Mead Lover's Digest #21 Mon 19 October 1992

Forum for Discussion of Mead Brewing and Consuming
John Dilley, Digest Coordinator

Contents:

Suggestions on good brewing books, root beer? (Christina Callihan)
Re: Maple Sap Mead (Arthur Delano)

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Date: Sun, 18 Oct 92 10:55:17 PDT
From: Christina Callihan <c-chan@mcl.mcl.ucsb.edu>
Subject: Suggestions on good brewing books, root beer? 

Hello, all! I have my very first batch of mead in primary right now (my
very first batch of of brewing anything, in fact :), and I would like
to learn a bit more about the equipment, procedures, terminology, etc. Can
anyone out there recommend some top-notch homebrewing books, especially
those focusing on mead? Author and title would probably do, but if you
can include publisher and ISBN number as well, that would be great!

Thanks loads,

Christina Callihan (c-chan@mcl.mcl.ucsb.edu)
When life gets weird, the weird get a life.

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Date: Sun, 18 Oct 92 15:14:43 EDT
From: Arthur Delano <ajd@oit.itd.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: Maple Sap Mead 

"Rick (R.) Cavasin" <cav@bnr.ca> speculates on using maple sap:

]Regarding maple wines, I've always wondered
]if a more optimal approach would be to obtain the raw maple
]sap and use it undiluted as opposed to taking maple syrup
]and diluting it.

The catch is that commercial maple syrup is usually boiled until it is
1/40 its original volume, and John Gorman's recipe thins the syrup
to 3 times the reduced volume (roughly). That means the sap from the
tree would still have to be reduced by 13 1/3. For five gallons of
maple mead, you would have to get 67 gallons of tree sap. Maple sap
does not keep well, because it molds easily and has a high pectin
content. If B grade maple syrup is accessible and cheap, the
convenience would outweigh the savings.

On the other hand, if there are farmer's markets in your area, it might
be worth asking somebody who makes maple syrup if you can buy the tree
sap.

The source of this info is Wines and Beers of Old New England, where
the author notes that maple mead was made from sap boiled to 1/10, and
beer was made from sap boiled to 1/2 and combined with malt wort. There
is also information on how to collect and boil the sap.

AjD

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End of Mead Lover's Digest

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