Maple syrup

[b116757]

Our big pan runs continuously for days if we are running out of sap we try to time end of sap with running out of fire. So we can drain the flu pan add it all to the flat pan and fill the flu with water to keep from ruining it. If the weather looks like the sap is going to take a break. There is a great deal of art to making syrup everyone comes up with different solutions to problems they encounter. Sometimes we simply shut the evaporator down leaving everything in the pans for a day if the sap run has taken a break but forecast is favorable. We have two 400 gallon stainless milk tanks elevated to gravity feed the big evaporator. A third milk tank on the ground for sap storage and a 1500 gallon stainless tank for backup storage along with a 300 gallon collection tank trailer. We also have a small batch flat pan 2’x6’ that we will use if we are only tapping a few trees that year.

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Question for the guys with divided pans. When finished cooking how do you empty the pan? Do you let it cool completely and drain it or push sap out with water?

I only empty my pan at the very end of the season. And yes, on my last boil of the season I will very carefully allow the level get as low as I can...maybe 3/4 of an inch...and then let it cool, drain the pan, and finish on a propane burner.

 

[Apple Junkie]

The sap run is pretty much over in Western NY. My technique is one step above the Indians, and one big step below the Amish. We simply boil with wood, outdoors on a cinder block “furnace” and a 40-gallon stainless pan. 120 gallons yields about 3 gallons of syrup. My weak link to beautiful syrup has been the filtering step. In the past, I have let the cloudy sand settle out and pour off the clear syrup. However, this year I am using the re-usable filters Buckley first mentioned from Smokey Lake Maple Products. Now I lose less, and the pints of syrup look as good as they taste. Ya gotta love this time of year – and so do friends and family!

 

[westonwhitetail]

The sap finally got running good here this weekend. I’ve never seen it drop so quick as it was yesterday. First boil down, about 20 gallons.

This cooker was made by my father in law many years ago out of a fuel oil tank. It works pretty slick

We also frost seeded some switch and clover and found a shed on the hike back from the food plot. It was an awesome weekend

 

[Apple Junkie]

I am so envious of your boiler Weston – genius! They say imitation is the highest form of praise. If so, be forewarned I have copied the picture of your masterpiece to pass along to my more accomplished partners in crime.

My 7-year-old grandson could have come up with this filter stand, but I pass it along for what it’s worth. Simple and cheap… half inch tubing, 24” x 12”. I have not seen any others posted, so I thought I’d pass it along for what it’s worth.

 

[Peeps]

I made it up after work and collected my first 30 gallons of the season with lots more to collect tomorrow. Looked like 1 day of flow and varied in different areas. Now under a Winter Storm Warming for 5-8 inches of snow and 1/4 inch of ice. Raining good rt now and 31. Hoping it stops by tomorrow afternoon so I can start cooking. My pet grouse helped me empty buckets.

 

[westonwhitetail]

I am so envious of your boiler Weston – genius! They say imitation is the highest form of praise. If so, be forewarned I have copied the picture of your masterpiece to pass along to my more accomplished partners in crime.

My 7-year-old grandson could have come up with this filter stand, but I pass it along for what it’s worth. Simple and cheap… half inch tubing, 24” x 12”. I have not seen any others posted, so I thought I’d pass it along for what it’s worth.

My father in law made it a long time ago, he’s a welder. It’s a nice setup for the amount of trees and sap I’m getting this year! Cool strainer setup you made, I almost bought a jam strainer for that but might need to rig up something similar to what you got there

 

[b116757]

My father in law made it a long time ago, he’s a welder. It’s a nice setup for the amount of trees and sap I’m getting this year! Cool strainer setup you made, I almost bought a jam strainer for that but might need to rig up something similar to what you got there

For the filters we just use a couple of stainless milk cans modified with valves near the bottom you can bottle straight out of them modified that way.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

My pet grouse helped me empty buckets.

If you truly have a pet grouse, tell us how you got it. Captured as a peep? I've seen that done with ducks - from babies. Or is that just a game cam pic???

Nice syrup workings, men. Good stuff.

 

[Peeps]

If you truly have a pet grouse, tell us how you got it. Captured as a peep? I've seen that done with ducks - from babies. Or is that just a game cam pic???

Nice syrup workings, men. Good stuff.

It’s technically a wild grouse but I call her my pet. She started following me around over 2 years ago. I can’t believe something hasn’t eaten her yet. She will follow me around our whole 40 walking rt by my feet. When I go inside she waits for me on the porch. I can touch her and even pick her up. If I drive too fast for her on the wheeler she will fly up and smack my head. She got pinned under my daughters tire once and stuck in the atv grill once after hitting my wife. So she is tuff. I took that pick while she was standing next to me as I collected sap. I named her Grousee. I’ll be sad when some day she doesn’t come running to me and is gone.

 

[Peeps]

This is what my woods looks like today. Hard to see my buckets while dodging tree tops and limbs that are breaking off and falling. I told my neighbor to come look for me if I don’t text him by supper time

 

[Bowsnbucks]

This is what my woods looks like today. Hard to see my buckets while dodging tree tops and limbs that are breaking off and falling. I told my neighbor to come look for me if I don’t text him by supper time

WOW!!! That looks like misery to try and navigate in that stuff. Be safe and watch for falling limbs!!

 

[ruskbucks]

Well here is most of our finished syrup from our big haul this year. Boiled about 30 gallons from non sugar maples. Have a small batch of boxelder left to boil. Does anybody else prefer boxelder over maple or is it just me?

 

[Bill Loser]

Well here is most of our finished syrup from our big haul this year. Boiled about 30 gallons from non sugar maples. Have a small batch of boxelder left to boil. Does anybody else prefer boxelder over maple or is it just me?

Im with you on the box elder. I much prefer that to sugar maple.

 

[Apple Junkie]

That is a beautiful woods peeps, and I love your pet... grousee! Collecting sap under those conditions must be tough though..

Nice haul ruskbucks. Sap is sap to us, so I guess our pallets are not all that discerning.

 

[Bill Loser]

Question for you guys, I collected yesterday. Alot of my sap was frozen, I saved a couple buckets of the ice to see what it would test at. Thawed it overnight and checked it this morning. Its at 1%. What would you do with it? I know what I'm thinking but I wonder what others would do.

 

[chucker66]

Mine freezes just about every year. I just cook it down with everything else. My 70 gallon barrel is 1/2 frozen right now.

 

[Bill Loser]

Right, Im more wondering your thoughts on the 1%

 

[Natty Bumppo]

I always pitch the ice...up to a certain extent. By pitching ice you're saving boiling time as the sugar does not tend to freeze in that chunk of ice, instead it concentrates in the liquid. At some point though, with a frozen bucket, there is a threshold where if you pitch the ice you're also throwing away a lot of syrup. It's generally considered more efficient to pitch the ice in buckets if it's less than 25% or so. That is...just the top and sides are frozen over a bit. This is what I have done for 20 years and indeed, I notice that I make more gallons of syrup than I would have predicted based on the gallons of raw sap I fed into the evaporator.

Is there some sugar in that ice? Yes, just not enough to justify the collecting and boiling of it for me personally.

 

[Bill Loser]

I always pitch the ice...up to a certain extent. By pitching ice you're saving boiling time as the sugar does not tend to freeze in that chunk of ice, instead it concentrates in the liquid. At some point though, with a frozen bucket, there is a threshold where if you pitch the ice you're also throwing away a lot of syrup. It's generally considered more efficient to pitch the ice in buckets if it's less than 25% or so. That is...just the top and sides are frozen over a bit. This is what I have done for 20 years and indeed, I notice that I make more gallons of syrup than I would have predicted based on the gallons of raw sap I fed into the evaporator.

Is there some sugar in that ice? Yes, just not enough to justify the collecting and boiling of it for me personally.

Thanks natty, So the 1% isnt enough for you to mess with? Thats kinda where I was going also, Ive never had Ice test at 1 before, anytime i messed with it before it was 1/2 or less and I pitched it .