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Never did this before. It is extremely zen
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Apr 22, 2023 23:53
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I cooked my first 30L down to fit in some yogurt containers and froze it to get it out of the way. 16L today. Cooking it down same thing. I think one of my trees has stopped producing so if that jug is empty I'll move that tap elsewhere tomorrow.
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Apr 23, 2023 21:15
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 Buddy text me this this morning. Glad he didn't burn his house down, cripes
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Apr 24, 2023 19:07
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Mmm maple lava
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Apr 24, 2023 20:04
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 I've burned some every year so far but never to lava
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Apr 24, 2023 22:51
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Everything is sticky and delicious. Also I am tired
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Apr 26, 2023 16:54
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Epitope posted:Everything is sticky and delicious. Also I am tired My trees have really slowed down - any tap that's empty tomorrow is getting put away. I'm up to 70 litres of sap, so I'm looking at about 1.25 litres of syrup... which is pretty good! I think for next year I'm going to put together a better-designed wood fire setup for the big boils.
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Apr 26, 2023 23:16
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Are you guys dividing batches between how early the syrup came out the trees, like gold, amber, I'm forgetting the other two.
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Apr 26, 2023 23:42
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I've been a bit frantic, learning on the fly. I think I've finished about 30 gallons in 6 batches. The last two have come out the best, I don't think I scorched the first few but overcarmelized or something? They're very dark. This is birch, so not sure if the same color rules apply That's batches 1 to 4, the lighter is probably like 50% sugar, wanted to see what less cooked was like
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Apr 27, 2023 00:04
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Epitope posted:I've been a bit frantic, learning on the fly. I think I've finished about 30 gallons in 6 batches. The last two have come out the best, I don't think I scorched the first few but overcarmelized or something? They're very dark. This is birch, so not sure if the same color rules apply drat that's rad. Yeah the birch I'm familiar with is blacker like that, though my experience is limited.
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Apr 27, 2023 04:06
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We had very little yesterday so unless one of the jugs is suddenly full today will be teardown and I'll need to start working on final reduction and filtering and storage. So exciting!
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Apr 28, 2023 14:35
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ok so my mostly-cooked sap came out of the freezer today. The end count was 73 litres of sap, which for my trees normally should be about 1.2 litres of syrup... End count is 2.25 litres! Holy poo poo, right? There must have been something at play with the weird late run to give such sugary syrup. I'll post a picture in a bit but the jars are hot and I don't feel like moving them from my otherwise messy countertop for the photo yet.
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Jun 15, 2023 23:11
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Congrats on the good luck, I was worried for you with the early temperature swings you talked about! now send me some
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Jun 16, 2023 13:25
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 The colour is strange but the flavour and viscosity are good, so I'm just going to delight in the yield!
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Jun 16, 2023 18:15
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I want to tap the two maple trees I have at my house just for fun to give this a try. Would I be better off getting a dedicated propane burner or just using my existing fire pit and cooking over that? My thought with the propane is that I could at least better regulate the temperature, but that I could be going through a lot of propane possibly.
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Jan 10, 2024 16:07
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You should be able to just get away with your firepit. If you're worried about blasting straight by your 219°/104°, you can always knock most of the moisture out on it and then carry the pot in to finish up on a stove.
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Jan 13, 2024 02:09
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How big are the trees you have? The one firepit caution I'll give is that this can really soot up your stock pot.
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Jan 13, 2024 15:08
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I did this a couple years ago and I used a propane burner I originally bought years ago for beer brewing, and I accidentally ruined a large stockpot/brewing vessel I also had for brewing by forgetting about the sap/syrup for a good 30 minutes right when it was nearly done, and ended up with just a solid layer of burnt sugar/carbon. I tried everything to clean/scrape it, but it was just not coming off. Even used a lye-based drain cleaner from the hardware store, and that didn't even really put a dent in it. I had to throw it out. Then I bought a cheap hotel pan, and that works better. More surface area for evaporation. I want to try a cinder block/fire pit setup this year because if I can just scrounge enough wood from the fallen logs in local parks/woods*, then it's functionally free, just my time spent sawing and chopping logs. And my time is worthless. *I'll admit I don't fully know the law here. I tried to look it up but all I got were results for commercial logging, moving/transporting firewood in/out of state (a big no), and "Tree Law" about removing trees on someone's property. I couldn't find any official law on if it's legal to take an ALREADY DOWNED LOG (either from natural causes or local/state workers cutting it.) for small, personal use (i.e., not logging, and not taking cords of wood to heat my home for an entire season, etc...) In fact, I often see state workers cut up the downed logs and leave them in neatly stacked piles on the side of the road...then never come back for them. The local scuttle-butt I've heard is that it's officially first-come, first-serve, but ostensibly it's more for low-income people who might have a hard time getting firewood any other way (so I wouldn't take those.)
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Jan 16, 2024 17:55
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I think it depends on what your local DNR says about it. Growing up we just all knew that when you went to the state/national forest you could cut your own firewood from trees that had fallen down or were dead naturally. If you knew it was dead you could use it. I don’t believe you’re supposed to cut it and take it home for firewood if you live far away, but you could take it over to your cabin in the same county for the same purpose of firewood. Certain trees are likely not supposed to be moved (elms especially), but we had conifer forests mostly so we’d be using pine and spruce in our fires. My dad used the hotel method for his sap for a few years. You’ll still need to pay attention at the end to watch for scorching but they’re cheaper to replace than a big kettle. He ordered syrup specific equipment and used it last year though and it runs much easier through it, and a fair bit faster too.
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Jan 16, 2024 22:12
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| # ? May 3, 2024 18:29 |
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I put 5 taps in yesterday! It might be too early yet, but i like having a few out so that I can jump on it with the rest when things start to flow. We'll be poking a few degrees above freezing most days this week with no more hard freezes in the forecast. This year the new twist is that I have an induction cooker, so I can run the cook outside, and run it on a timer to keep me from forgetting about it, though the conversation about wood and hotel pans has me looking at the big scrap wood pile in my shop, so maybe I'll try again to do a woodfire solution for at least part to save electricity - last year's burn barrel approach was too sooty and janky.
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Mar 11, 2024 19:08
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