Any sappers out there?

[pushbutton]

Are you complaining?!?

Mushrooms, ramps, and leeks just around the corner now.

Kind of. It's a complicated love/hate relationship type thing. Every year swear I am not going to tap as it is downright goofy for how much time I spend watching " water" boil. Having said that, I completely suck at finding morels and ramps....and my shroom season does not technically start until i can find the type that your dog would rather lick his butt over than eat

[teal50]

We had a small sap run last Sunday in the Fort Ripley area and some during the week. Yesterday it was running very well and I expect even better today.

[perchking]

I started about 3 years so, very small operation only run about 25 taps. My goal this year, is to get 3 gallons of syrup. It was really dripping today, collected about 20 gallons on the first clean out today.

[mainbutter]

Yup! We have a thread going for a second year in a row over here:

http://www.hotspotoutdoors.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3026844/1/Any_sappers_out_there?

We did our first boil today. Our trees in the North Metro were really producing, but we only do 4 there in the yard at home. We are currently tapping 13 trees at our weekend getaway place further north, and this is the first week they were going much at all, but we did have two trees that had 3/4 full buckets. The rest were all maybe 1/5 full, and that's 10 days after tapping them.

This next week looks pretty perfect, overnight lows below freezing and daily highs well above. Unfortunately I work, but the rest of the crew will be collecting and boiling It'd be nice to be retired.

[mcgarth]

made about 15 gallons last week and collected about another 500 gallons today. next week's weather isn't looking good for us but you never know what mother nature is do.

[eyeguy 54]

Anyone know the exchange rate, maple for salsa?

had a jar of the smoked salsa today.... dang! 2 pints syrup to one??

[Gissert]

Ahhh, nice cigar, cold beer, and watching two feet of flame come out the six foot stack on our oil tank evaporator. Flying through the wood tonight.

Got 120 gallons on 130 taps today. Tomorrow should be another good day. Trees should drip well into the night.

[eyeguy 54]

do i need to sweeten the deal with some smoked tully??

[Gissert]

oooohhhh! Thank for reminding me! Got a couple of those in the freezer - better get them out.

[cherokee]

mcgarth that is a huge operation. I got two gallons of syrup yesterday. Nice time to be in the woods.

[pushbutton]

A question to you hydrometer folk....do I really need one of those spiffy thingies to put it in or can I just use an empty big gulp. Similarly ...HOW/WHAT ARE YOU SUPPOSE TO BE READING?

[Gissert]

I suggest getting the cup too. It takes a LOT of HOT syrup to get enough in a large conventional cup to float the hydro.

The hot syrup line on the hydro is calibrated for 211 degrees. By the time you fill it with hot syrup and take the reading, that is about what the temp will be.

If the line is submerged, its not syrup yet. If its above its beyond syrup and you need to thin w/ more sap.

[pushbutton]

Thanks birthday boy just picked one up and not quite as complicated as thought it might be

[Gissert]

Thanks for the Bday wishes - Finished six gallons off a two day boil of 200 gallons. Cant think of a better way to spend a bday!

[zzammon]

Cooked down 45 gallons on Saturday to get just shy of 1.5 gallons of syrup west of Little Falls.

[deerNneer]

Has anybody had much luck in northern, MN? we have about 25 taps in the Bemidji area and have gotten about 20 gallons of sap so far. I'm hoping the good run is yet to come up here? Ran good on Saturday, but not as good on Sunday or Monday for some reason. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[pushbutton]

Nighttime lows are not low enough. Looks like you might get a 4/5 day run next week. We are shut down here as well. Was as least able to get caught up boiling though . Sugar content has to be high this year, as I am looking at what will be 3 gallons finished and no way did I boil over a hundred and twenty gallons. Maybe .....around a hundred.

[deerNneer]

Thank you! I was thinking it had something to do with the lows being above freezing. I guess I won't get my hopes up for a huge run this week. It did get down to about 29 last night so maybe we will get a few gallons today?

[mpester]

Thanks for the advice earlier in the season. The kids and I only made about a pint the first weekend we went to the cabin. It was light colored and tasted great but it was cloudy because I did not filter it and maybe I could have boiled it a bit longer. Last weekend, we went up again and made almost two gallons of great syrup. Boiling that many gallons of sap sure takes a long time. It is well worth the effort. I still have a bit of sugar sand in the bottom of the pot and will do more filtering next year. I ended up with fourteen very nice and clear pints and two that are full of sugar sand. I told the wife and kids that the stuff in the bottom of the jars is the best part of the syrup.

One more question - how should I store this stuff? I have read it has a shelf life of up to a year in the cabinet and I have read to freeze it. What is the best way to store it?

Thank you for your help this year.

[Gissert]

If you canned it at 185-190 degrees, and the jars sealed, it will keep a long time in a cool dark area. I had some not long ago that was nearly three years old and it was fine.

If you did not can at those temps, just dump the syrup into a pot, heat to 185 and can. the lids should seal at that temp. Dont go any higher than 190 or you will get more sugar crystals.

Once I open a jar, I just refrigerate.

[mpester]

Not sure what the temperature was when I put it in the jars. All the lids made the popping sound that my mother told me they needed to make for a good seal. If my family gets into the syrup without me keeping an eye on them, I am sure it will not be around for too long.

[Gissert]

That's some lovely looking light amber. Did you check for finih with a thermometer or hydrometer?

[mpester]

I just used a thermometer. I went about a degree higher than I thought I was going to stop at because the syrup did not look like it had the right looking bubbles yet. I had no idea water boiled at different temperatures on different days until I started this process. I always thought water boiled ONLY at 200.

I thought I did not make enough to use the hydrometer - I did not want to waste a cylinder of syrup. I was thinking about what I do when making beer and that I would not put the measured syrup back into the pot like I would not put back the liquid when making beer. Now that I am thinking about it, I bet I would not be contaminating the batch since I would still be cooking it. They say not to put your beer test material back into the fermenter when doing home brew because of bacteria.

[pushbutton]

Not quite sure what final boiling temp you ended at, but if you did not end up around 219.5 or so, looks like you are not done yet

[Gissert]

I just pour my syrup from the cup right back into the boil. I finish with the hydrometer, but watch the temp too. I've had syrup finish as slow as 219, and has high as 221.5.