BBQ Boiling

[surfin]

My grade 3/4 class and I have been collecting sap for a few days. We have collected about 80 litres and need to begin boiling tomorrow. Our only option is to use three bbqs and shallow roasting pans. Do you think it will be possible to boil off all 80 litres in a day? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[jmp]

Here is a guestimate for you. 80 litres roughly equals 21 gallons. You could expect around 2 gallons an hour per square foot of surface area (again, very rough average, depends on multiple factors). If you have three pans about two square feet, you may be able to boiling off about 6 gallons an hour and finish in roughly 3.5 hours. However, and here is the bad news, you really need to have the flames in contact with the bottoms of the pans. If there is a few inches of air space between the flames and the grill, like on most barbeques, you won't get the evaporation rate you need. Also makes a difference if you are using charcoal versus propane. Please take this with a grain of salt as its a really rough estimate. Good luck!

[surfin]

Thanks so much, John. We are using propane barbeques and I'm hoping to not to scorch the pans. Regardless of the outcome, it will be another fun learning experience.

[jmp]

As long as you keep sap in the pans, and keep the pans level, you won't scorch them. And get the pans as close as you can to the flames. I agree, always a fun experience for both you and the kids! I think its a life long learning experience! Will be going to my daughter's first grade class next week to give a little dog and pony show about sugaring. Fun stuff! Good luck. Anxious to hear how it turns out!

[surfin]

We did it........well kind of. Cold, windy conditions made for inconsistent boiling so we moved inside to the stove. We rotated kids through all day, explained the boiling process and gave them the opportunity to add a squirt of sap. Unfortunately, we only managed to get through 50 litres of sap and the finished product was overcooked. I couldn't believe how quickly we went from having a perfect syrup to overcooking it. Regardless, it tastes great and the kids loved the experience. Will our final overcooked product keep the same way as typical syrup? It's in a mason jar. Thanks

[RipTyd]

It should store just fine however some crystals may form on the bottom of the jar if it is not used in a couple months. I think kids have a special appreciation for this process, my 5 year old grandson is my official sap taster. Awesome thing to teach kids , I hope they enjoy the syrup!!

[Yeserday]

Unfortunately, we only managed to get through 50 litres of sap and the finished product was overcooked. I couldn't believe how quickly we went from having a perfect syrup to overcooking it.
You only used 50 of your 80 liters. To lower the sugar content of the overlooked sap, you could just add some of the raw sap. It shouldn't take much.