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Author Topic: Maple syrup  (Read 12376 times)

Jake

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Maple syrup
« on: January 15, 2022, 03:42:20 PM »
We have many mature silver maples on the property. Hoping to produce a bunch of syrup from them this season. This morning I built an evaporator stove from an old drum. This could double as a stove or a grill! My cousin will make a stainless tub that will go "inside" the evaporator. We should start seeing sap at the end of February:p
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Jake

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Re: Maple syrup
« Reply #1 on: February 09, 2023, 10:17:01 PM »
Last season ended up pulling 177 gallons of sap which translated to 3.1 gal of syrup.
This year we've had a crazy winter and sap started flowing mid January. It stopped for two weeks, and is flowing again. I already pulled 175 gallons of the sweet water. Goal is to pull about 250 this year. But I'm running out of wood to burn and really don't want to tap into my fire place supply.

Anyway, this is super addicting. I can see myself doing this for a long time.

this picture is from today's batch. Sugar content is going up - 50 gal of sap to 1 gal of syrup.

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ober

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Re: Maple syrup
« Reply #2 on: February 10, 2023, 09:11:15 AM »
Wow - that's a wild ratio!!  How much do you collect in a single day and how do you store it?
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Jake

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Re: Maple syrup
« Reply #3 on: February 10, 2023, 10:21:11 AM »
Quote from: ober on February 10, 2023, 09:11:15 AM
Wow - that's a wild ratio!!  How much do you collect in a single day and how do you store it?

that depends. We have 19 trees tapped. There are days we get 5 to 10 gallons total. best days are when it is around 20-25 at night, and 40-45 during the day. At that peak last year one day we had close to 40 gallons. Yesterday we had 25.

You can't store it too long, because bacteria loves that sugar water. so at 45+ degrees, no longer then 36-48 hours. I pretty much boil right away.
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Perspective

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Re: Maple syrup
« Reply #4 on: February 13, 2023, 09:06:16 AM »
That looks really fun. We go every year to a few maple syrup festivals in the area. There is one that still makes it in the traditional way with large cauldrons boiling over a fire. The kids love to see the process (and eat pancakes and maple candy :D ).

I thought you sold the house out in the woods?
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Jake

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Re: Maple syrup
« Reply #5 on: February 13, 2023, 01:08:55 PM »
Quote from: Perspective on February 13, 2023, 09:06:16 AM
I thought you sold the house out in the woods?

I did, but have an acre and a half here full of Silver Maples :)

And I ended up buying land in Wisconsin again - just land, no house this time :) But I got a camper :p
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Jake

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Re: Maple syrup
« Reply #6 on: February 21, 2023, 03:56:23 PM »
The goal was to collect 250 gallons of sap this year. Ended up with 264 (999L), which in turn yielded 4.95 gallons (18.7L) of syrup.
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