maple syrup time?

[redhooks]

I've never tapped trees before but thinking about it this year. Kinda of a wierd year for weather and was.wondering if they'd run early? Any tappers w/ some insight?

[pushbutton]

I would think they will be running early, last year peak time for me was the last week in march through the first week in April. Ultimately will depend on the weather though. Might even be tempted to try a few in about a week, but still waiting to see the week after that's forecast.

If someone wants to try this for the first time it is pretty cheap entertainment. Suppose i dropped about 150 bucks for about everything associated with 35 taps and processing. Plenty of info on the web so do a little research first; but ultimately you just need some maple trees. Any ole kind will do. Yes sugars are better, but all i have is boxelder and silvers so beggars cant be choosers Plastic taps are available for little as 50 cents online and less than buck at local stores. Put the taps in a tree bigger than 10 -12 inches about 3 ft off the ground, when the temps rise above freezing during the day then and back down below at night.

One benefit of having these multi stem trash trees is that i just run flexible water lines found pretty inexpensively at the big box stores. You can also use metal taps that are set up to hang a small bucket or bags. Those taps will cost a little more though. Everyones situation will be a little different and figure out whatever collection system works for you and just make it work. Yep, even figuerd out how to incorporate duck tape into this.....

The next step will take a little more work and time. Try not to make the same mistake i did last year and have some dry wood already cut and have a reducing method already worked out before you have a hundred gallons of sap

I ended up just using a box stove and some stainless steel pans, but could only reduce about 4 gallons every 2 hours. For me it takes about 80 gals of sap to make one gallon of syrup, sugar maples have higher percentage of sugar and can be less. I ended up with about 2 1/2 gallons total so if you do the math...... you come up with a long freaking time and need to make something a little better

Still was a good time though and Jr. and I spent a lot of quality time outside at a great time of the year to be out. Really gives you something to do between the hard and open water seasons, and those pancakes on the boat do taste much better than with corn syrup and maple flavoring.....

[DARK30]

I just had Swedish pancakes this morning...and real syrup would have been a plus! I'd like to try it too.

[Gissert]

Thats great!

This will be my third year. First year was on propane and turkey pots. Went broke on propane

Last year I built my own evaporator from a 275 gallon oil tank, fabbed a firebox and ramp, insulated and fire bricked it. I had a stainless 2 x 4 pan made, and it went MUCH better.

Hoping for 15 gallons this year.

[redhooks]

Thanks for the insight, I love the pics. Gonna give it a try this year.

[Rooster Chaser]

Start working right now to get ready for the season, once the sap starts flowing your time will be limited. In addition to solving how you will evaporate you will also need to have a filtering method. I would highly recommend getting pre-filters and an orlon bag.

If you can find someone in your area who has experience I would recommend spending some time visiting their operation as well

Good luck

[Gissert]

Ditto on the filters. I use an oversize tomato cage to hang them in, and filter into a coke premix tank with the top cut off.

The first year I used coffee filters and it took forever.

[BartmanMN]

I saw a guy on C list yesterday trying to get rid of 300 maple syrup collection pails. If anyone needs more, look for it.

[zzammon]

Thanks for the insight and the photos pushbutton. A picture makes 1000 words. This will be my third year and I am also stepping it up a notch. I used a turkey fryer and propane the last two years with only 2 taps. That was some expensive syrup. I am in the process of constructing a wood fired evaporator using concrete blocks lined with firebrick. The pan will be a welded shut stainless steel sink. IF everything goes as planned, many taps will be added for next years operation. I will add photos upon completion.

[pushbutton]

Look forward to seeing the pics! I like the sink idea. Still don't know what i an going to do yet. Was thinking of a block fire pit with a steel plate set on top and then put my more of my smaller stainless pans on top of that. My aptitude and focus for construction is barely at a fort building level....so we will see how it goes.

[Powerstroke]

Here's the only picture of the setup we used. We built a firepit with chimney using cinder blocks.

We placed a pan on top of the chimney for prewarming. This sped things up tremendously. Otherwise we were using the main fire to boil sap from its cold temp. So a warming pan was placed on top of the chimney. Then a main boiling pan was in the front and a cooking pan was in the back. You can tell by the color how the sap was cooking down. As it cooked we moved sap from pan to pan untill it was all in the cooking pan and getting the perfect amber color.

We took the cooked pan off and finished it on the stove for a more consistent temp control.

[pushbutton]

Thanks Andy! That is pretty much what i had in mind. Was thinking of a steel plate to rest the pans on because i was concerned about scorching, but am assuming you did not have any issues. You just had open fire hitting the bottom of the pans?

[zzammon]

Powerstroke, that is very close to what i am building for this year. A few questions for you if you don't mind.

What do you use for a door? I was thinking about using a sheet of steel, but it would be quite hot and a pain to move every 30 minutes to add more wood.

Do you use a blower or fan and fire grate with this setup?

Any problems with the block cracking from the heat?

[redhooks]

Anybody know a good place to buy plastic taps in the cities?

[Gissert]

I don't, but I've seen them on The Bay, and a site called Maple Guys has them for about 35 cents.

[pushbutton]

Don't know either, best chance would be the hobby/brew grow stores. Looking like it is time though........

[pushbutton]

Went to the store in St Cloud that sells them and they were sold out.....bummer....never was very good at planning ahead. Probably will get some metal ones, but have not reconciled the price in my head yet.

[Gissert]

try Maple Guys online, cheap, and they ship pretty quick

[pushbutton]

Got my 35taps, lines, and buckets in my biggest trees. Headed to LOW tomorrow so will give them a call on Monday to see how fast they can ship.....9 miles out on a lake in the middle of nowhere and can probably even order on the computer....got to love modern technology! What are you going to do when your up there, would think the buckets will be overflowing by the time you get back?

[Gissert]

My buckets are all 5 gallon, so I can let them sit a few days. They used to contain sanitizer for food prep items or water lines in barns.

I have 2 food grade 55 gal drums for storage, and a 275 gallon tote in the truck bed.

My wife will keep an eye on one property, and my partner keeps an eye on the ones at her place. Hopefully, I can collect when I get back next Sunday and boil Monday and Tuesday.

[pushbutton]

Ha, nice! The guy gets to go fishing while the women(plural) tend to the home front Good for you, my better half hates me right now(rightfully so, been gone fishing almost every weekend since the week before x-mas) and in no way will she help me out. Good luck on both fronts, cant imagine you not catching fish in the N.W. angle and cant imagine your taps wont be pouring out by next weekend. Enjoy....life is good!!!

[Powerstroke]

Sorry for not checking back here.

I did not have a door on this cooker setup and we did not use a fan either. The draft was fairly strong and kept the flames moving.

Make sure you have enough wood. one of the biggest problems you can run into is not having enough fuel to do the job. Once that fire is going you can't cut wood fast enough.

[Gissert]

Lovely night for a boil. New forced air addition makes for a nice effect at night. Flames coming out a 72 inch stack.