First time boiling...

[Kyle Baker]

Hey, I'm glad I stumbled upon this forum for some great information!
I decided to follow in my grandfathers footsteps this year and collect and boil my own sap to make some homemade delicious liquid gold :)
I've got 13 taps, and have collected 20 gallons of sap and froze it in my freezer so I can boil it all at once. I doubt I'll get much more sap now the way the weather is in Ontario (near ottawa).
My plan is to boil it outdoors on top of a wood fired cook stove. For boiling pans, I'm planning on using my 3 gallon stainless stock pot, and was thinking of getting a second similar sized pot so I can have 2 pots boiling at the same time.
Trying to keep this whole project on a budget, does this seem like an alright plan? or should I be boiling in something different? As far as pans with more surface area go, the best I could do this year is probably an enamel coated roasting pan. To finish, I may take it off and finish it on a coleman camp stove so I have a bit of burner control.
How long might it take to boil down 20 gallons of sap? If I wanted to boil all in one day, should I be starting super early in the morning while it's still dark?
Advice and tips are appreciated! I'd hate to over boil it and turn my hard work into sugar (although it would still be tasty).

Cheers!

[Dill]

Steam tray pans would be better, you want surface area not depth.

[Greg Freeze]

The las big SS stock pot price I saw at Walmart was about 60 bucks. You could have 2 of these and preheat with the pot you already have and be money ahead and boil down twice as fast. Just an idea. Other than that, I think 20 gallons on 2 stock pots will take12 hours or better. Either route you go, you'll get the fastest evap rate by only running an 1" or so of sap in the pan. Then just constantly monitor and add as needed. Good Luck!

Greg

[Zamkev]

FYI, a flat restaurant warmer pan (steam pan) fits great on a Coleman cooker.....we used it as a preheater in yrs past.......see photo

You might be able to pick one up cheap at a used restaurant equip store.

5661

[Kyle Baker]

So since I've been busy and froze my sap I havent boiled yet. Boiling on saturday.
Gonna check some stores for cheap stainless pans or big pots. So are you saying that I should only have a small amount in the pot boiling and slowly keep adding in? or is it ok to just fill up a pot and boil boil boil?
So new to this, any wisdom is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

[RollinsOrchards]

I tried and failed at what you are attempting for a couple of reasons.

1)Wind - boiling outside the wind will cool off your pots and stove before it gets hot. So you will spend the day making a windbreak around your sugarspot.
2)Surface area like others have said. Keep the depth in the pots low so there isn't as much to keep hot all the time. Add sap as some evaporates.
3) Contact with the fire. If your pot has an uneven bottom then it won't set evenly on the stove. The roasting pan especially will only contact the hot stove top around the edges. The air gap will insulate it more than you realize. If you had pots that would set down into the fire it would be better. The heat transfer from flame to stove through some air to pot to sap may make it steam, but it will not boil like crazy.

I am not saying that it won't work, but I got frustrated with the slow progress I made that way. I think I evaporated a gallon of sap the first day I tried something like that.



My suggestion for doing it on the cheap is to look at the posts about concrete block arches and steam pans. Go and buy a couple of restaurant/hotel steam pans from any restaurant supply or food equipment supply place. They should cost about the same as that stock pot you are eyeing. Prop them up on a few concrete blocks and build a fire under them. You will be much happier that way.

With either method you only want to have the sap one inch or two deep in the pans, and add hot sap to that to maintain a steady evaporation rate.

If you fill the pot there could be several hours just getting it hot enough to boil.

Good luck!

[Kyle Baker]

Thanks, I appreciate your advice. I'll see what I can rig up for a better setup ;)

[Ausable]

Howdy Kyle and Welcome to the Whacky World of Maple Syrup Makers. We little Guys are called a lot of things - But as hobby syrup makers we are called "Backyarders". Ok - lets deal with this year - Your have 20 gallons of sap - If it has about 2 1/2 % sugar in it You will get about two quarts of maple syrup.
Ok - A Turkey Fryer Burner with an old deep restaurant pan would work. I use this setup to finish my syrup on when it comes off the evaporator. But - hey - You could do 20 gallons this way easy. Turkey Fryer Burner really put out the heat and the restaurant pan gives a large surface area. Don't rush out and buy stuff at this point - But use the gas burner that gives the most heat and the pot or pan with the largest surfact area. You are "Batch Boiling" Fill the container about half way and turn the burner on full and boil and boil and boil and as the level goes down add more sap if the sap you add is hot so much the better. Thermometers very seldom agree with each other - but the rule for finished syrup is that if your sap starts boiling at 212F it will be syrup at 219F about 7.1 degrees hotter. If You have a syrup hydrometer that is great and you will know by testing when You have syrup. Old method is that you are near syrup when the bubbles are large and shiny and the near maple syrup sheets on a large spoon. the biggest trick about making maple is knowing when you have syrup and get it off the fire. smile - best of luck and have fun. ----Mike----

[Kyle Baker]

Howdy Kyle and Welcome to the Whacky World of Maple Syrup Makers. We little Guys are called a lot of things - But as hobby syrup makers we are called "Backyarders". Ok - lets deal with this year - Your have 20 gallons of sap - If it has about 2 1/2 % sugar in it You will get about two quarts of maple syrup.
Ok - A Turkey Fryer Burner with an old deep restaurant pan would work. I use this setup to finish my syrup on when it comes off the evaporator. But - hey - You could do 20 gallons this way easy. Turkey Fryer Burner really put out the heat and the restaurant pan gives a large surface area. Don't rush out and buy stuff at this point - But use the gas burner that gives the most heat and the pot or pan with the largest surfact area. You are "Batch Boiling" Fill the container about half way and turn the burner on full and boil and boil and boil and as the level goes down add more sap if the sap you add is hot so much the better. Thermometers very seldom agree with each other - but the rule for finished syrup is that if your sap starts boiling at 212F it will be syrup at 219F about 7.1 degrees hotter. If You have a syrup hydrometer that is great and you will know by testing when You have syrup. Old method is that you are near syrup when the bubbles are large and shiny and the near maple syrup sheets on a large spoon. the biggest trick about making maple is knowing when you have syrup and get it off the fire. smile - best of luck and have fun. ----Mike----

Thanks Mike! Boiling early tomorrow morning. I did a test run with my wood cook stove and a stainless stock pot and boiled some water, and it worked pretty nice so for this year I'm gonna try this setup out. I also have a smaller pot for warming sap before adding to my main boiling pot. My frozen sap is taking forever to thaw, so it'll still be partly ice in the morning I figure, but I should have enough thawed to get started and it should thaw out better in the sun I hope. I froze it all in ziplock freezer bags (which as leaking like crzy now) but I put them into plastic totes so I don't lose my sap as it all leaks out.
Definitely a year for learning, but I'm having fun at it so far and have big plans for next year already.
Cheers!
Kyle

[Kyle Baker]

Good news, my little setup worked great. I burned cedar all day to get the heat I needed. Started at 5am, and finished jarring my syrup at about midnight. Somehow I managed more syrup than I figured on, almost a gallon of dark syrup.
I attempted using coffee filters and also tried going through some cotton fabric, but there is a bit of sediment in the bottom.
Is it normal for backyard syrup to wind up so dark? Almost looks like swamp water in a couple of my quart jars. The first jar I poured into was a pint jar, and it is nice and clear.
I'll post up some pictures when I get to a computer. I'm sending this from the iPad right now so I'm limited to what I can do.
Thanks!

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/kylebaker/syrup%202012/IMG_1627.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/kylebaker/syrup%202012/IMG_1626.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/kylebaker/syrup%202012/IMG_1619.jpg
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/kylebaker/syrup%202012/evap.jpg

[Kyle Baker]

So, rookie mistake.
Being too afraid I'd over boil my syrup, I under boiled it so it was so close, but still too runny.
After a pancake breakfast, I dumped it all back into a pot and boiled it on the kitchen stove and now it is perfection. Just one of those things you gotta get a feel for I guess! So I dont quite have as much, but still a decent amount. A lot of the extra sediment got filtered out this time as well as it sat in the bottom of the jars as I poured the "nearup" back into the pot.

Here it is! (yes there are baby food jars for samplers for the family) lol
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b173/kylebaker/syrup%202012/IMG_1630.jpg