Acerglyen Maple Wine - Brew Log Entry

 

A friend of my dad's asked him if his son could use some maple syrup to make something.  My dad asked me and I said I was sure I could come up with something.   After some research on the internet I discovered Acerglyn, or a beverage made only with maple syrup.  I figured out a plan and set to it.

 

You can find other mead recipes online using your laptop or all in one desktop computer. There are many mead variations made from everything from maple syrup to elderberries and chili peppers.

 

I heated 1/2 gallon of water to start with.  I wanted it to be somewhat warm to more easily dissolve the syrup.

 

After adding the syrup I rinsed out the jars to get every possible tsp!

 

After I had reached the volume and sugar content (gravity reading) I wanted, I cooled it down to 70 degrees before aerating and pitching yeast.

 

Reading was 1.110, so depending on just how low this ferments it should be 10-12% alc.  This was the range I was shooting for.

 

Yeast being proofed before pitching.  I haven't always done this with dry yeast but I know it is the preferred method.

 

I got 2 gallons of this stuff.  Hope it turns out well.  It is said to take at least a year to get good and I have found that is usually true with my kit wines, meads, and dandelion wines.

 

 

It developed a small krausen after a couple days. 

 

It got down to .992!  The flavor had no trace of maple syrup, and it was so warming and thin.  I knew I needed to add some maple syrup back in so I started with 1 lb.

 

I dissolved the 16 oz of syrup in 16 oz of water and warmed it slightly for full dissolvement!

 

I siphoned the maple syrup/water into a sanitized carboy.

 

What I had done is had the 2 gallons of acerglyn in my cold room (about 45 degrees these days) for 4-5 days so the yeast would drop out as much as possible.  I wanted as little yeast as possible to be in contact with this new sugar.  That idea combined with the fact that the yeast can not possibly ferment much more sugar will hopefully keep it from fermenting any more!  After I added the maple syrup, stirred well (tried not to splash though) the reading was 1.018.  In a couple weeks I will see if it is about the same.  It does not appear to be fermenting (it is the next day now).

I believe I later added 12 oz more maple syrup after this first addition, but check my brew log entry for the details.

 

Bottling day!  Sanitizing some antique 6 oz Coke bottles.

 

I probably had a little over 2 gallons after the two syrup (and water) additions. 

 

It's a nice light brown color, about what you would expect when dissolving maple syrup in water.  As of being 10 months old, I see a lot of potential in this.  But being 15 - 16% alc means it still could benefit from quite a bit more time to mellow and soften.  It is not bad now, but in a couple years it will be wonderful. 

I'd say the experiment worked, but get back to me in 2012.  :)

Check the brew log entry for updates over time.

Don's Brew Log