets :)

[Clarkfield Farms]

Welcome, jj (DY-no-MITE!!!)! :) And thanks, Happy, for the heads up.

If you're going to brew, why not just brew? Now's as good a time as any. Unless you're looking at being short on the amount you have on hand, I'd go ahead with it.

I do something very similar. But, I just go ahead and use fresh sap for the boil water for the wort. And, depending on the type of beer I'm making, I'll take the stuff that's even too dark for commercial and add it to the secondary (you don't have to, but if the style requires racking to a secondary anyhow, why not?). It's a different one every year, although I've made the same ones many times. Just not consecutive years, mainly because of limiting factors such as not enough available fermentation vessels or other equipment, and/or lack of sufficient sap. Or time! That's usually the Big One.

Last year, it started out as a Nut Brown Ale, but who knows what you'd call it now. I know, almost a YEAR - but, it was in primary for maybe 6-weeks (I'd have to check my journal to see how long), secondary for another 2-months, then kegged, min-kegged and bottled. Only one mini-keg (5-liter) and 8 bottles left. This past weekend, I was in Stanley, NY, sort of a rendezvous with a large group of friends. Among the other goodies that I brought was a mini of that beer. I was not allowed to leave with it, lol. It was very good. No oxidation at all, yet. Using the hydrometer readings to measure ABV (I know, hard to calculate when adding fermentables to the secondary), it ended up around 6.7%. Very, very smooth, I used my own Northern Brewer and Liberty hops (if I had to guess, the IBU's probably about 32?? - I do not like bitter or "burned" beer, which is the main reason I started brewing my own), not at all unpleasantly bitter but still a nice hops flavor, very well balanced, and not at ALL overly sweet. There's a really pleasant maple (flavor without the sweet) finish. It's nearly black, but is more akin to the Belgian's with their color being derived from the dark beet sugar/"candy." Anyways, I love it. So did all the guys. :)

What's on the idea board for this year is an Irish Stout, although I'm considering doing the grainbill with about 7% oats to mellow it out. Again, I don't like bitter (or sweet) beer, whether from hops or deeply roasted grains. And hey, I love maple syrup on my oatmeal, so...?? We shall see.

How about Acerglyn? It's fermented maple. But don't get grossed-out, it's not like the commercial maple "wines" (only fermented juice of grapes can honestly be called wine, but hey - we all know how it is) that are cloyingly sweet. Gag-city. No, these can be made so wonderful that most people don't bother to say how wonderful they are, their face-picture tells it all. More than 1,000 words, lol! And then you have the honey-maple meads, wines or whatever you like to call them. And for my apple wines, I use maple syrup and/or honey to increase the fermentables to get the ABV into wine territory instead of having just hard cider. So many things to do! And as Happy said, a search will provide hours, if not days, of good reading.

I'm certainly no expert. But, a distillery permit may be in the offing. Sooner, I hope, rather than later. Maple brandy... WHY not? :D Maybe a farm winery, brewery, and cidery as well...

[jjhunter]

Clarkfield Farms,
Thanks for all the info! I really appreciate hearing from someone who has done this. I brewed the beer about a week ago and the fermentation is still ripping along. I made a simple brown ale. Very low IBU's (i'm with you on not being huge into bitter beers). I condensed 6 gallons of sap into 3 for my mash and then used straight sap for the sparge water. ALso at flame out I added a pint jar or sap that was just about syrup.

It tastes good so far. The OG was 1.076 and at last test had dropped to abotu 1.020. I want it a bit lower since i plan on adding about 3 pints of syrup ot the secondary. I am really excited to see how it turns out!

Now i have the good problem of having more sap than i need. I have about 10 more gallons already that I think i will boil down into syrup to enjoy by itself. How do I stop the sap???? Should i just remove the taps once I have all that I want?