Alan40, Youare and Sugarmaker - Where's the Sap??

[alan40]

Re: Alan40, Youare and Sugarmaker - Where\'s the Sap??

Hello to you all, got about 11 gallons of sap today with 20 buckets. Not bad. I've noticed that the buckets on the west facing side of the trees appear to produce more sap. Is there a bucket placment strategy? Most places seem to put there buckets anywere and if they use two or more never on the same level. Bou is'nt this fun!!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Looks like I'll be boiling all day Saturday if this keeps up. Better get more snowsnake medicine. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Take care

 

[alan40]

Re: Alan40, Youare and Sugarmaker - Where\'s the Sap??

Just finish a 24 x 28 garage this year and had questions about boiling in it. The results were about 50/50 about boiling inside. So I went with the 50 percent that said No. Last year I saw a couple of metal sheds that were free if you went and got them. Hope to find the same deal this year. A sugar house for free. Can't beat that!!! Now all Ineed to find is a 19 x 24 pan to boil in and I'll be in syrup making heaven.
Take care

 

[ejb]

Re: Alan40, Youare and Sugarmaker - Where\'s the Sap??

>>Just fired up the woodstove stove about 30 minuites ago and the first large batch is just warming up.

Well just to report results, as I said I would, I tried my second batch out in the shop in a 4 gallon pot on my woodstove and after seven hours of running it as hot as I could, only managed to drop the level by about 1 inch...so had to resort back to the stove inside.

So on the stove inside I boiled down the 4 gallons in about 6 hours and have another great batch.

Still have 30 gallons of sap to go(and taps still running)...I better come up with a better solution soon /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif Can't finish this amount in the house...guess I'll try a real low-tech open fire with the pot more or less right in the hot coals tommorrow for the third batch...and the rate I am going I am not even keeping up with the trees. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[PhilNH5]

Re: Alan40, Youare and Sugarmaker - Where\'s the Sap??

Randy,
Thanks for the reply. I guess misery does love company - or at least I feel a little better knowing others are having a low yield. I never consisdered the drought from last year but it seems feasible.
We still have plenty of snow on the ground. Makes the trip out to check the taps a bit of an adventure. The dogs have smartend up and don't accompany us. When they break through the snow they have to swim their way out.
So they stand on the driveway and watch us. Pretty smart.

Phil

 

[PhilNH5]

Re: Alan40, Youare and Sugarmaker - Where\'s the Sap??

Alan and ejb,
I am still envious. You folks have a plenty of sap compared to me. I am up to a grand total of 7 gallons.
I hope I at least have 5 gallons for this weekends boildown.

ejb, I used a 20 qt stockpot on my gas grill side burner last weeknd. Took about 3 hours to get to the point were I take it inside to finish off.
The gas grill certainly is fast but no where near the charm of doing it over a wood fire. Does you woodstove circulate hot air. Both of my woodstoves have an outer "jacket" around the firebox. This allows the air to pass through and warm up. Off course it makes them useless for boiling or cooking.

Alan,
The south side of the tree is supposed to be best. It warms up faster so flows earlier and longer. But in my small scale I need to use all of the trunk to avoid getting to close to last years taphole.
Phil

 

[Youare]

Re: Alan40, Youare and Sugarmaker - Where\'s the Sap??

I will generally look for the side of the tree that gets the most sun when hanging a bucket. The sun warms the tree which gets the sap flowing up, and the cooling of the tree at night makes the sap flow back down. I also look for the side of the tree with the most branches and tap under a branch or above a root swell.

The weather here sounds like it is going to stay too warm at night for the sap to flow down. Sunday the perdiction is for snow showers maybe then the sap will flow a little better.

As far as boiling inside, as long as there is some way the steam can exit the building there should be no big problem. The hot steam is going to rise and condense on anything cooler and drip back down if it can't get out quickly.

A metal roof may be cold enough to allow the steam to create a small rain forest inside or run down the inside of the roof until it finds something to get wet. Good luck sugar'in. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Randy

 

[sugarmaker]

Re: Alan40, Youare and Sugarmaker - Where\'s the Sap??

We had a great run yesterday; most buckets half full or better. Rainy and 36F; who'da thunk it? And no, I don't think the buckets were full of rainwater. Tanks are full now, so there'll be lots of boiling going on this weekend here.

 

[ejb]

Re: Alan40, Youare and Sugarmaker - Followup questions please

Sugarmaker (or anyone else) a few more wrap-up questions:

My first time has been very successful and really a lot of fun, I now have about 6 different batches stored in the fridge, a total of about 1.5 gallons.

My questions are as follows. Some of the batches came out perfect, just the righ consistency. Two batches are on the thin side...can I reboil these and remove some more water? They taste is fine as is, but just a little thicker would make it perfect...

Also, if I want to store some of these in regular small syrup conainers to give as gifts to some friends (i.e. pintsize bottles), do I just heat it back up and put it into the bottles? will it keep unrefregerated this way?

One batch went too far and is sugar...if I wanted to make little candies, should I just heat it back up into a liquid and pour it into little molds of some sort? Is that all there is too that?

Thanks a bunch...really was a great season/first time for me overall...been having buttermilk panakes a lot for dinner lately /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[sugarmaker]

Re: Alan40, Youare and Sugarmaker - Followup questions please

EJB,

Congratulations! You've got everything you could ask out of your sugaring season: lots of fun, and some Grade A-yummy syrup!

Yes, you can heat up the thin syrup anytime time to adjust it. Just bring it back to a boil for as long as necessary. For that matter, you can also add water to adjust too-heavy syrup back down.

As for packaging, heat the syrup to at least 180F and fill bottles or jugs or new cans (you can reuse clean bottles or jugs but not cans). Fill the container within 1/2" of the top and cap immediately. Then give it a little shake to sterilize the unfilled portion. Syrup packaged like this will keep indefinately on a shelf.

If you do get a jug of syrup with a little mold on the top, just skim the mold off with a spoon, reheat the syrup to boiling, and repackage. It'll be nearly as good as new.

I've found friends and family love the fancy glass packages you can get from Small/Waterloo or Leader Evaporator. My personal favorite is the glass jar in the shape of a maple leaf.

As for the sugar, it makes great candy, with the molds (little maple leaves or small people or such; rubber molds available from the same folks as above). It also tastes great just poured onto a slightly buttered plate and chipped off into chunks.

You should be able to heat the solid sugar back to liquid, but be careful to use a low/medium heat because it will scorch easily. My recipe is to heat the syrup to 240F, let cool to 165F, then stir as you're pouring into molds. I only get perfect candy about half the time, though. Candy making is a real art and I have real respect for folks who can realiably make maple sugar time after time. I am not blessed with that skill, unfortunately. Good luck!

 

[ejb]

Re: Alan40, Youare and Sugarmaker - Followup questions please

Well thanks again for some great advice...already planning on how do do things bigger and better next year. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif