Anyone Here Make Syrup???

[webbie]

Oh, shoot - that was my 12,000th post!

 

[razerface]

Razerface, Operations like yours are what initially got me interested in syrup. It honestly looks like more fun than what we do now. The lack of snow in your pic looks nice too, we tapped in 2 feet of snow.

We made 38 gallons of syrup yesterday, from about 2000 gallons of sap. I was making multiple passes through the RO before we boiled, which helped cut oil consumption. It's a nice winter crop for our small farm.

It was big fun! We had some this morning for breakfast.
38 gallons of syrup is more work then I want! I would do more if I had an evap machine. I looked at a couple operations today,,but they were all bigger then I want. I want to boil around 500 gal a year, max.

I am not happy about the snow gone,,,I hate mud. I wish it would go directly from 20 deg to 70 deg in one day. Forget spring! But no syrup then,,,,,,,

 

[johnpma]

kids continue to have a blast with this. Turkey fryer woks well but as the above pic shows you need to block the breeze or you waste BTU's

This warm/cold is helping the flow real well.....next year I hope to do a pipeline. We are going to comb the property and mark trees in the spring.

Lots of fun!! Kids don't want to do homework they want to collect sap

 

[loadstarken]

The real question is...... who makes syrup and sells it?


I have bought some in past years from a member on a 4x4 board I go to but they haven't had any sap flowing this year.

 

[Blacknight318]

Trying it out with a few red maples we have, git started after the neighbor tapped his black walnuts and made syrup.

 

[johnpma]

did our 3rd boil yesterday and still have 20 gallons of sap. Kids made candy last night.......good stuff

one more boil and we are done. Pulled the taps yesterday afternoon.

Plan is to come up with a better way of boiling for next season. Single burner propane takes too long when you have 50 gallons of sap.....

Looking for ideas??????

 

[Warm_in_NH]

did our 3rd boil yesterday and still have 20 gallons of sap. Kids made candy last night.......good stuff

one more boil and we are done. Pulled the taps yesterday afternoon.

Plan is to come up with a better way of boiling for next season. Single burner propane takes too long when you have 50 gallons of sap.....

Looking for ideas??????

I'm thinking along the lines of a rectangular steam table type of stainless tray over a long burner out of an old gas grill. Put it together in some sort of a welded frame.

 

[Blacknight318]

Going to do our first boil tonight, have about 10 gallons. We're due to get a minor cold spell Herr next week so we're thinking of tapping the remaining half dozen trees for that.

 

[johnpma]

made maple leaf candies...good stuff

Syrup and butter and a good thermometer

 

[Blacknight318]

Boiled down a little over 2 gallons into a cup and a half of syrup!

 

[loadstarken]

So no one is selling this year?

 

[Warm_in_NH]

So no one is selling this year?

I think most people on this thread are just getting into it on a hobby level. Given a 40 to 1 ratio, without a commercial set up, you gotta treat the stuff like gold.

My buddy sells his, same stuff, just he does it on a slightly larger scale (hundreds of gallons of sap). Nice guy, cool little sugar shack, boiled over a wood fire.

hope there's no conflict of interest throwing this link up jere. My apologies if there is.

https://m.facebook.com/pages/Spikes...om/pages/Spikes-Shack-o-Sugar/510844762290903

 

[simple.serf]

So no one is selling this year?

Kind of a late reply (I haven't logged in in a little while), but we are. We made about 250 gallons, and burned about 600 gallons of fuel oil to do it. My wife actually has been canning all day today.

 

[begreen]

Wow, that is impressive. Do you sell it locally or on the internet?

 

[johnpma]

came across a homemade evaporator for free. Two steel barrels joined with legs welded along the bottom. The rear barrel has a cut-out for a 2' X 3' pan, and a 6" stack at the end of the barrel. This will allow me to burn all the crap that falls to the ground, or cut up pallets, pine ect... can't wait!!

 

[maple1]

Make sure you have decent pans. Something stainless & welded is best.

It's a pretty simple recipe - just boil the bejeebers out of it until it's 219°F (or so). But anything 'off' with the pans will transfer directly to the taste of the syrup. One prime suspect to off-tasting syrup is soap. Don't use any. Of any kind. On anything that will touch the sap & syrup in any way.

 

[midwestcoast]

Make sure you have decent pans. Something stainless & welded is best.

It's a pretty simple recipe - just boil the bejeebers out of it until it's 219°F (or so). But anything 'off' with the pans will transfer directly to the taste of the syrup. One prime suspect to off-tasting syrup is soap. Don't use any. Of any kind. On anything that will touch the sap & syrup in any way.

I dunno, for home use a stainless requirement may be a bit much.
We boiled for years on a mild steel pan & later my dad made another out of 1/4" steel plate. We oiled it at the end of the season & that syrup tasted as good as any I've ever bought.

 

[maple1]

I dunno, for home use a stainless requirement may be a bit much.
We boiled for years on a mild steel pan & later my dad made another out of 1/4" steel plate. We oiled it at the end of the season & that syrup tasted as good as any I've ever bought.

Yes, I said 'is best' - what the home guy uses is up to his resources. A stainless pan might not be so bad though, if you spend some time scrounging - even if you found something that needed re-manufacturing to fit, a sheet metal guy could cut bend & weld for not much $$ I bet.

 

[aeblank]

My parents boiled for years. Probably 10-15 gallons when done.
Used custom built wood-fired stoves for most of it, and then propane to safely finish it off.
Mmmmmmm.

 

[johnpma]

Decided this year after finding a bunch of maples on the back of our new property that I'd like to do a sap line using tubing and having it flow into 30 gallon barrels. Would most likely be around 30 taps. Has anyone installed a sap line? How do you support the tubing? I think a 1/2" mainline and 5/16" feeders would work fine based on what I'm reading

 

[maple1]

For 30 taps, just string the 5/16 from tree to tree. No mainline needed for that few. We have some lines with 60+ trees on one line, although on a pretty good slope. If the tapped trees are quite far apart, you can usually run the pipe around/against non-tapped trees for some support in between . Using the odd smallish nail under the pipe where it refuses to stay up won't hurt anything much either. Could branch off a few 5/16 Ts if spread out a lot.

 

[johnpma]

For 30 taps, just string the 5/16 from tree to tree. No mainline needed for that few. We have some lines with 60+ trees on one line, although on a pretty good slope. If the tapped trees are quite far apart, you can usually run the pipe around/against non-tapped trees for some support in between . Using the odd smallish nail under the pipe where it refuses to stay up won't hurt anything much either. Could branch off a few 5/16 Ts if spread out a lot.

Awesome info thanks for the help Very excited for this season. Buddy gave me a barrel evaporator just need to find a pan. I'm cutting and splitting all the pine that has fallen over the years for my boiling fuel thanks again for the help

 

[maple1]

Just have to remember that sap (like a lot of other things) generally doesn't run uphill and you'll be good.

 

[johnpma]

Maple1 can you recommend a supply house for hose, fittings ect??? I am going to have to use buckets on some trees.

 

[DuckDog]

My family has done small scale syrup since the mid 70's. We typically run 60-75 taps and do 2 weekend boils. Ran through 325 gallons of sap and finished with about 7.25 gallons of syrup. No sales. Only personal and give away.

We run a 2'x4' SS pan on a temporary block arch and then finish in propane turkey fryers.