hst45 Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 I just came in from 6 hours in the sugarbush getting the last taps of the season set. It's still a bit early for the full-on run, but a few trees started to run, and I have sap in the mainline. My set up is really just a half-assed hobby operation, but it's a lot of fun. For those who might not be familiar with maple sugaring, it started with the aboriginal North Americans on the Atlantic coast. They discovered that in late Winter to early Spring, a sweet sap flows up from the roots of maples to the upper branches. Capture this sap, which can contain as much as 2.3% sugar, boil it down, and you get a wonderfully flavored sweet liquid, or reduce the water content further and make sweet maple sugar candy. It was a labor intensive task. Trudging into the woods in snows 2 to 4 feet deep to tap the trees, setting out the sap buckets, and DAILY returning to gather them and carry the sap back to a woodstove to boil it for what seemed an eternity to reduce it's water content. Your have to gather 10 gallons of sap on average to produce just one quart of maple syrup. These days the big producers use tubing and gravity and/or a vaccum system to gather the sap, and more sophisticated evaporators to reduce the sap the 40-to-1 that we need to produce syrup. Small hobby operations like mine use some of the techniques of the big boys, such as tubing to collect sap, but still boil on a wood-fired stove, with home made syrup pans and pre-heaters. The weather dictates the start and end of the season and the yield of sap. We need, ideally, days with a high of 45 degrees and nights of 25 degrees to get an optimum sap run. Too low a daily high and the sap won't run, a nightly temp above freezing and, you guessed it, the sap won't run. Some years, like last year, you get a "stuck" run. It started great, then got too warm so our nightly temperatures were above freezing and nothing ran for a couple of weeks. Then several weeks later we got a cold snap and the highs and lows were ideal; the problem was that the taps had been in the trees for as much as 6 weeks and the trees had started to heal the wounds of the taps, so again we got little or no sap flow. Our yield was just above half of what we wanted. The guys who ran vaccum systems did fine however. I don't have tap capacity or the money to install a vaccum system. I'm putting last year behind me and looking forward this season. The wood box is loaded, the taps are in, and if you know just where to look in the sugarhouse you might just find a new bottle of Johhny Walker Black to help take the chill off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEskimo Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 We make maple syrup every couple of years. We only have a few trees near the house, but it still gives us a gallon or two of syrup every year. We boil it in this big pot my great-grandfather used for making moonshine...or so my parents say. How do you keep minerals from crystalizing at the bottom of jars? Is there some kind of filtration process? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
optimus Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 I'm not a mapler, but I am somewhat obsessed with the stuff. I particularly enjoy frying bacon till it's crispy then adding a genorous glug to the hot pan so you end up with a sticky caramelised glaze. I bet the homebrew stuff is amazing... any other recipe ideas to share? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hst45 Posted February 24, 2011 Author Share Posted February 24, 2011 (edited) The precipitate is referred to as "sugar sand"; as far as I know it a calcium mineral. I don't have a proper evaperator so I boil-down close to syrup on the woodstove "evaperator", and finish it on a gas burner where I can control the temperature better. I let the close-to-syrup cool and decant as much of the clean product above the sugarsand as I can and finish that. I collect the dirty product from several batches, heat it, and run it through a paint filter to scavenge as much clean as I can from the rest. In commercial production they press it hot right from the evaperator through a high pressure filter and hot-bottle that. There are a bunch of good-sized family operations around here, and they're all willing to trade a favor for someone who's willing to do some legwork for them. Spend an afternoon helping them run taplines and they'd finish a few gallons of syrup for you. I just like doing everything I can on my own. Optimus, try some venison sausage patties topped with maple syrup made from the same woods in which the deer lived. Tasty, and very Zen. Edited February 24, 2011 by hst45 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mumbles Posted February 24, 2011 Share Posted February 24, 2011 Two of the guys I build with make their own maple syrup. It's definitely an added benefit of going over to their places. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bonny Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 Once you make the syrup,if you have snow available you can make sweet treats by pouring it into snow and rolling it up on a stick. See here:http://www.canadianliving.com/food/kids_cooking/how_to_make_maple_syrup_taffy_pops.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richtee Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 I'm not a mapler, but I am somewhat obsessed with the stuff. I particularly enjoy frying bacon till it's crispy then adding a genorous glug to the hot pan so you end up with a sticky caramelised glaze. I bet the homebrew stuff is amazing... any other recipe ideas to share?Bacon can be cured from belly with maple intrinsic in the process as well. Ask about details :{) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSO Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 One of the guys I work with has a sugar shack. Every year we trade...I get maple syrup and he gets a big gallon jar of pickled eggs from me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pyrochris732 Posted February 25, 2011 Share Posted February 25, 2011 that sounds like a great endeavor. I like the idea of doing it the old fashioned way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hst45 Posted February 26, 2011 Author Share Posted February 26, 2011 That's really the jazz of it for me, just the doing of the thing. All my stuff is homemade, just like the folks who lived in these same woods 300 years ago. I don't necessarily use the techniques and tools that were available to them, but I use the tools and skills that I have now, and do it myself. Trial and error keeps the mind sharp, and the journey of discovery is the joy of it all. The same is true with any endeavor, pyro included. Learn, adapt, and overcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneEyeCharlie Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 Will you marry me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSidewinder Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 LOL @ Charlie.... I haven't done it for... oh god, close to 40 years now.... but back in High School I had friends whose families had farmed, small-scale, for generations. One of their annual spring rites was mapling. Many a night we spent, tending the fires. We (the men) setup stock watering tanks for the first boil-down, and transferred the result to some 10-gallon milk buckets for the second stage, then took the nearly-finished product into the farmhouse where the women did the finishing boil. Every year they ended up with about 100 gallons of finished syrup. Those were the days! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondogman Posted February 26, 2011 Share Posted February 26, 2011 I just boiled down about 15 gal of sap yesterday. Looks like we should have good flow the next few days with the cold nights and warm days here in central indiana. CSteveould maple sugar be used in rockets??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hst45 Posted March 7, 2011 Author Share Posted March 7, 2011 Had a bit of a sap run yesterday. Got enough to run the evaporator for three hours today, and finished it on the stove. Good light amber. This week looks like the sugar Gods will be with us. "SWEET!" (pun intended). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxea Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 My dad make maple syrup. I took 7 gallons of sap and a quart of syrup and made a maple bourbon porter beer out of it. It has to age for a few months so not sure how it turned out, but can't wait to try it this fall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richtee Posted July 19, 2011 Share Posted July 19, 2011 My dad make maple syrup. I took 7 gallons of sap and a quart of syrup and made a maple bourbon porter beer out of it. It has to age for a few months so not sure how it turned out, but can't wait to try it this fall.Hmmm can't say I'd like it, but it sure sounds interesting. I still have a couple bottles of Sam Adams Triple Bock from '96 laying down. Not much on drinking it, but I AM gonna get to doing a rib glaze with it one day :{) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PersonGuyDude Posted July 20, 2011 Share Posted July 20, 2011 I'm putting last year behind me and looking forward this season. The wood box is loaded, the taps are in, and if you know just where to look in the sugarhouse you might just find a new bottle of Johhny Walker Black to help take the chill off.You wouldn't want to sell some to everyone here? Would you? Sounds like you live in area where you don't have to worry about catching anything on fire with your pyro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hst45 Posted February 7, 2012 Author Share Posted February 7, 2012 February 6th, and I'm tapped in. This is THE earliest that I've ever tapped, and the trees are running great. I'm working the next two days so I won't be able to boil then, but I'll be making syrup this Thursday. Around here we're usually tapping, on average, in the first week in March. Last year I put in half my taps on February 24th and the rest on March the seventh. Last year at this time we had 30+" of snow in the woods and I was going to my sugarhouse on my snowmobile: this year I could drive there on my riding mower. Another couple of years like this and I might start to believe in "Global Warming." O.K, it's not THAT bad, but it's pretty weird none the less. Pancakes and waffles soon to follow.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hst45 Posted February 25, 2012 Author Share Posted February 25, 2012 Flash back to last year. February 24, 2011. I walked down the road and summited the head-high snowbank and started down my logging road towards my sugarhouse. I made the 300 yard trek in just under five minutes. Shovel in hand, I dug DOWN enough to open the door to the sugarhouse. Tapping supplies in hand, I trudged up-slope and in 30 minutes had 20 taps running. I didn't dare take my snowmobile on this adventure. It's a 20 year old sled that I'd just purchased for short-money but the track was smoother than James Carville's head and the skis more crooked than Bill Clinton and I KNEW that I'd sink out of sight in the three to four feet of snow that we had accumulated since November. Back to the present. Tonight after work I tossed on a pair of hiking boots and walked to the sugarhouse through the inch of sleet that we're getting. I didn't dare wear the new Air-Jordan retro sneakers that I rioted for last Christmas; the laces might get wet. I stepped UP into the sugarhouse, grabbed a flashlight and went out to collect the few gallons that flowed today. Last Fall I re-did the sled from top to bottom: new Camoplast skis and carbides, new hifax, new Ice Attack track, rebuilt suspension; it's the bomb sitting on the grass in the back yard. I've put 4/10 of a mile on it so far this winter having run around the front yard four times, but I don't dare take it to the sugarhouse since the track is 1-1/4" and it would bottom out in the 3/8" "snowpack" we have. Great value for a $95 OHRV permit, as my wife is kind enough to point out. The good news is that it's Daytona this weekend. Drive fast, turn left, repeat as necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeB Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 I just boiled down about 15 gal of sap yesterday. Looks like we should have good flow the next few days with the cold nights and warm days here in central indiana. CSteveould maple sugar be used in rockets??? I bet a few half pints would make nice auction items. Hint, hint. Or how about a trade for a some quality perc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moondogman Posted February 25, 2012 Share Posted February 25, 2012 I bet a few half pints would make nice auction items. Hint, hint. Or how about a trade for a some quality perc? Well that post was almost exactly a year ago, but I still have have a few pints left over and somwhere around 40 gal of sap from the past week. Im planning on boiling a batch on sun. so I should have some to bring to the next shoot/meeting.Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeB Posted February 26, 2012 Share Posted February 26, 2012 Wow, I should check the dates on these posts. Still good timing though even if it is a year late See you in a month or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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