Your in for a shock. Had to look it up. 5L is 1.3 gallons. On a good run those will be running over several hours. Gathering once a week. BAD IDEA. Sap goes bad and needs to be collected daily if it is running. If you can only do it on weekends then hang them the day before. Sap runs above 35 and needs freezing temperatures to continue. There are years that sugaring goes for months and years that it ends the same week it began. For our area there is the potential for it to be one of our best years due to long cold winter. On that same token we could break this weather and see steady 40-60's and the season won't make it a week. It is looking like we won't start tapping until March this year. I help my uncle with his setup. Only 130+- buckets and a 4x8? evaporator Sure is different from the 5x14 when dad and uncle did syrup.
. Once I’m up there full time I can go larger scale but for now it’s to learn the process and share it with my twin girls.
Yes, it's sour just like milk.
IK.
If the syrup has been boiled to the correct sugar content and is packaged (canned) properly it should last years just sitting unopened on a shelf although the taste does fade over time. Maple sap, on the other hand, goes acidic relatively quickly and eventually turns to vinegar. The traditional method to clean the back pan of the evaporator at the end of the season, which I use, is to fill it with sap and let it sit until July or August at which time the smell of vinegar is strong. After emptying it, some scrubbing and then rinsing bring the stainless steel back to being as shiny and clean as new.