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Hello and welcome to the maple syrup thread. I'm writing this to be a little tutorial for people just getting into it and also as a place for the small contingent of goon producers to dump some pics through the season. You can start doing maple syrup with stuff around the house or get a little operation going for less than a hundred bucks. Real maple syrup is extremely easy to make and delicious. You only need: - Sugar maples - Some way to collect the sap - Something to evaporate water out of the sap Then the process is to boil the sap down, add more, repeat until you run out of time or sap, finish it into maple syrup and enjoy. The Trees Sugar maples rule. Some other trees make sugary sap but much less sugar. They're easy to identify. Mature sugar maples have bark that is basically big flakes that peel away top and bottom. They also have maple leaves if you want to dig around a bit. The buds oppose (rather than alternate) so look at the young branches for Vs. If you drill a hole in them during maple season, they bleed. You only want to tap mature ones, 12"+ diameter at chest height. 5/16" health spiles are better than the older 7/16" ones.   Collecting sap Maple syrup season can be crazy, you don't know how long it'll last. Sap runs when it's below zero at night and above zero during the day (basically). The sap still runs a bit after the trees bud but it's gross. I've seen the season last 8 weeks and I've seen two weeks but the early start is looking like a long one, sap started running about 2 weeks earlier than last year. There are two ways to collect sap, buckets or tubes. Either way, you drill a hole about 1.5" into the tree and hammer in a little tube (spile) that intercepts some of the sap making its way from the roots to the buds. If you're doing buckets, your spile has a little hook for it and you'll want a lid to keep rain and bark out. Collect every couple of days and you're good. You can use cleaned out milk jugs, water bottles or any food grade sanitized plastic container. If you're doing tubing, your spile has a ribbed bit to connect a tube and you run it to some storage container (or connect your tubes to bigger tubes and run them all downhill, the dream). I'm doing a combination this year, 30 buckets and 20 more tubing spiles connecting multiple 2-3 trees to 5 gallon buckets. Storage You can't boil every day so you need a place to store all this sap until you can. I use a 55 gal barrel and a bunch of 15s that are easier to move around. Food grade is ideal. I've heard of people using #2 recycled plastic garbage cans or coolers. They need to be really clean, ideally cleaned with a bleach mixture. Sap spoils at the same rate as milk so you really want to make sure there's no bacteria in there at the beginning. Evaporating Sap You turn sap into syrup by boiling it for hours and hours. Literally anything that can boil water will get the job done (eventually). We generally call this device an evaporator or arch. Things I've used: - A propane turkey fryer with buffet pan - Small and large rocket stove - Open wood fire I'm currently using a homemade 2 pan barrel arch that boils off about 4 gallons an hour at best. Improving it this year by cementing in fire bricks, adding legs and a real door and sealing all the gaps between pan and stove.   Finishing touches Sap is basically water so it boils at 212. You'll have a thermometer around to check that. When you stop adding sap, it'll slowly ramp up. This is where things get scary. Maple syrup is done when it's at about 219. If it goes past that, it'll turn into toffee and then hard candy and burn and make a huge mess. With the time you've invested, ruining an entire batch is emotionally devastating. I take it off the hot arch around 216-217 and finish it on the propane turkey fryer so I can control the temperature and slowly finish it off. You'll have a pre-filter and cotton filter ready and primed by pouring boiling water through it. When it gets to 219-220, pour it through the filter into some container. Jar it right away while it's hot, turn them over so the hot syrup sterilizes the inner lid and you're good to go. Make sure those jars are sanitized.  Maple math and interesting tidbits - Each tap produces about 15 gallons of sap a year and up to a couple of gallons on a good day - Each square foot of evaporator surface can boil off about a gallon an hour, depth doesn't matter - Sap/syrup ratio averages around 43:1, 43 gallons of sap for 1 gallon of syrup - It takes about 400,000 Btu to boil off 42 gallons of water - 20lb propane tank is 430,000 Btu if it's filled right up - White pine is 13m Btu a cord, White oak is 24m Btu a cord - Oak, 0.9 cents per 1k Btu @ $225 a cord, Propane is 5.3 cents per 1k Btu @ $23 to fill a 20lb tank (I burn mostly free softwood and some hardwood) - It gets darker and stronger tasting later into the season. This used to be undesirable - Maple taffy (tir d'erable) is maple syrup that you boil up to about 235 to thicken it even more. Pour on snow and then wrap it up with a popsicle stick. It's really good.  I'm happy to answer any questions. I've collected about 30 gallons so far of really sweet sap and will get a boil going for sure next weekend, hopefully about 60 gallons. Postess with the Mostest fucked around with this message at 06:44 on Feb 26, 2017 |
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Feb 26, 2017 06:35
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Postess with the Mostest posted:Sap runs when it's below zero at night and above zero during the day (basically). He means below and above freezing for those of us used to inferior systems of measurement. Otherwise, awesome intro! Growing up in New England we were surrounded by sugaring and maple stuff. Some family friends do it to supplement their income and sell it to local restaurants. They'd fill sanitized beer kegs with syrup. One thing that people may not realize is once you're sugaring, you're sugaring. Because of the short season and fast spoilage if you're doing anymore than a personal amount, once you light that fire, you go until there's no more sap to boil. Sugaring can be a multi-day process straight through.
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Feb 27, 2017 20:41
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Anyone else trying out the new .244" health spiles? Word is the spile scar heals over in a single growing season, but they can block with ice more easily. I'm curious to see how they compare to the 5/16s.
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Feb 28, 2017 01:49
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beep-beep car is go posted:He means below and above freezing for those of us used to inferior systems of measurement. Yes, I'm bad at mixing with imperials. Also, definitely don't boil your syrup to 219 celsius. beep-beep car is go posted:One thing that people may not realize is once you're sugaring, you're sugaring. Because of the short season and fast spoilage if you're doing anymore than a personal amount, once you light that fire, you go until there's no more sap to boil. Sugaring can be a multi-day process straight through. You definitely get into a sleep deprived sugaring flow, it's addictive because the pan just keeps getting sweeter and sweeter. I'm comfortable now topping it up to leave it overnight and then starting on the coals again early in the morning, it evaporates pretty slowly once the fire isn't roaring. DreadLlama posted:Anyone else trying out the new .244" health spiles? Word is the spile scar heals over in a single growing season, but they can block with ice more easily. I'm curious to see how they compare to the 5/16s. I've never heard of those but I just got everything switched to 5/16 so I'll roll with that for a while. The trees were really pumping today, most put out 1-2 gallons. I put out my first 8 tubing spiles too, I'm liking it. Should get two more good sap days this week.   
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Feb 28, 2017 03:18
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Postess with the Mostest posted:I've never heard of those but I just got everything switched to 5/16 so I'll roll with that for a while. .244 left. 5/16 right.  The 244 walls are thin. The drill is 6mm while the interior diameter of the spile is only 5.6mm.   For comparison, the 5/16 spile measures 7.9mm.   This is important because when you drill a hole in a tree you're drawing the base of an isosceles triangle extending above and below the spile hole - which will fill in with the tree equivalent of scar tissue. A smaller spile leaves a smaller scar.  I plan to weigh my buckets as I gather them. If there is a significant difference in performance of 5/16s vs .244s, I will hopefully discover it. 
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Mar 1, 2017 23:52
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DreadLlama posted:I plan to weigh my buckets as I gather them. If there is a significant difference in performance of 5/16s vs .244s, I will hopefully discover it. Interested to hear how your experiment goes, go team 5/16! I got a boil going this weekend, 14 hours Saturday and 7 on Sunday including finishing but definitely not peak efficiency. -21c yesterday morning and -23c today. I collected 75 gallons in February(!) but I'd say about 5-10 were ice. Bonus because that should be all water. Let's say 62 gallons boiled off. The only positive to the super cold is a really satisfying steam cloud. I didn't have time to make any improvements to the arch except arrange the firebrick nicely and jam some tinfoil in the cracks. It was a really dirty boil for the first morning, I was skimming scum constantly but it just kind of disappeared after the first few hours. The sweet pan tried to boil over this morning so I added a few mL of butter and that problem disappeared. No sugar sand at all in the end result, used two-prefilters and one cotton filter. Boil #1 75 gallons sap - 7.5 gallons ice - 1.5 gallons syrup - 4 gallons left over = 62 gallons boiled off, 2.95 gph. % sugar must have been around 2.3. 7 liters, 1.84 gallons, of light tasting, amber, really clean syrup  Pre-filter  Cotton filter  End result (the 7th just went right into the fridge bottle/onto ice cream)  Hung a 5 tap tubing line today into a 15g barrel so that'll be enough taps for the year. We should get 2-3 days of sap this week, depends how the trees rebound from the cold snap. Postess with the Mostest fucked around with this message at 04:33 on Mar 6, 2017 |
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Mar 6, 2017 02:20
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The ghetto setup I've used in the past is dismantling a .30 cent Bic pen...washing them in soap and air drying. Then attaching tubing that barely fits over the pen tube, then shove the other end into the drilled hole in the tree. if you keep it tight, works pretty well as a tap. That goes straight into the drilled hole in the lid of a clean 5 gal bucket for collection. Keeps all the extra ice/water/debris/critters out. I reduced about 3 gal to less than 60% volume (so not syrup) to keep aside for boiling brats in. Excellent stuff, keep a bunch in the freezer, pull out about 3-4 cups worth, add to pot on the stove, then add one good nut brown ale. Bring up to boiling, add brats. Boil for about 10-15 mins then finish off on the grill, basting with a bit of the liquid. Serve on grilled buns with mustard and sauerkraut and beer.
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Mar 10, 2017 03:01
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Oxphocker posted:The ghetto setup I've used in the past is dismantling a .30 cent Bic pen...washing them in soap and air drying. Then attaching tubing that barely fits over the pen tube, then shove the other end into the drilled hole in the tree. if you keep it tight, works pretty well as a tap. That goes straight into the drilled hole in the lid of a clean 5 gal bucket for collection. Keeps all the extra ice/water/debris/critters out. I reduced about 3 gal to less than 60% volume (so not syrup) to keep aside for boiling brats in. Excellent stuff, keep a bunch in the freezer, pull out about 3-4 cups worth, add to pot on the stove, then add one good nut brown ale. Bring up to boiling, add brats. Boil for about 10-15 mins then finish off on the grill, basting with a bit of the liquid. Serve on grilled buns with mustard and sauerkraut and beer. now im very hungry thank you.
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Mar 10, 2017 19:39
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I highly recommend it...probably best way of serving a brat that I've come across and I lived in WI for quite a few years..
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Mar 12, 2017 00:53
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Could a person simulate that by throwing a few tbsp of syrup into plain water?
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Mar 14, 2017 05:34
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Absolutely. You could take syrup and add enough water to get it right back to how it came out of the tree if you just want a tasty drink.
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Mar 14, 2017 10:23
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Thanks for the thread OP! I've been wanting to get into the syrup game for a while but my problem is boiling off the syrup. There are a few nearby parks that will let you get a permit to tap their trees for syrup but then I dont really know how I would go about boiling it off at home. Could I just get a huge boil kettle and get it up to temperature and let it sit? Would that even work on a normal apartment range? I'd be afraid of either scorching it or not being able to hit a consistent temperature from the top to bottom of the kettle.
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Mar 14, 2017 16:43
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BaseballPCHiker posted:Thanks for the thread OP! Don't boil sap inside, the sugar steam will stick to the walls, ceiling and fan lines. Plus it's a lot of moisture to put in the air, one kettle of syrup means boiling off 40 kettles of water. It would work though if you're housesitting for somebody you hate or something like that. You won't scorch it, most maple evaporators just heat the bottom of the container. The surface area of the container is what counts so something like a turkey pan works better than a taller pot. An outdoor BBQ or propane turkey fryer with a buffet pan would work on a balcony maybe or in the park? Or just tap a few and chug the sap for a couple weeks, free maple gatorade. e: I angered the gods by boiling so early, this is what I'm dealing with now. Long term forecast is looking like I might only get real amounts of sap in February and April this year.  Postess with the Mostest fucked around with this message at 17:09 on Mar 14, 2017 |
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Mar 14, 2017 16:57
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  Does anyone know what temperature sap ought to boil at when it's at 20%? https://www.amazon.com/Liquor-Super-Yeast-X-Press-Makes/dp/B00CWEAPQQ http://vius.ca/hobbies/brewing/maple-wine/ posted:The first time I tapped my maple trees, I began to think about the sugar water I was gathering. Every time I think about sugar water, I think wine! e: Postess with the Mostest posted:Interested to hear how your experiment goes, go team 5/16! I need to re-evaluate my experiment. Having the 5/16ths on bucket spiles and the .244 on tubing invalidates data collected during or after windy conditions.  Also the .244s have a disadvantage compared to the 5/16ths in terms of drill bit strength. 
DreadLlama fucked around with this message at 17:43 on Mar 23, 2017 |
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Mar 23, 2017 16:37
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DreadLlama posted:I need to re-evaluate my experiment. Having the 5/16ths on bucket spiles and the .244 on tubing invalidates data collected during or after windy conditions. Whee! I'm using 5/16" spiles and gallon milk jugs on the ground. But we still have a foot of snow which I've been packing around the jugs, which keeps things anchored. On Monday I had 5 gallons of sap from 5 trees, all in 24 hours. I was all set to tap a few more trees, but that's more than I want to boil. Our forecast looks similar, so should be back running today through the weekend. One Day Fish Sale fucked around with this message at 20:58 on Mar 23, 2017 |
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Mar 23, 2017 20:55
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Woooo a maple thread! I've got 60 taps on 3/16 gravity tubing and 20 buckets out this year, stepped up to a 2x4 pan but still on home made arch. Everything is froze up tighter than tight and has been for a bit, it's starting to look like maybe if you missed the early season back in feb, you might've missed the season... Happy sugarin'! 
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Mar 23, 2017 22:52
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apatite posted:Woooo a maple thread! 2x4, you're a madman. I'm upgrading next year for sure, I can't take the burning on the pans anymore, it's driving me nuts but a new pan means a new evaporator and then somewhere to store it may as well go a little bigger and why not put in another 50 taps argh. I boiled 3 days straight this week and took about 100 gallons of sap down to 8 gallons of sweet to finish this weekend. I figured the nice weather was going to overflow me with sap but days that felt right have given me just inches, not even enough to melt the ice blocks in the buckets. The sap figured out a way to crawl back into the tree  Put on a real door and rigged a 3rd warmer pan so the new sap isn't always ice cold  DreadLlama posted:I need to re-evaluate my experiment. Having the 5/16ths on bucket spiles and the .244 on tubing invalidates data collected during or after windy conditions. The wind has been silly here too. I have lids all over the bush, it's actually working the pin loose. FWIW, my bucket taps seem to be flowing a lot harder than tubing ones.
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Mar 24, 2017 22:56
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Another maple sap recipe: Brussel sprouts quartered. Onion, garlic, pepper, and maple sap. 350 for 1 hr or until slightly charred. I don't like sprouts, but this came out very good and slightly sweet. Highly suggested for anyone wanting to try sprouts a new way.
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Apr 4, 2017 00:34
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