I hope that you sterilized the that part of the sap that was not boiled in
the brew kettle, unless you did a full boil.

I have brewed with sap, but prefer the predictability of reconstituting
syrup. With syrup, I can reconstitute as much or as little as I want.

Knowing that it takes 30-40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup,
recently I used 3 U.S. cups of Grade B, which when added to 5 US gallons of
water created approx. 150% of the sugar in sap. I was looking for a good
maple flavor to come through in the beer, so using grade B with its stronger
flavor was just the thing. I also primed with 1.5 cups of the same, but have
found too much carbonation. Next time will just use 1 cup to prime.

For the recipe, I just used a a knockoff for a favorite local beer.

Depending on how much maple taste you want in the beer, you can try
different grades. Fancy grade (from the first part of the run season) is
light in color and has a more delicate flavor than grade A even. You might
try that if you are looking for something light. Also it is important to
note that the sugar content between light and dark syrup is the same, only
the flavor gets stronger.

The best part of using syrup is that you don't have to wait until the sap is
running to make it.

Good luck.
Kenric A. Kite

"ken johnston" <ken.johnston@3web.net> wrote in message
news:3ef3c8a8_1@news.cybersurf.net...[color=blue]
> I tried using maple syrup and got a really dark ale.
> Unfortunately I like light stuff like lagers and pilsners.
> So I tried using the raw tree sap which is 2% sugar.
> But it tastes like rubbing alcohol.
> Anyone ever used maple syrup successfully??
>
>[/color]