Maple Syrup

[Vic99]

What do do with this extra cord of pine I've harvested . . . .

This Feb/March I want to try collecting maple syrup from 6-10 sugar maples I have on my property. Just looking for personal use. Will use spiles and metal buckets. Been reading online how to do it. Seems straight forward . . . But maybe you guys will help me avoid whatever the common mistakes are.

I have info on tree size, # of taps per tree (probably only one each for all mine), etc

I have an old pot belly stove I'll set up outside to boil off the water.

1) Anything I should try to do now, in August before leaves fall off . . . Pruning branches, etc?

2) Any advice from those that have done this?

I want to do this with my kids. Thanks.

 

[Ashful]

No idea, but I'll be watching this one, too!

<-- has several large silver maples in the back yard

 

[Bocefus78]

Not alot to do now really other than mark what trees you are going to use if you cant ID them without leaves. Heres what I learned doing it for the first time last winter.
I use plastic taps, and foodsafe tubing ran directly to covered bucket with hole drilled in it for tube so I didnt have to empty everyday.
Dont trust the 40-1 ratio. More like 50+-1 Every tree will have a different sugar content.
When the sap starts looking not so clear, its starting to go bad. Boil it or dump it.
I didnt bother boiling until I had 50 gallons minimum. I just couldnt bare to burn a face cord of wood to yeild a quart of syrup.
The hotter the fire, the better. Have plenty of wood ready to go.
Dont add cold sap to the boiling pan....use a prewarming pan to get it hot and only then, keep the boil pan full as you can. Killing your boil will add lots of boiling time.
Get a 2 stage filter kit. Filter as hot as possible...it takes a while to get thru both filters.
Have plenty of beer and an extra set of hands and eyes
Dont use your wife's pans. Buy dedicated syrup pans or steam table pans. You will never get all the burnt crap off these pans.
I had about $175 into tapping 10 trees (20 taps) last year and got 1 gallon of syrup. Now mind you, I dont live where I tapped so I boiled once a weekend and dumped some sap out every week just because at 2am, after 18hrs of boiling...I just couldnt take any more and HAD to sleep.

Joful those silvers will make syrup, but you will be looking at 60-80 gallons of sap to make 1 gallon of syrup. Just FYI.

Im sure some others will chime in that have more experieince than me.

 

[lukem]

Dont add cold sap to the boiling pan....use a prewarming pan to get it hot and only then, keep the boil pan full as you can. Killing your boil will add lots of boiling time.

I've never been HMFIC making syrup, but I've been around it plenty. The county I live in has a Maple syrup festival in late Feb early March every year. They have big time evaporators that they use. Usually they won't pre-warm...they have spigots on the collection containers and will add it in nearly continuously at a relatively slow rate. I agree that you don't want to kill the boil, but you don't really have to pre-warm either as long as you add it in slow enough.

Not much to do in the offseason other than get your gear ready and collection strategy pinned down.

 

[Bocefus78]

Ive been to that festival. Neat to see how the big boys do it. They do in fact sell commercial prewarming pans for the guys who dont have tanks dumping directly into the evaps. An easy way for average joe to do it use a metal coffee can with a tiny hole punched in the side near the bottom to trickle into ur evap pan.

 

[maple1]

Not much to do in the offseason other than get your gear ready and collection strategy pinned down.

That's about it.

If using spiles & kettles, get some covers for them. Or I guess whatever it drips into, make sure it's covered.

Keep a close eye on things when boiling. You'll get faster evaporation with a shallower boil, but you sure as heck don't want to boil anything dry either - so it's a bit of a balancing act. Just add a little fresh in when you're feeling like it's getting too shallow for comfort. 'Commercial' preheating is usually done via pipes inside a steam hood - with a tray to catch & divert the condensation off them.

If you've got sugars, you should be close to 40/1. Depending on the trees and the local conditions, you might be better than that. Very mature trees in open growth in decent soil should do better. We've got a few very large roadside trees here that regularly spit out 5-6% sap. Younger ones back in the bush where most of the trees are, it's more like 2-2.5%.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Read all you can over the winter and be ready. If you might have problems telling which trees to tap in the spring when there are no leaf then mark them now or at least before the leaves drop. Don't over tap and as you stated one per tree is not bad unless you have large trees.

Boiling as you plan may or may not work out well. You'll probably want to leave the draft open full all the time or until you get enough boiled down to finish off a batch. When finishing, you have to be very careful lest it boil over on you and that can happen really fast. Hopefully you have the tools you need now or will have them before spring. Don't expect much your first year but make it enjoyable. Personally, I like to boil the syrup down a bit further than most which will make the syrup a bit darker but it will have more flavor.

If you get a lot of sap, don't be afraid to make some maple candy but beware, that stuff is super, duper sweet! Also you will usually get a nice light fluffy snow sometime when you are boiling. Great. Put some in a cup and add syrup. You don't have to add the pure syrup either as you can use that which is only half or 2/3 ready. It is delicious.

Do make some covers for the buckets. Otherwise snow melting or if it rains, you'll have to dump the buckets right there and start new. If covered, you won't have that problem.

Pine makes great wood for boiling sap. Split all your wood small; don't try to use larger splits. You want the fire to burn fast so you need small stuff and pine is fine. There is so much more to be said but let's let others chime in here too.

Good luck and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

 

[ScotO]

Lots of good advice here, and like Dennis said, lots of different tricks to the trade too. I've been making syrup for around 5 years now (didn't do it last season on account of my major remodel project in the house), we've got lots of pics and videos, I'll try to remember to upload them later on.....

Big thing is, like was mentioned already, try and pick good trees. The best are sugar maples, and can be easily identified by many factors. The late summer propeller pods, the rough bark, and the beautiful fire red leaves in the fall. Identify your trees early, pick healthy trees at least 10-15" diameter.

Also, get lots of wood gathered up, and depending on your skill, maybe build a hobby-sized evaporator. It'll make the syrup making a lot easier. Gather your taps, buckets, and sap storage equipment long before the season.....once it kicks in, it can go like mad or drag really slow. Best to be ready long before the season IMO.

Do a search about making maple syrup, I should have several posts on the site (as well as others that make it on this site). If I get time later, I'll try to upload some pics and such......Here's a video of my current set-up.....its an old 275 gallon oil tank that I converted into a large evaporator. It'll cook off around 30 gallons or more an hour when the fire is crankin'

Just remember, it takes between 35-50 gallons of sap to make a SINGLE GALLON of syrup....it's a LOT of cooking!!

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[jeff_t]

Somebody around here, a friend of a friend, uses a former embalming table. Kinda creepy, but it seems perfect- stainless steel, fairly large capacity, really shallow, and a drain in the corner.

 

[ScotO]

Some pictures as promised of my setups over the past several years.....

My first setup was simple....a 40 qt. stockpot made to hang off of a chain trammel/tripod set-up I fabricated. Worked good, but was limited to make only a small amount of syrup. Great for a beginner.



The following season I upgraded to a 20 gallon kettle I made out of the stainless tub from a 1950's Speed Queen wringer washer. I still have this kettle to this day, and use if for corn boils and big batches of soup for canning. This kettle, IMO, made the best tasting syrup to date. That syrup has a good, smoky taste (I only used hardwoods on the open fire for making syrup). Third picture is yet ANOTHER wringer washer tub I modified to fit inside a homemade barrel stove. That stove was a LOT more efficient as it kept the wind from stealing the heat out from under the kettle.....still have this set-up too. Easy to make if you have the right pan. That stainless kettle fit snugly into the top of the barrel with just a little finessing....



Here's my first attempt at collecting sap...and it worked great! Using plastic spiles (made for the tubing-type sap collection systems) I attached a small piece of tubing and put them into 2 liter pop bottles. I've since moved on and now use food-grade gallon jugs and 5 and 6 gallon buckets. The two liter bottles will fill up in just an hour or two when the saps running hard!! Pictured with me are my little sap collecting partners, they like to taste the sweet sap right out of the tree!!

 

[ScotO]

Some more pics......collecting sap on one of the snowier seasons we had.



collecting firewood for the evaporator is fun when there is snow on the ground. My brother and his buddies, as well as some of my buddies, all gather and do the chores. We have a good time eating and drinking some beers around the cookers throughout the day as well.....



My current set-up. This set-up is really efficient, but it's just not the same as the open kettle.....something about the kettle just has that old fashioned feel to it......



And some finished product!!

 

[Ashful]

Somebody around here, a friend of a friend, uses a former embalming table. Kinda creepy, but it seems perfect- stainless steel, fairly large capacity, really shallow, and a drain in the corner.

I'm struggling with the word "former".

Amazing setup, Scotty! I don't know how you do it all.

 

[ScotO]

I'm struggling with the word "former".

I can almost see the 'drippings' still sitting in that pan.......EEEEEWWWW.....

 

[NortheastAl]

Scott, nice set up. Great you are teaching and enjoying time with the family.

Yeah, I got a hang up with that "former" embalming table deal too. Wouldn't want that chit on my waffles!

 

[DuckDog]

We've made it for years. Small scale and only enough to supply ourselves and to be able to give some away. Here's our "ghetto" setup. Temporary block arch with a 2'x4' flat pan. We preheat and finish in turky fryers. We do nothing at this time of year to prepare for spring.

 

[ScotO]

We've made it for years. Small scale and only enough to supply ourselves and to be able to give some away. Here's our "ghetto" setup. Temporary block arch with a 2'x4' flat pan. We preheat and finish in turky fryers. We do nothing at this time of year to prepare for spring.

View attachment 108472View attachment 108473

Love it, DD! That's the best of times right there. Nothing like making something soooo damm good in your own backyard.....

I miss doing the kettle, I may have to break it out again this winter for a weekend. Kettle cooked syrup over an open hardwood fire has the best flavor, HANDS DOWN!

 

[Stax]

Last year was my first time as well. 2 Silver Maples which did just fine. 5 gallon food safe buckets w/ lids, food safe tubing and plastic spouts. Made 5 pints. Definitely need to get a larger shallower pan this year. The turkey pot takes forever.

 

[Ehouse]

What if you combine functions and use a food service pan atop the wood stove for humidification adding some (pre-heated) sap as needed?

 

[simple.serf]

I'd see if you can get a small flat pan from someone to try it out with. Much more efficient. We do 18-2500 taps all on vacuum. We have a homemade 4"x6 R/O, and a 3x18 Dominion and Grimm oil fired evaporator. I would spend some time with someone who knows a bit about syrup, they can tell you some of the little tricks and such. I have never made syrup on a small scale, though if I couldn't do it big scale anymore I would probably tap enough just for our family, and pick up a used Leader 2x4 or 2x6. What can I say, It's in my blood.