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What have you done this week to prep?
- Thread starter DHolder
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None. We just trade beer for syrup.
I am no expert but the amount they get from year to year is dependent on multiple factors.
Rotated out some reserve fuel this week. Filled up all 3 trucks and put fresh back in the stores.
More water.
More ammo.
Re-thinking the med kit.
More water.
More ammo.
Re-thinking the med kit.
guns and groceries
Marksman
Relocated around 1/3 of my back up supplies to a friends house in case I need to get out of the city or can not get back in to the city. Work has me traveling a lot more and his house is centrally located within my territory. Been meaning to do it for months and I am glad it is done.
Jam radio.........I need to keep up.........
You missed IAM? I heard KAM is coming next year or two.
I'll tap until I get tired of it or the sap stops flowing, whichever comes first. We have more potential trees than I can count, though I might have trouble identifying some of them this time of year. I bought 3 spile/bucket sets on Ebay then I bought the plastic spile/tubing sets to try also. But I can't get much at once that way and I'll be working 6 days per week the next couple of weeks.
So how many gallons also depends on the above.
I tapped late yesterday so the sap only flowed for a while, was not dripping at sunrise this morning, but is dripping again now. I'm off work today so I'll let the couple gallons I have simmer on the stove. Should have enough for 1 pancake for Tues breakfast
Okay, so I misunderstood the tapping process a bit. I assumed that you get some sap out of a tree then move on. It turns out you leave your tap in place for the duration, usually about 2 weeks. The number of taps per tree depends on the size. (up to 3 taps for a large tree)
I have 3 taps in the 2 large maples closest to our house. I've gotten about 12 gallons of sap in the first 48 hours.
Boiling this down to syrup is a little tricky without equipment or storage space. Some people call it "laborious". I would say it's not much labor but you have to either have a place to keep the fresh sap cold (less than 40 F just like any food) and/or you need to be around to loosely observe your boiling sap. So it's kind of like making bread: there is not a lot to do but you have to be there at the right time.
It's probably inefficient to be boiling all this indoors on the electric stove, but this year is more of a trial and error. I put some in the crockpot overnight, but that's an incredibly slow process and it's barely warm enough to be safe (between 40 and 140 is the zone at which bacteria grow best) so I went back to the stovetop tonight. I am boiling more vigorously than last night, so I can get this done.
I was also warned that the steam would be so bad it would make the wallpaper peel. Well unfortunately the internet was wrong about that. We are actually TRYING to remove some stubborn wallpaper in our kitchen and boiling all this sap hasn't loosened it up one darn bit!
All totaled, I can see the benefit of having a big kettle outside on a fire and pouring the stuff in. I can also see the benefit of storing it for large batches, but who has room for tens of gallons of sap ?
Starting tomorrow, it looks like the temps may be colder in the daytime so I'm going to store some buckets outside for a few days of collecting. I don't know how much those cold temps will slow down the sap flow though. I was able to pick up some free food-grade buckets today.
I have 3 taps in the 2 large maples closest to our house. I've gotten about 12 gallons of sap in the first 48 hours.
Boiling this down to syrup is a little tricky without equipment or storage space. Some people call it "laborious". I would say it's not much labor but you have to either have a place to keep the fresh sap cold (less than 40 F just like any food) and/or you need to be around to loosely observe your boiling sap. So it's kind of like making bread: there is not a lot to do but you have to be there at the right time.
It's probably inefficient to be boiling all this indoors on the electric stove, but this year is more of a trial and error. I put some in the crockpot overnight, but that's an incredibly slow process and it's barely warm enough to be safe (between 40 and 140 is the zone at which bacteria grow best) so I went back to the stovetop tonight. I am boiling more vigorously than last night, so I can get this done.
I was also warned that the steam would be so bad it would make the wallpaper peel. Well unfortunately the internet was wrong about that. We are actually TRYING to remove some stubborn wallpaper in our kitchen and boiling all this sap hasn't loosened it up one darn bit!
All totaled, I can see the benefit of having a big kettle outside on a fire and pouring the stuff in. I can also see the benefit of storing it for large batches, but who has room for tens of gallons of sap ?
Starting tomorrow, it looks like the temps may be colder in the daytime so I'm going to store some buckets outside for a few days of collecting. I don't know how much those cold temps will slow down the sap flow though. I was able to pick up some free food-grade buckets today.
I've made syrup. It's a ton of fun but lots of work. Use a turkey fryer outside. It takes 40 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup so you are putting 39 gallons of moisture into the air in your home this way. That's a crap ton of water. The paper will go if you boil enough.
Have fun...it's freaking awesome when done!
I have an outside burner which I may use after I store some more sap in the cool weather. Right now having to go outside and check it constantly while I'm home in the evenings would turn it into a big chore.
I think either way it's probably significant fuel cost as compared to an outdoor wood fire.
I'm not too worried about the extra humidity in this weather.
ETA: we have a humidity meter on our thermostat, pretty close to the kitchen. I'll keep an eye on that to make sure it stays in normal range.
This process also made me think of Hunger Games 2 and the story where they had no safe water supply, so tapped a tree. This certainly could be a safe source of water during this time of year; I'm not sure what you get during the rest of the year.
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a few different foods are safe to consume at 140 but to be absolutely safe you must reach 165. Its best to always keep in mind the safe zones are outside the 41-165F range
Agreed. And yes, I boiled it more after it was in the crock pot. I just left it overnight in the crock pot rather than staying up to finish it, checked the temp in the morning (was then about 146-150) then went on to boil it again. I'm also keeping this batch set aside to finish first so I don't wonder which jar was partially sitting at the 146 temp.
The rest of the week the sap will be kept cool until I have time to boil it down all at once.
Thanks!
If someone wants to leave it hot overnight, the crockpot would probably work if you have it on high and leave the lid on. I had the lid off to let steam escape.
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Battery storage. How do you all take care of the spare battery stash.
I keep mine in the sealed plastic ammo containers. When I open one the odor is intense. Is this going to be an issue.
I cycle them out as needed and with 4 G-daughters running amok daily I do use them.
I have a serious reserve at the ready but I want them to live.
????????????????
I keep mine in the sealed plastic ammo containers. When I open one the odor is intense. Is this going to be an issue.
I cycle them out as needed and with 4 G-daughters running amok daily I do use them.
I have a serious reserve at the ready but I want them to live.
????????????????
I've seen battery caddies but I don't use them. I'm too lazy I guess. I leave some in original packages and rotate through them.
Now, most of our AA and AAA are the Eneloop rechargeable. We have a charging station with a box on the left for depleted batteries and on the right for recharged; this process gets good cooperation from the kids.
I bought a few of the lithium AAA and AA for long term storage, especially in the 72 hr car kit, and they are still in the package.
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