The Official 2008 Maple Syrup Thread.

tab · #**421** 04/15/08, 11:59 AM

I couldn't help myself, I had to see what everyone has done. I must have gone two weeks w/o visiting this thread!
I only got out twelve spiles and boiled twice. I tapped late and left them in for about four days. I couldn't take anymore time and the nights have been warm up until last night. The new pan worked great! I used an old fuel tank cut up with a door on it for the fire. DH got involved and he always overthinks everything. I told him with backyard syrup making it is a process. This year worked better than the last time and I can see improvements that will be easy. If one thinks too much it usually doesn't work the way you want it too anyways. He was concerned with getting the wood to the fire and I finally told him that's the easy part, the hard part is the sap. I used old pallets for the majority of the boil. The old maples out front supplied some pretty good branches, too!

I made nearly two gallons with each boil taking just shy of 8 hours. I looked back and it has been eleven years since I made syrup. It seems good to have done it again. I really am looking forward to next year already. I want to get some of the paint sold for syrup equipment and work on the pails as they are getting rusty. They have the right to do so as they are probably as old as I am. I may replace some of the spiles. I am excited as I have a number of trees that can be tapped now that I couldn't tap before. They have either grown or I have better access than before. I found a clump out back a ways that can support at least eight taps! I think a new filter may be coming as well as the one I have is hard to use and I still have some sugar sand in the syrup

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I am going to clean the pan today. It has some minerals in it so I am going to try the vinegar route that I believe Meloc suggested many pages ago. I am going to take the time to read this whole thing again at some point. It has been an odd spring this year. Some people are still tapped here,I cannot believe they have gotten much the last ten days or so but maybe it is running again after the hard freeze we had last night. Makes me wish I had left some taps in

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tab · #**422** 04/15/08, 12:07 PM

The other thoughts I had were I use my two trash barrels that I keep recyclables in for sap storage. I also have a hundred gallon water tank we have for when the barn well goes dry. That allows a spigot on the bottom. I did not get to use it this year but it will be great if I get to tap next year. I try not to store sap for more than two days, one is better. I think a stand built for the tank behind the barn would be a cool spot, out of the sun. I have a stream that I keep thinking would be ideal for sap storage but that would require more of an investment than I am willing to make. It doesn't stop me from thinking as I am standing out by the pan whilest the sap boils!

michiganfarmer · #**423** 04/16/08, 10:05 AM

the buds are opening. IM done. 50 gallons. I suppose its better than nothing, but Im not very happy about it.

I have a lot of work ahead of me this summer. IM going to retube the entire 12 acre woods.

seedspreader · #**424** 04/16/08, 10:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michiganfarmer

the buds are opening. IM done. 50 gallons. I suppose its better than nothing, but Im not very happy about it.

I have a lot of work ahead of me this summer. IM going to retube the entire 12 acre woods.

What do you think you should get off the 12 acres of woods (syrup wise) in an average year. Assuming you're all set up at the beginning of flow?

michiganfarmer · #**425** 04/16/08, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seedspreader

What do you think you should get off the 12 acres of woods (syrup wise) in an average year. Assuming you're all set up at the beginning of flow?

I should get about a gallon of sap per tree per day, or mabey a little more. I have about 1200 trees. With this bigger evaporator I should be able to make 30 gallons of syrup per day.

Sparticle · #**426** 04/16/08, 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by michiganfarmer

the buds are opening. IM done. 50 gallons. I suppose its better than nothing, but Im not very happy about it.

I have a lot of work ahead of me this summer. IM going to retube the entire 12 acre woods.

could you put the sap tube in flexible black pipe to keep the critters from chewing through it? We found hundreds and hundreds of feet of this stuff of varying sizes buried just under the grass on our property along with some bizarre steel metal contraption. We needed the pipe so that was fortunate.

michiganfarmer · #**427** 04/16/08, 01:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparticle

could you put the sap tube in flexible black pipe to keep the critters from chewing through it?

Im sure its possible. I have thought about that, but Ive never tried it. One problem that I have found when leaving tubing in the woods is keeping it up out of the snow for the duration of the winter. Tree limbs fall down, and pull the tubing to the ground, then it gets covered in snow, then ice, then snow, then ice, and its very diffcult to dig it out. I dont mind the work, but it is very time consuming, and there is only a small window of time to get things ready in the spring.

tallpines · #**428** 04/16/08, 08:12 PM

I believe we have collected the last of our sap today.
There are a dozen trees still running well today so we may check them again tomorrow.

There is still snow on the ground in a few spots but the wildflowers are pushing up through the leaf cover.

It was a beautiful day in the woods today.

Up North Louie · #**429** 04/17/08, 06:56 AM

We had another three days of not enough buckets. This is the Great Failure of a rinky----- operation like ours, in that when you get massive sap production, you can't process it fast enough. You're caught in the bind of whether or not to put money into it and take several years worth of beatings to be ready for the years when the run goes over the top. I suspect this topic will ruin several dinners in the coming weeks, because you have three guys with three hardened opinions.

But! We are doing our best to keep up, and it looks like we'll get a few days to process what's here. This week, it's been a situation where you empty a few buckets and run the route, pouring off the top couple quarts from each tap just to keep them from running over, and two hours later, doing it again. The sap is still running clear and sweet, and I can't imagine that Dad will call a halt, no matter how much he grumbles

He's one of those guys that you know he's having a good time when he complains about how well it's going.

Back to it.

d

seedspreader · #**430** 04/17/08, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Up North Louie

We had another three days of not enough buckets. This is the Great Failure of a rinky----- operation like ours, in that when you get massive sap production, you can't process it fast enough. You're caught in the bind of whether or not to put money into it and take several years worth of beatings to be ready for the years when the run goes over the top. I suspect this topic will ruin several dinners in the coming weeks, because you have three guys with three hardened opinions.

But! We are doing our best to keep up, and it looks like we'll get a few days to process what's here. This week, it's been a situation where you empty a few buckets and run the route, pouring off the top couple quarts from each tap just to keep them from running over, and two hours later, doing it again. The sap is still running clear and sweet, and I can't imagine that Dad will call a halt, no matter how much he grumbles

He's one of those guys that you know he's having a good time when he complains about how well it's going.

Back to it.

d

How many gallons?

Up North Louie · #**431** 04/17/08, 08:17 PM

I think we have ended up with about 12 gallons.

All but 10 gallons of sap are in the boiler now, and that 10 will be used in the morning to finish off the current batch. Trees didn't run today and Dad is talking like he wants to pull taps and fold it up in the next couple days. He's pretty stiff and sore.

I'm kinda saddened by that, because the sap is still running clear, but then I looked down, and saw the wild leeks pushing up through the snow. That usually means it's time to quit, because everything else starts, gardens, getting set for camp, probably grubbing out 8 or 10 more acres back to hay and pasture. Before you know it, I'll be out baling hay. We'll see how it plays out.

It's been a brief, but hectic and productive season. I got to looking at yields and I am guessing we averaged about 40:1, which isn't the greatest, but there's nothing to be done about it.

Better get lunch made and off to bed.

Don

tallpines · #**432** 04/17/08, 09:59 PM

We ended up taking 1160 gallons of sap to our neighbor for cooking.

With the lowest sugar test we've ever had, and with the neighbor keeping 1/2 the finished syrup, it'll be interesting to see how much we get back when all is said and done.

Up North Louie · #**433** 04/18/08, 05:20 AM

If I have missed this earlier in the thread, please forgive a redundant question, but what does one need to test the sugar content of sap? It seems to me the unit of measure is "brix," a term I have heard used in pastry kitchens, but I am unfamiliar with it beyond that little scrap of trivia.

Is a Brix-o-meter a big outlay? Seems like it would be handy when contemplating how much sap you have to boil to achieve a certain predetermined yield.

Thanks,

Don

michiganfarmer · #**434** 04/18/08, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Up North Louie

If I have missed this earlier in the thread, please forgive a redundant question, but what does one need to test the sugar content of sap? It seems to me the unit of measure is "brix," a term I have heard used in pastry kitchens, but I am unfamiliar with it beyond that little scrap of trivia.

Is a Brix-o-meter a big outlay? Seems like it would be handy when contemplating how much sap you have to boil to achieve a certain predetermined yield.

Thanks,

Don

you can buy a floating type hydrometer for sap. http://www.mapleguys.com/index.php?i...10acda22447a40

Up North Louie · #**435** 04/18/08, 08:09 PM

Cool. That's pretty reasonable for a precision tool. I'll be getting one.

Thanks.

Don

michiganfarmer · #**436** 04/21/08, 06:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Up North Louie

Cool. That's pretty reasonable for a precision tool. I'll be getting one.

Thanks.

Don

I dont think it is much actual benefit unless you are selling sap, and ar chargin according to sugar content, but it sure is nice to know

Up North Louie · #**437** 04/22/08, 05:57 AM

I was just thinking that it's an inexpensive tool, and it might give me a handle on making more consistent batches across the season. Our methodology is pretty crude-- dump it in and boil it down until it looks good. Since we still have to tip it off by hand, wild fluctuations in batch size aren't real desirable, especially when the batch turns out to be a big one. Could you use the device predictively, to say, "well, brix is so-and-so, I'll need 100 gallons of this stuff to give me a standardized 2 gallon yield to finish..."

Just a thought.