[Woodywoodduck]

Anyone ever try to make Maple Syrup Wine?

I got a half gallon of Maple Syrup from my Wife's Cousin over the weekend...

I have a recipe book that calls for half gallon maple syrup, half gallon water, 1 ounce of cloves and wine yeast...

I've read a few sites that says to let it ferment for atleast a year for it will be like Meade and need to mellow out before it can be drank.

I know my Wife's Counsin sells maple syrup to a Winery in NY State and they make Maple Syrup Wine to sell...have never tried maple syrup wine but wanted to try making some..

Anyone ever make it or drink it??

 

[Woods walker]

I wouldn't waste a half gallon of syrup to make wine, it would be on my blueberry hot cakes.

 

[Woodywoodduck]

That is what the Quart and Pint are for that I also got from him

 

[mountainhippie]

We made some pretty fancy stuff out of maple syrup once. It was 1 gallon syrup, 4 gallons water, a little yeast nutrient and champagne yeast. We called it "Uncle Jemimah's Fine Malt Liquor" after the SNL sketch. Wasn't much sugar left in it when it was done, packed a pretty good punch but was really pretty good tasting too. And it didn't take a year to make drinkable, either. A couple months, tops.

 

[Woodywoodduck]

We made some pretty fancy stuff out of maple syrup once. It was 1 gallon syrup, 4 gallons water, a little yeast nutrient and champagne yeast. We called it "Uncle Jemimah's Fine Malt Liquor" after the SNL sketch. Wasn't much sugar left in it when it was done, packed a pretty good punch but was really pretty good tasting too. And it didn't take a year to make drinkable, either. A couple months, tops.

I think right there is your reason your's was not harsh like a meade would be if it was not aged...

champagne yeast creates 1 heck of alot of alcohol in the wine...all that Alcohol would cover up the harshness...your taste buds could not taste the harshness in it because of all that Alcohol!


I have a wine I make that calls for champagne yeast, it is called "Uncle Monkey Wine"
My Wife is the only 1 who likes it and I make it for her every now and then, honey, rasins, red grape juice concentrate, bananas and pineapple fermented with champagne yeast....Taste to Wicked to me, I've made it 1 time with regular wine yeast and it was good, but it had to set for a good 6-8 months to taste good from the honey in it, with the champagne yeast, it can be drank at 3 months one everything settles out.....my wife has tasted the stuff made with regular wine yeast at 3 months and said it tasted down right nasty, but she likes it after it has mellowed for 6-8 months!

I've noticed that any beers I make with Honey in it needs to sit for a good 3-4 months before they taste good, try them before those 3-4 months and they are very Bitter!

 

[mountainhippie]

I use champagne yeast for all my meads, ciders, braggots, cysers, etc., and like you said, loads of alcohol and a lot less time. Also, sparkloid finings make the settling time a lot shorter.

 

[Woodywoodduck]

Hippy,

It isn't the Clearing it up from the Settlement in it, I've found anything with Honey in it has a harsh taste to it if not left to age and mellow out....Maybe it is my taste buds?

As for the sparkloid..I have used it, but to me it doesnt work as fast as I've been told it should work, so I just let things go naturally on the settling out of the settlement in the wines!


I happened to get to look at a Filter Press my wife's Counsin has...he is thinking of selling it since he has it as an extra...I told him to let me know and I'd buy it from him...7 filters to it and a nice little pump system to pump the liquids thru the filters....Will work nice to filter the wines, make for a much clearer Wine!

 

[mountainhippie]

I find that honey is harsh if you leave sugar in it. So when my friends have made sac meads, which I find to be too sweet anyway, they are really harsh if not left to age for quite some time. But if you make a dry mead (which is also dangerously potent; we call it Bad Idea Beer), it doesn't have that rubbing-alcohol taste to it. Hence the champagne yeast with an 18% tolerance.

 

[hollow_hunter]

hippie,
sounds like you have some experience with honey. This is my second year making meads. Last year's Raspberry melomel is nice, but my blackberry and cyser is still rough on the tastebuds, but sure does pack a punch after a long day. I used Ken Schramm's Meadmaker Cyser recipe last year. Do you have one you'd like to share?

 

[mountainhippie]

I usually make a straight, simple mead. 12 pounds honey, 4 gallons water, 10 Campden tablets crushed up and mixed in to decontaminate and left for 36 hours. Then just 2 tablespoons of yeast nutrient and pitch champagne yeast. Primary takes 2-3 weeks, I leave it in secondary about the same time, then isinglass for a week prime and bottle.

The one thing I can stress for ANY honey recipe, is to use the sulfite tablets instead of heat. You'll see recipes from time to time that say boiling the honey won't change the flavor, or they'll have some half-heat "pasteurization" process they recommend...don't do that. Use Campden tablets.

 

[Woodywoodduck]

I usually make a straight, simple mead. 12 pounds honey, 4 gallons water, 10 Campden tablets crushed up and mixed in to decontaminate and left for 36 hours. Then just 2 tablespoons of yeast nutrient and pitch champagne yeast. Primary takes 2-3 weeks, I leave it in secondary about the same time, then isinglass for a week prime and bottle.

The one thing I can stress for ANY honey recipe, is to use the sulfite tablets instead of heat. You'll see recipes from time to time that say boiling the honey won't change the flavor, or they'll have some half-heat "pasteurization" process they recommend...don't do that. Use Campden tablets.

Why are you using 10?

Most Recipes would only call for 5...

Is there a reason behind you using 10 campden tablets for 5 gallons of meade?

 

[mountainhippie]

I usually make a straight, simple mead. 12 pounds honey, 4 gallons water, 10 Campden tablets crushed up and mixed in to decontaminate and left for 36 hours. Then just 2 tablespoons of yeast nutrient and pitch champagne yeast. Primary takes 2-3 weeks, I leave it in secondary about the same time, then isinglass for a week prime and bottle.

The one thing I can stress for ANY honey recipe, is to use the sulfite tablets instead of heat. You'll see recipes from time to time that say boiling the honey won't change the flavor, or they'll have some half-heat "pasteurization" process they recommend...don't do that. Use Campden tablets.

Why are you using 10?

Most Recipes would only call for 5...

Is there a reason behind you using 10 campden tablets for 5 gallons of meade?

I was first taught by someone who used 10, and it worked, so it's what I do. I've seen that a lot of recipes call for 5, but here's my issue with that. Since I'm working with room temperature water and honey, the honey does not dissolve into the water very much at all at first. I get a big thick layer of honey at the bottom of the fermenter. Since the tablets are dissolved primarily in the water, I like having more Campden in there to make sure it gets into the honey and kills any wild yeasts and who knows what else that might be stuck in there. That's also why I give it 36 hours to evaporate out instead of the usual 24.

 

[Woodywoodduck]

Got it, I understand why your doing it...

I thought maybe you were just doing Over Kill, but after you say why you do it, it make Sense...

Have you ever tried heating the water and honey till the honey disolves into the water?
If so, why not all the time?

I boil my Fruits But still use campden tablets after the boil...

I had a few tell me that the Campden Tablets were not needed after boiling the fruits because boiling would kill the Natural Yeasts...

After having Blueberry Wine Explode in the bottles after treating the Wine with an extra dose of Sodium Benzinite to stop the fermentation, NEVER Again will I just boil and then start the fermenting...
Boil, add the sugar, yeast nutriant, acid blend and campden tablets, then I let mine sit for 24-30 hours...

I don't go 36 like you do, 30 tops and have never had a bottle of anything explode since doing both the boil and campden tablets!

 

[mountainhippie]

I use a lot of honey. You'd have to get the water pretty hot to get a full gallon to dissolve into 4 gallons of water, and I just find heating up honey to cause some off flavors. I keep the fermentation warm if I'm doing it in the winter with one of those brew-belt things that goes around the carboy and plugs into the wall, but otherwise I enjoy watching the layer of honey at the bottom get smaller and smaller as the yeast eats up all that sugar.

You're right that boiling means you shouldn't have to use campden tablets, as it will kill all the nasties, but again, with fruit and honey, you really don't want to boil the crap out of it for the sake of the flavors, so I personally prefer the tablets. As to the length of time you leave it before pitching, as long as you put an air lock over it after you mix in the tablets, you can leave it for days before you pitch the yeast. If you killed everything in the wort/must, and the air lock is keeping the outside world from getting in, you just have to make sure you wait long enough for the sulfites to dissipate and waiting longer won't hurt anything.