Maple Syrup Time...

[Flatheadyoungin]

we cut down some sugar maples about 4 weeks ago and man the sap just poured out of the stump right after we cut them.......i mean they were running down the sides, pooling up on top of the stump....never seen anything like it.....when we topped one above a building, it actually was running off of the tin roof....

i tried a drink of it.....very cold and clean tasting.....

 

[Lloyd_E]

Scooby

Winners.

$180 down to $20 or $25.00

They don't always have them...I got 3 over a 12 month period. good luck... like playing the lottery though!!!

lloyd

 

[SPIKER]

hi guys:

i didn't make any this year had enough left over from last year to keep me in syrup this year I HOPE! I use the 5 gallon buckets and short tubing rout works well and easier than the smaller pails. I tap 10~15 taps into 4 different 5 gallon buckets. I have 8 buckets and switch them out easily getting all 4, 5 gallon buckets full a day when running well. I boil in wood fired pit/block on a home made S.S. pan which will just hold 35~40 gallons, I've had it FULL and boiled all day last spring the sap ran so well. (reason I have left over, in fact I was done boiling by march 5th. pulled my taps!) I started NEW job on the 3rd of march working 12 hr shifts 7 days a week. figured I wouldn't have time to run the sap and boil it down.

here are a bunch of picks if ya want to see how I been doing it.
syrup stuff pictures by WPSPIKER - Photobucket



Mark

 

[Scooby074]

Thanks for the info Lloyd. A new Winners just opened today in our town. i went by but they were packed in like sardines, so it will have to wait till the newness wears off.

 

[Patriotic Stabilist]

Now that is something I've never seen or participated in is making syrup. I bet the smell is just awesome. I'm sure its a lot of work, but man the end product would sure make it worthwhile.

How much do you get out of 5 gallons, like maybe 1?

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

i saw somewhere on the net that it takes about 40 gallons to make a gallon!

can you just, say, start with a large kettle- 10 gallons??- boil it down and add the other sap as it fill fit in to the kettle?

or, do you boil the 10 gallons down until thick......boil the next 10 gallons, and the next....all as seperate batches...????

Now that is something I've never seen or participated in is making syrup. I bet the smell is just awesome. I'm sure its a lot of work, but man the end product would sure make it worthwhile.

How much do you get out of 5 gallons, like maybe 1?

 

[Flatheadyoungin]

nice pics....i thought you just used like an apple butter kettle....


what do the dividers do?

can you over-cook it or scorch it?

hi guys:

i didn't make any this year had enough left over from last year to keep me in syrup this year I HOPE! I use the 5 gallon buckets and short tubing rout works well and easier than the smaller pails. I tap 10~15 taps into 4 different 5 gallon buckets. I have 8 buckets and switch them out easily getting all 4, 5 gallon buckets full a day when running well. I boil in wood fired pit/block on a home made S.S. pan which will just hold 35~40 gallons, I've had it FULL and boiled all day last spring the sap ran so well. (reason I have left over, in fact I was done boiling by march 5th. pulled my taps!) I started NEW job on the 3rd of march working 12 hr shifts 7 days a week. figured I wouldn't have time to run the sap and boil it down.

here are a bunch of picks if ya want to see how I been doing it.
syrup stuff pictures by WPSPIKER - Photobucket



Mark

 

[studor]

Yep the ratio is about forty to one -- the process is really evaporating rather than boiling -- you can boil down then add, boil down and repeat etc. if you over do it you will end up with a big back lump of carbon
Before that happens you will get thicker and thicker syrup, then taffy then sugar then oh well -- start over in another pot

 

[Heywood Jannockitov]

i saw somewhere on the net that it takes about 40 gallons to make a gallon!

Correct.

can you just, say, start with a large kettle- 10 gallons??- boil it down and add the other sap as it fill fit in to the kettle?

Yes.

or, do you boil the 10 gallons down until thick......boil the next 10 gallons, and the next....all as seperate batches...????

What we do is use the rectangular stainless pans like you see food served in at buffets, sitting on a barbeque grate over an open fire. We have three of them side-by-side and boil the sap in all of them at once. The first one gets topped up with the sap, then using a small saucepan with a handle, we transfer over to the middle pan, then that gets gradually transferred to the third pan which will have the most concentrated sap. So it is like an assembly line. It is finally finished in a propane-fired corn cooker so the heat can be controlled better. Over-boiling the almost-done sap will cause it to carmellize (sp?). Boiling sap over an open fire gives it a wonderful smoky flavour.
It's the cleanup afterward that sucks.

 

[Patriotic Stabilist]

So how much summer do you get in Nova Scotia or Vermont? I would think not much, I'm guessing most of your activities center around snow? What industry is there up in there?

I think snow is beautiful, but used to hate the slush, salt, and dirtiness of it after it got all cruddy. We talked about moving back to Indiana, was about ready to do so, then had an issue come up with DD, so we decided not to. However, I'm not sure if I would like that anymore. The heat here kills us for a couple of months, but the rest of the year I like it. I think we had sugar maples in Indiana too but don't remember anyone tapping them. I remember a few old folks talking a bit about it.