Or do I have to finish the entire process in one sitting? Great article btw! I always let my cooker go out at night and then start it back up the next day. So you should not have a problem. I want to thank you so much for your post and obvious love for your land. My first batch of maple syrup yielded almost What a sense of pride and accomplishment this brings!
Simply being able to share with family, friends and neighbors — and see the look on their faces — is a feeling that's hard to put into words. I can honestly say that your willingness to impart your knowledge and expertise has given many of us the courage to try this ourselves.
I'm already looking into expanding our little operation next year! Jar Option — Resource in Minneapolis Great blog, thank you all for sharing. Update for the Minneapolis metro area. We are running well, currently 30 gallons last Monday-Tuesday out of 6 taps, and another 15 gallons waiting to be collected after morning coffee.
Next weeks forecast looks great too. I thought I would offer another choice to water bath canning. I was looking for a fancier jar and tried a commercial plastic cap with a foam seal on a 12 oz oval jar, identical jar to higher end syrup you would find in a glass jar at the grocery store.
I do sterilize and keep them in the oven at before filling. After filling simply screw on the cap and lay the bottle on its side till cool. And very attractive. The company is packaging concepts on glenwood ave. They were very friendly too. Obviously there are many online options but nice to know a local source if you are in the area.
All the best! Too hot and you will get hard maple candy. I have jars that have some hard candy in. Hi, We have been making maple syrup for about 5 years now. We tap about trees. We cooked down our first batch this year which we cook all the way down to syrup in our outside pans and then bring it inside to reheat and bottle on the stove. A new problem we ran into with this first batch is that when finished and we ran tried to run it through our pre-filters and then our heavier orlon filters into milk cans, the syrup did not filter.
It just sat in the filters. We never had this happen before, although it has filtered slower at the end of the season. Do you think this could have happened because the temperature outside was so cold? It was only about 15 degrees out. What we ended up doing was leaving the filters full of syrup hanging the the milk cans and moving them into a garage to let them finish filtering.
Hopefully, it will eventually filter through and then we will reheat it to bottle it and hopefully not get a lot of sugar sand. These articles and the website in general have been priceless in helping us to understand and get started in maple syrup production.
Just a quick note at how we support our 8 qt orlon filter cone. We just take a large, four wire tomato cage and turn it upside down. The loops of the filter cone go over the four wires that would normally go onto the ground. The larger tomato cages will work nicely with a five gallon pail — big enough to fit over the pail and high enough to clear it. Although we filter the syrup we intend to give away, we also keep the unfiltered remainder for personal use — nothing goes to waste.
Somehow I found you blog. Am impressed with how simple your approach is. Have canned quite a bit in my past, from jams, fruitsoreads, veggies and sauces. I too just went into the process and developed a stove from parts I had around my shed. I guess having some fire bricks help concentrate the heat without cracking the cinder blocks.
I have found that trying to cook too much sap in one day, may darken the finished product. Also, the early stage of sap season usually has lighter syrup. And that the warmer it gets, the bacteria grows and darkest the finished product. Will see. Anyhow, my family, friends and my partner love the syrup. Thanks for sharing your experiences. And to minimize the fire box and keep the flame directed at the pan between fire box and smoke stack, with a good draft coming from below the door.
Your info is good. We generally cook off between gallons per batch, but in principle we do it closer to your method. Line the fire box with brick fire preferably, but red clay will do. If you bring the brick up to the bottom of the pan it will insulate the sides of pan to eliminate the charing use 2 back to back pieces of angle steel between pans across the brick. This will also retain heat better. The opening in front should have a way controlling the draft for a more intense fire.
An old wood furnace face can be repurposed for it, or just a piece of tin. If you raise the cooker up one course of block you can put a cast iron grate in so the draft comes from below. Bend the tubing in a U-shape with one leg to the bottom of the stock pot the other down into rear pan out flow must be longer than intake. The goal is to not kill the boil when adding sap. Start the siphon by simply submerging in cold sap letting air out, then place finger over output end, dip in intake end in stock pot and release.
Have another siphon between pans started before the heat, this will self level and force half reduced boiling sap onto front pan. This is the same principle a large evaporator uses to increase efficiency. A 55 gallon barrel cut length wise in half can serve you as a hood. Position the open end towards warming pots. This will trap heat and direct steam at preheat pots, the condensation should run into the cement block centers. Then pour off the clear syrup on top very slowly til a hint of sugar sand comes up.
We settle it in gal cans, you could use a large tapered glass pitcher. Now you have a choice. Pour it as is into jars and either use or freeze. Or reheat on stove to degrees filter through orlon sock into urn style coffee pot without perk tube. While you are doing this have your jar lids boiling in water on stove.
I just thawed 10 gallons of 17 yr old stuff and it was still great. Sealing just gives me and anyone outside the family peace of mind, though I generally bottle for myself and sell the rest in bulk to large producers. All the principles I outlined all are cheaply scalable to a tap level operation.
However, beyond that a significant financial investment is usually required vacuum lines, flue pan arch, ro, filter press…. If you implement the suggestions I made you should be able to cut cook time in half. Thank you for all of the fantastic information. I was wondering how long you can store the partially boiled sap in the refrigerator prior to finishing on the stovetop?
It happened with almost every batch, where we cook it all the way down to syrup in our big outdoor pan and then tried to run it through pre-filters and then an orlon filter into a milk can to be reheated and bottled inside the house.
It took forever to filter this year. Sometimes it sat in the filter for days before it would run through or we had to reheat the unfiltered stuff and try to filter it again. A lot of extra work. Any ideas? Then another problem we had, which might be related to why it was so hard to filter: some of our bottled syrup ended up having a very fine layer of light brown sediment on the bottom of the bottles.
Our syrup is usually pretty dark. When flipping the bottles right side up after sealing, some had like a slimy white-ish ribbon floating slowly to the bottom. Thanks for any help!
I have generally waited to filter my syrup just prior to putting it in jars. Also, I never water-bath my jars after they are filled. Then I set the jars upright and wait for them to seal very few do not seal. I keep the sealed jars in my basement, which is cool and dark, and they last well over a year this way.
All my initial boiling is done outdoors over a wood fire. I finish the syrup on a LP patio stove in my garage. I use a 30 cup percolator basket removed, of course to keep syrup hot while filling jars or waiting for more syrup. Just a backyard operation, but last year I managed to can about 25 pints of syrup. Boiling point here is So, pour it into jars at , and then put the jars in boiling water for an additional ten?
Will the processing for 10 extra minutes over cook it, or am I reading your instructions incorrectly, and everything will be fine? Thank you.
Is anybody else already making syrup in besides me? I am in northeast Ohio. I have the last of 25 gallons of sap boiling down on my woodstove right now. I first got sap on January 22nd. I live in Big Bear Lake California. I have 5 or 6 maple trees, not sugar maples. I thought I would try to tap the 4 8 to 10 inch trees and got some buckets and ordered the plastic taps.
It got warm early this year and I noticed the wet look on some of the trees and decided now was the time to try. I read as much as I could online and proceeded to drill holes.
I barely got the drill bit out, and they were flowing. Refilling as needed and proceeded to boil down to about 30 oz. Then took it inside to finish. Low and behold I got about 18 oz of amber syrup that tasted great.
It is a very light amber, but still taste great. I will keep going with the say until I see a color change. I am hooked. Janet, you have done a good deed posting your site, it has been a real treat to read the enthusiasm for maple sugaring.
I tapped trees as a boy in Vt on the farm. My brother and sisters boiled sap in a milk can in the woods, then my grandmother would finish at our home. Since we cooked very little sap in comparison to most who have contributed here, I would like to know how I can provide assistance to a community organic farm in my area that has mentioned they have difficulty cleaning the sugar sand that sticks to the pan after the boiling is finished.
Not sure the size. I would appreciate some additional knowledge so I can help this community farm. Thank you so much! Two good forums to check. Mapletrader and Sugarbushinfo. Cornell and state maple associations. Please everyone! Use food grade buckets and keep everything clean!. This is a food product.
Very concerned about some of the instructions I read here. We had a small maple operation on our farm. Get professional advice before attempting this. One person telling someone else misinformation is not helpful. I see no mention of using food grade de for filtering. This is a great help. Cornell has books that are a huge help. Sign up to go on tours through your maple associations.
Seminars are available at producers and your co op. Do some good research before you get started. This is a great activity for families. Just keep it safe. I have the same filtering problem, and offer my experience from a one-tree operation that may permit a microscopic view of what is going on, from which you might draw some conclusions for your Wow!
Awesome tree operation. I have a single, three trunk, silver maple tree which makes pretty darned good tasting maple syrup. Silver maple is easy to identify in the summer from the silvery cast which the undersides of the leaves bear. In late autumn, in my neighborhood mix of very many species of trees, it is always one of the last to shed its leaves, just before the nearby mulberry tree, which is always last, unless there is an early hard freeze, which causes the mulberry to lose all its leaves overnight, even if still greet.
On a mature tree like my silver maple at least 75 years old , the bark is a medium to light grey, that cracks into long vertical strips that can easily be peeled off to reveal a brownish underlay of newer bark. See how much there is to learn from living long and watching? Each trunk of my maple tree is well over 12 inches in diameter; so I drill four taps. Some run faster than others, typically on the sunny side. I collect into two 1 gallon plastic milk jugs with a hole cut into each to hang onto an old style steel tap, and another hole to receive, via plastic tubing, from a second tap.
On a good-weather day, I can collect a gallon in two hours, but more typical is four, five, or more hours. I cook inside on the kitchen stove in a two gallon steel pot. If the sap is really running, maybe a second pot. Since I have no place to put large quantities of fresh sap, I cook all day while sap is running, which means I replenish the boiling sap whenever the milk jugs begin to fill up.
So I have no idea how many total gallons of sap I collect, but guessing from the quarts of syrup I got last year, and a typical concentration ratio of I suppose it is somewhere around 40 gallons for a season from one tree. If the sap slows down or stops, due to warm weather, before I have enough to justify starting the bottling phase, I store the pot in the fridge until the sap starts to run again when it gets cold at night and the sap starts again.
I use a candy thermometer to get to exactly F I live near sea level , which is just over C, and easier to read on any thermometer. My syrup—even from the first run of the season—has been pretty dark amber. This year, almost as dark as molasses, unless you hold it up to a light source. Maybe the above processes have something to do with the color I get. Now for the filtering issues: During the boiling, I have noticed that when the liquid is dense enough to produce a pretty good amber color, I begin to see a fine residue collecting at the bottom of the pot, which looks as if it consists of a very finely ground powder of some king.
That is what I figure I am filtering out, as everything above it is clear and syrupy looking. I just finished bottling my first batch of this season.
Well, actually, my second, as I forgot about my first, when it was boiling on the stove, and I accidentally made maple candy—luckily I caught it boiling over in froth, probably about five minutes short of burning! Good, though. Yesterday the weather got warm, not freezing overnight, and the sap did not start running today.
Since I had about half a gallon in the fridge, I decided to finish the condensing of this batch, and bottle it. In order not to have to filter a huge volume of sap through a piece of cloth set into an ordinary kitchen sieve made of metal mesh like a window screen, I filter after most of the boiling is done, and just before doing the final condensing down to the F boiling point. The syrup just sat in the filter, and did not seem to want to go through.
I just let it sit for long periods, replenishing as it slowly trickled through. I also tried moving the cloth, within the sieve, to a clean corner of the cloth. This year I made more careful observations. I noticed that, at the start, the syrup began flowing through the filter at a fairly quick rate that was, while not like running water, still quite satisfactory.
But it did not take long before the filter seemed to clog up, and slow down the filtering to a trickle.
Again, I moved the cloth within the sieve to a clean corner, and the flow increased. Washed first! Maybe that is my filtering problem. After using the entire hanky and clogging that up, I had to use a second one before reaching the end of my half gallon of liquid, and even had to wait a long time for the last of that. The sieve alone would let through just about everything; maybe coffee filters would let through larger sized particles than my hankies do, and go faster, or not clog at all.
But I would get clearer syrup. I have never seen anybody else do this in suburban Chicago in my entire long life. Or pretty neat. I just think the neighborhood ought to have an old man who makes maple syrup. Oh: Yeah, and I love the taste of buckwheat pancakes covered in blueberries ain-t that grand: you can get fresh blueberries in February!
In late autumn, in my neighborhood mix of very many species of trees, it is always one of the last to shed its leaves, just before the nearby mulberry tree, which is always last, unless there is an early hard freeze, which causes the mulberry to lose all its leaves overnight, even if still green. Now for the filtering issues: During the boiling, I have noticed that when the liquid is dense enough to produce a pretty good amber color, I begin to see a fine residue collecting at the bottom of the pot, which looks as if it consists of a very finely ground powder of some kind.
First time doing maple syrup. Ideally I want to store collected sap for seven or so days. Packed in snow and dark then get enough to boil. The temps are 32 degrees give or take. Others say similar wish washy stuff. What virtually all sources seem to say, however, is that the longer it sits and the higher the storage temperature, the greater the growth of micro-organisms.
That will increase off flavors and health risk. Throw into this the type of storage container you use. Storage for longer in a non-food grade container will increase the chance of impurities leaching from the container into the sap.
As an example, our friends used to store the sap in regular plastic trash cans for several weeks before boiling, at whatever the outdoor temperature was. I was wondering why I have so much sugar in the bottom of my jars the longer it sits the more I get I do the ten gallon to one quart.
Is it when I stop outdoor boil or for finishing indoors before canning? If for canning indoors, how do I know outdoor boil end point? Thank you for this fabulous blog of info. First year northern Ohio. Every year the syrup ends up tasting like hazelnut instead of maple.
So unfortunately, I still have to buy Hungry Jack at the store! The only thing I can think of is there is a large butternut tree in close proximity to the maples that might be influencing the flavor. My husband and I built and lived on our off grid farm for 20 years.
Sadly had to move to a small rural village. Our hearts are broken. I am now trying to transform pur small space to a wildlife habitat and orchard. Lots of hiding places for small animals and plants for butterflies and birds. This past winter I put out cracked corn for the rabbits,squirels and skunks. They need help during the winter. My husband tapped the 3 trees in the front yard.
Please consider the new smaller spouts. They do less damage to the trees. We had a 15 acre sugarbush at our farm and produced for sale. From 6 taps he made 2 gallons of light syrup. Our farm trees made rich beautiful golden syrup. My husband boils on a propane fish fryer in the garage. We finish on the kitchen stove. Try to use all stainless steel. No off flavors and the most sanitary. Using canning jars is the cheapest way to go.
After checking density if not boiled properly it will ferment put into jars and turn then upside down. This sterilizes. No need to do a water bath. Spend the few dollars on a synthetic filter. You will get better results. Once you do this a couple of times,it becomes very relaxing and easy. We hosted many open housees over the years to demonstrate homesteading on an off grid farm.
Everyone needs to start learning basic skills again. I have a large maple in my back yard and it never really occurred to me to tap it in the past 18 years I have lived here.
It is a quite large tree and would like to give tapping a try this year. My resources are limited and do see that I can get taps relatively inexpensive online and I can utilize a water jug and clean bucket. My only concern comes in the cooking process. Could you use electric roasting pans outside? I have those on hand. If so, how long do you boil it and how do you know when it is ready for canning? My sister has a drum style with large custom pan.
This batch, 6-pints on Feb. Never had this happen before. We filtered at least 4-times. It is still there. What is it? Thank you so much for all of the valuable information. I made my fast batchh of maple syrup today before reading all these great comments. I did research other sites but found yours to be excellent with so many enthusiasts adding comments.
Overall it went pretty well. I was showing my 5 and 8 year old grandchildren the process of tapping and evaporating as a home school project. However I was surprised with the overall ratio. I started with about 5 gallons which yielded less that a quart of real tasty syrup. I am not sure of the sugar content but it did not crysalize. The final boil went smooth using two pans with a half gallon for the final process. My question is that I was not sure how long to boil the sap outside.
Should five gallons be reduce to 2 gallons or one gallon before doing the final boil. When you keep adding more sap, I am not sure the optimum time to do the final boil.
Is it by temperature, color, viscosity, or by ratio. It turned to a brownish color in the the first three hours boiling at about degrees but I continued to boil it down to about a half gallon to a gallon with an intial amount of 5 to 6 gallons. What do you suggest the next the next time. Thank you kindly in a big way from a small state of RI. Sorry about all grammatical errors with my previous post. It was an exhausting but rewarding day making my first batch.
I should have proof read it. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. Another species, black maple, varies slightly in the visual characteristics of sugar maple, but otherwise yields sap of similar quality to the sugar maple. Most syrup producers treat the black and sugar maple as one species figure 1.
Trees growing along roadsides, in lawns, or in open settings, where their crowns have grown large without competition from other trees, generally produce more and sweeter sap than forest-grown trees. Open grown trees are capable of producing one half gallon of syrup in one season 15 to 20 gallons of sap , whereas trees growing in a forest setting generally produce about one quart of syrup about 10 gallons of sap.
In addition to greater sap volume and sweetness, open grown trees generally offer greater accessibility for sap collection. Most of the equipment required for tapping may be available in the home workshop or purchased with minimal investment. Buckets, covers, and spiles also called spouts are available from maple equipment dealers and many hardware stores. Other possible sap containers include clean plastic milk jugs or plastic containers with covers.
The equipment for processing sap will require greater investment, but will last for many years if maintained properly. Used equipment may be purchased but use judgement and acquire only equipment free of rust and fabricated of food-grade materials. Following is a suggested list of equipment and materials for making maple syrup for home-use. Tap maple trees in early spring when daytime temperatures go above freezing while nighttime temperatures fall below freezing.
The exact time depends on the elevation and location of your trees and your region. In Pennsylvania and southern regions of New York, first sap flow traditionally takes place in mid- to late-February.
In northern regions and at higher elevations, the season often begins in early to mid-March. Sap usually flows for 4 to 6 weeks or as long as the freezing nights and warm days continue.
If you are uncertain about when to tap, consult with a nearby maple producer or contact your Extension Office. A quick and easy way to determine the diameter of the tree is by using a household measuring tape. This will give the circumference of the tree, which can be converted to diameter from Table 1. Tapholes should be drilled when temperatures are above freezing to reduce the risk of damage to the tree. Drill into the trunk of the tree in an area that contains sound wood free of scars, wounds, or older tapholes.
If sap will be collected in buckets, a height of two to three feet above ground level allows for easy collection. However, the height can vary depending on preferences, age, and size of the individual tapping the tree. If the tree has been tapped in previous years, locate the new taphole at least 6 inches laterally and 24 inches vertically from the old taphole to insure tapping into good, productive sapwood. For trees with more than one tap, distribute the tapholes around the circumference of the tree.
Notice the color of the shavings from the drill as you bore. Shavings should be light or cream colored, indicating live healthy sapwood. Shavings that are dark brown indicate wood undesirable for sap production, and another taphole should be drilled at a new location. After making sure that the new taphole is free of shavings, insert the spile and seat it with a light hammer.
Tap, not pound , the spile in the taphole. Seat the spile properly so it can support the bucket. Driving the spile with force can split the bark delaying taphole closure and causing a substantial wound on the tree for many years Figure 3. Do not treat the taphole with disinfectants or other materials at the time of tapping.
After removing spiles from the tapholes at the end of the maple season, do not plug the taphole. Tapping done properly will allow tapholes to close naturally covered by bark in about two years and will allow the tree to remain healthy and productive for generations. Plastic tubing may be used in place of buckets, but its use will not be discussed here. For more information on using maple tubing, consult your maple equipment dealer, local maple producer, or Extension Office.
The volume of sap collected during a flow period will vary from less than a quart to several gallons per tap, depending on the tree, weather conditions, and duration of the flow or run. The sugar content of sap varies between trees, will fluctuate between runs within a season, and from year to year.
Collect sap daily if possible. It can be filtered through a clean cloth or paper filter to remove debris if desired.
Sap can be stored in a clean tank a 30 gallon storage can works fine for more convenient processing. The storage vessel should be placed in the shade to keep the sap as fresh and cool as possible. Because sap is a mixture of sugar and water, it is a perfect medium for bacterial growth.
Therefore, it should be collected and processed as quickly as possible to ensure a higher quality product. Clean pails, one for each hand to offer better balance, may be used for collecting sap from the trees for transfer to the collection tank. When using buckets, make sure each bucket has a cover to keep rain water and other debris from contaminating the fresh sap Figure 4. Usually about 40 gallons of sap are required to produce one gallon of finished syrup. Actually this figure can vary from 20 to 60 gallons or more depending primarily on sap sugar content.
When the syrup reaches 7 degrees Fahrenheit over the boiling point of water degrees F , or degrees F, the syrup should be done. Syrup over The sap should be stored at a temperature of 38 degrees F or colder, used within 7 days of collection and boiled prior to use to eliminate any possible bacteria growth.
If there is still snow on the ground, you may keep the storage containers outside, located in the shade, and packed with snow. Transfer the concentrated sap to a smaller boiling pan or pot and complete the finishing process on a controlled heat source such as a gas burner, camp stove or kitchen range. Unless its going to be real cold at night there is no need to remove what you been boiling as the sugar content will keep pan from freezing.
Maple syrup producers collect the sap and boil it to concentrate it into maple syrup and sugar. The sap flow ends when night time temperatures no longer fall below freezing. Typical sugaring seasons last up to eight weeks, generally from late January until early April.
Fill a boiling pot with 5 gallons of sap.
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