Maple syrup
- Thread starter Peeps
- Start date
I'll be boiling sap in SE MN this weekend. I just tap a half dozen trees in my yard every year and it gives us a year's worth of syrup. I have about 50 gallons of sap so far and that typically gives me about 2 gallons of syrup.
How will you be boiling it down? I use 3 big pots over an open fire. I take a couple concrete blocks and place 3 steel fenceposts between them. The pots sit on the fenceposts and it gives me easy access to add wood to either side of the setup. It's about as simple as it gets and it works for me. It usually takes me 24-36 hours of boiling to get it turned into sap.
I just use a candy thermometer to tell when the sap officially is syrup. I believe once the temp hits 220 or 221 degrees I call it good, but every year I have to look back at my notes to get it right.
How will you be boiling it down? I use 3 big pots over an open fire. I take a couple concrete blocks and place 3 steel fenceposts between them. The pots sit on the fenceposts and it gives me easy access to add wood to either side of the setup. It's about as simple as it gets and it works for me. It usually takes me 24-36 hours of boiling to get it turned into sap.
I just use a candy thermometer to tell when the sap officially is syrup. I believe once the temp hits 220 or 221 degrees I call it good, but every year I have to look back at my notes to get it right.
4wanderingeyes
5 year old buck +
I am hoping to start making maple syrup in a couple years when I move to my hunting land. I love maple syrup!
S.T.Fanatic
5 year old buck +
Hard to tell from a picture of the size of trees but it looks to me that you could add at least one more tap to each tree.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Making real maple syrup is one of the coolest processes to be involved in or witness. Great project to involve the kids !! Nature's bounty.
S.T.Fanatic
5 year old buck +
And mushroom season is just around the corner. Heck its on us if your far enough south.
Apple Junkie
5 year old buck +
Every year, four of us cook down enough sap to yield a couple gallons each for friends and family. We'll probably do our last batch early next week. It's gonna snow this weekend, so we should have a decent run Monday, then call it a season.
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Apple Junkie
5 year old buck +
Yep... we use a cinder block evaporator, chimney pipe out the back. We have a stainless pan that was custom made, but before that we used regular pots, then those stainless serving trays you see at a salad bar. This year, we added a steel door for the front of the firebox. The cinder block evaporator fire box is just blocks stacked maybe 3' x 5' inside dimensions.
Natty Bumppo
5 year old buck +
When I stared back in 2001 I had a cement block and brick set up. I had a stack of bricks that I hollowed out as a chimney of sorts and boiled on a 24"x24" flat pan. Took forever to boil 40 gallons...maybe a 12 hour day or so, in the cold and wind and rain and snow. As we tapped more and more trees and had kids and decided that we wanted to make sugaring a part of our lives every spring, I decided to build a small 12x16 timber frame sugar house. Now I boil on a small 2x4 hobby evaporator and can evaporate 40 gallons in about 4 hours while having a few beers and listening to the Red Sox game on the radio. We throw a few hot dogs or kielbasa in the pan and cook them up while we boil and eat lunch in the shack. Luxury!
Diesel5610
5 year old buck +
Very cool set up Natty.
Apple Junkie
5 year old buck +
Now that is livin' Natty!!
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Great sugar shack, Natty !! Cool pix. Shelter, warmth of the fire and family, great smells, and superior end-product. Doesn't get any better.
BTW - is that a stone ax head behind & above your daughter's left ?? If so - how did you find THAT ??
BTW - is that a stone ax head behind & above your daughter's left ?? If so - how did you find THAT ??
Natty - Your system looks perfect. How much does that 2x4 evaporator cost? Do just pour the cold sap into the boiling pan with the warm sap or is there a warming area? Is there a valve that you can use to drain the syrup when it is all finished?
My simple 3 pot boiling system takes way too long and I need an upgrade. It took me about 50 hours to boil down 80 gallons of sap last weekend.
My simple 3 pot boiling system takes way too long and I need an upgrade. It took me about 50 hours to boil down 80 gallons of sap last weekend.
Peeps
5 year old buck +
http://wildindiana.com/build-beginners-maple-syrup-evaporator/
I’m thinking of building a version of this for next year.
I’m thinking of building a version of this for next year.
Natty Bumppo
5 year old buck +
You know it Bows. Sugaring is a great pastime and a great harbinger of spring. We get a pretty nasty mud season around here and there's really not much else that can be done during this time on the land while waiting for things to dry out.
That axe head is made of steel...it's just all old and rusty.
Thanks Ben.MN. Here's a few pics of my evaporator. They are hand made by a guy named Bill Mason up in Maine. I've been where you are...taking all weekend just to boil off 40 gallons of sap.
WF Mason Custom Welding
Super nice guy. My little 2x4 cost just over $1000 a few years ago. It does come with a little 5 gallon pre-heater that sits on the back of the pan and is warmed by the rising heat and steam. You pour the cold sap into this tank and crack the valve and preheated sap then drips into the main pan. It does a pretty decent job. There are certainly better ways to preheat the sap, but for what I'm doing this unit works fine. The pan itself has 3 sections so it works like a real evaporator the pros use in that as the sap flows through the sections it goes in clear and gets darker and darker as you establish a sap tp syrup gradient.
And yes, each side of the pan has a valve to drain the pan or draw off syrup, and a fitting for a syrup thermometer to let you know when your sap is getting close to syrup.
It changed our lives. There were days that I dreaded boiling sap if I had 40 gallons and it was going to be a long, cold, wet 12 hours watching water boil. Now I can do that same 40 in about 4 hours even after work at night if I want to.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Natty - Is your evap. sitting on glass braid ?? Pic of thermometer looks like it. ^^^
If that's glass braid, is it just around the edges or is there a run or 2 in the middle ?? Is it to prevent scorching ?? Just curious !!
If that's glass braid, is it just around the edges or is there a run or 2 in the middle ?? Is it to prevent scorching ?? Just curious !!
Natty Bumppo
5 year old buck +
Hey Bows....yes, that's some kind of high-temp stove gasket material. I'm pretty sure it simply serves as a basic seal between the pan and the stove. It runs only on the edge of the pan. As long as there is sap in the pan it shouldn't scorch. It gets dangerous when the sap level gets too low and yes, the pan can scorch and warp and there's $400 down the drain.
