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Maple Syrup, Honey, Cider
I want to combine Maple Syrup, Honey and Cider together. Also, I will make a small low gravity wort and add that in too. It will be mostly cider, with a # of honey per gallon and maybe a 1/4 cup of syrup per gallon. I have about 4 malts that I have less then a 1/4# left of and I want to use them in something so I might make a wort and add that into this mixture too. They are just low L base and caramel malts from other brews I have left over. No specialty or dark malts. I hate waiting for what feels life forever with mead and cider, so I might use a strong ALE yeast.
Any ideas, thoughts, concerns, sugestions?
I just checked my supply of random extra malts and I made a combination for this brew. Its is a combination of: 1/4# caramel 10, 1/4# honey, 1/8# caramel 40, 1/4 cup cherrywood smoked, 1 tbs chocolate. It came out to be about 3/4 of a lb total.
I also think I will go with 1.5 gallons cider, 2 lbs honey, 2 cups maple syrup. this should get me to a 2 gallon volume.
I am still very open to a yeast, although Lalvin 71B-1122 has caught my attention.
^ This is what happens when my brain it let free to imagine possibilities. They are not always great ideas.
Growing up in Vermont I approve this brew, many old timers sweetend their ciders with Maple Syrup...just be sure to use pure maple syrup; Canadian may be all you can get where you are, but Vermont is the best, followed by Maine maple syrup. Lots of grocery stores carry Maple Grove farms from VT, I don't know how west you are or if it's available...But DON'T go with that aunt jamima crap! cheap diner maple syrup is mostly corn syrup with 5% C grade maple syrup added for color and flavor (IT IS NOT MAPLE SYRUP). Get the pure, Grade A syrup and you can't go wrong.
Sorry, New Englanders have a lot of pride in the few exports we have...Maple Syrup and Lobster are those products where we feel the rest of the world just doesn't know what they're talking about...
I think you may want to consider a B grade maple syrup for your cider. B grades have a more pronounced maple flavor and are usually recommended for baking, and probably brewing too. You may want to consider using the maple syrup to backsweeten instead of including it in the ferment. If you were planning on backsweetening.
In my limited experience even ale yeasts chew through the sugars in cider leaving them plenty dry. I used T-58 in my last one, it is sitting at 1.005 right now. I let the ferment get close to 80 degrees, hoping for some fruity esters, but if they are there they are hiding. I wanted to carbonate it, and was hoping for something a little less dry. Haven't decided if I am going to try maltodextrine(for some extra body) and lactose, or use apple juice concentrate with the maltodextrine and go the pasteurization route.
Sounds like an interesting brew.
I would lean towards Lavin D-47.
It's used heavily as a cider/mead yeast and doesn't get as dry as a lot of others.
Cheap too.
I don't think MadScientistMike is likely to listen to us, he's partial to constant experimentation, which I credit to him. I think he used the D-47 for his pumpkin cyser if I'm not mistaken...so he probably won't use it again for a long time.
Mike, I respect your constant outside the box thinking, but I would reccomend D-47 myself; as was discussed in another recent thread, it's sometimes good to keep with the same yeast for several brews of different kinds and ferment temps so that you get really familliar with what it does, this may be just that opportunity for you, because your pumpkin cyser next year may come out quite different than this year and it might not be the yeast. This technique works to develop more consistency in your brews and you'll know more what to expect, then more of your experiments will turn out as delicious as you envision them, rather than having the outcome sparatic...
Just my humble oppinion, freely experiment with ingredients, but stick with the same yeast for some batches...I also think the Lalvin D-47 (as Brewski mentioned) will leave some residual sweetness from the honey and maple syrup, though I've had that same yeast ferment white sugar right down to .995ish and be so bone dry I had to backsweeten and pasturize...But Brewski's done more meads than I have, and is very familiar with the D-47 as he always reccomends it for meads/cysers. 
. I myself always split my ciders between it and Red Star Champagne.
I am going to make this tomorrow/today. I am going to use the D-47. Some good points were made. Plus I want to stick with something that's been tested and proven for this brew. I also like the idea of comparing the pumpkin cyser with this. Idk the ratios of cider to syrup to honey yet but I will post them when once I make it.
I'd go with a pound per gallon ratio, the D-47 will go at that all day long and have room for more, you may want to add more sugar when you rack into the 2ndary. I've got a Cyser going with the 47 and I racked and added another pound of honey disolved in some more cider and at 60* F it's still chugging away happilly. A pound of Maple Syrup can cost you a fortune, so you may want to do what was suggested and find a smaller amound of Grade B because it's darker and cheaper and adds more of the maple flavor to the mix.
I find that with the Red Star Champagne and the D-47 62*-66* is where it's most comfortable and not fermenting too fast. A finished basement in winter is perfect for that temp. Below 60* and I've had problems getting the Champagne yeast going, I think the D-47 has a slightly higher cold tollerance. The packet says it's good at 70+ but I worry about fusal alcohols at that temp.
Good Luck!
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