Maple Syrup season!

[cg21]

I'm calling this endeavor a success and want to thank everyone for posting. I learned a lot here and don't remember the last time I was this excited about something. Filters and bottles come tomorrow, I'm very surprised at how much I ended up with, how thick it is and how well/easy it all went.

Not sure how you filtered but my first couple batches looked like yours. I took the advice of someone on here and used 2 tshirts and they are nice Carmel color ‍ both tasted good

 

[phylodog]

I ordered some purpose made filters which should be here some time today. There is a lot of material yet to be filtered out, I'm anxious to see the final result.

 

[phylodog]

I thought my trees were done, it seemed like they just stopped putting out any sap but I checked again this morning and pulled another 5 gallons. Looks like I'll be tending a fire again soon.

 

[phylodog]

The finished product

 

[hoosierdaddy1976]

The finished product

That looks great. May have to give it a try next year.

 

[Leadeye]

Congrats Phylo, another step towards rural living.

 

[phylodog]

Congrats Phylo, another step towards rural living.

Thanks! I'm grinning from ear to ear. We have wonderful neighbors who have shared their vegetables, jellies and honey, I can't wait to give them a bottle.

 

[phylodog]

I've given out several bottles now and I'm hooked on this, it'll be an annual event for sure. My two trees gave up enough sap yesterday that I couldn't bare to toss it out. I'm glad I did, I just finished it up and it made some really light syrup and gave up enough to fill 14 of these little two ounce bottles.

I picked up a propane cooker with a 15 gallon pot so it made the cook down process a lot more user friendly.

 

[spencer rifle]

Two more pints today.

 

[pappyon]

i do not know anything about this but my son in law has been collecting sap. He boils on a propane burner. he wants to build a shack and do it with wood. where do you even by the stuff? The tray that the sap goes in. Is darker syrup better than the amber colors?

 

[spencer rifle]

If you have enough sap you can invest in an evaporator. They make smaller hobby models. Sugar Bush Supplies is one option, as is Leader Evaporator. There are also plans for making an evaporator out of a 55 gallon drum or using cinder blocks and sheet metal. Some folks use square roast pans for evaporating, made of enameled ironware (I find these in the local thrift store) or stainless steel (often old catering warmer trays).

As far as grading goes, lighter is better. As far as taste, I like darker better. Running sap straight through an evaporator will often give lighter syrup. We make ours in batches, so it's darker. Filtering equipment will be important. If producing to sell, you will need a hygrometer and a good thermometer.

 

[shibumiseeker]

Curious for you guys that sell your syrup..... what do you charge per pint? Having a hard time coming up with a number because it is so time consuming. Figured Atleast I could hear from you guys and get an idea what a pint goes for.

I generally sell for around a buck an ounce plus bottle costs. A little more for smaller bottles, a little less for larger. Unless you are a large operation (larger than mine) and have everything dialed in and the process as efficient as possible, you are going to be very disappointed at the return for your time. Right now I'm just happy if what I make each year pays for the better equipment I am buying.

 

[shibumiseeker]

I am pulling taps. While there might be a little opportunity for a small amount more if we get another late season run, it's been too warm for my operation and the sap in the lines is starting to turn. I made about 21 gallons of syrup this year. Now the fun comes with final processing and filtering.

 

[shibumiseeker]

As far as grading goes, lighter is better. As far as taste, I like darker better. Running sap straight through an evaporator will often give lighter syrup. We make ours in batches, so it's darker. Filtering equipment will be important. If producing to sell, you will need a hygrometer and a good thermometer.

Last year we switched to refractometers and have found them to be MUCH easier to use and more accurate. We have 3, one for low end for measuring sugar content of sap, one for high end for getting the final product, and one general one I use when I am running the evaporator pan. It's not as accurate but gives me a good approximation.

 

[spencer rifle]

Even with the recent cold, our spiles have stopped flowing. Looks like it's time to pull and clean up.

We are using 5/16" tree saver spiles, which usually heal over in less than a year. Older 7/16" take longer and may require a filler dowel rod or wood ball to aid healing.

 

[dieselrealtor]

Thought about a new thread but this one has a lot of info, I still need to go through the whole thread over the next couple of days.

I put 2 or 3 taps in 1 sugar maple several years ago, ended up with 1-2 gallons of syrup if I remember correctly. Didn't do it the entire season, just late & seems like there were days we got 10 gallons of sap per day. Cooked it in the kitchen, humidity was so bad in the house, didn't quite rain but bad enough.

I will probably use pint or half pint jars this time, the quarts had a tendency to go bad in the frig before we used the whole jar.

Thinking about buying an evaporator to use outside & figure out best way to filter the sugar sand. Any suggestions for a home operator?

 

[spencer rifle]

We filter with a double thickness of old T-shirts. Works pretty well. You have a tradeoff between filtering everything out and letting things cool off too much or running it through fast while it's hot and missing some.

We tap 8 trees but never had enough to make an evaporator worthwhile.

If you syrup molds all you need to do is skim and boil it again.

 

[phylodog]

I'm really looking forward to syrup season next year. I need to pick up a few more taps and buckets before then and I think I'm going to build a wood burning stove out of an old well pressure tank, cut a rectangular hole in the top of it and sit a stainless cafeteria pan onto the hole to evaporate. It'll certainly be more efficient than the concrete block stove technique I used last year.

 

[Clay]

Thanks for the reminder!! I need to buy some supplies so I can try this out!!

 

[phylodog]

Hunting my best friend’s farm and this just blew in. I wanna find this tree and put a tap in it the size of a firehose.