Shelf life of sap

[Diesel Pro]

My trees are 70 miles from me. My plan is to do weekend processing only. My sap buggy parks inside the cabin away from UV and I can turn the heat off this time of year so it stays cooler inside than out. So will my sap keep for a week in these conditions? I've seen recommendations of using milk jugs as ice packs to help keep it cool as well.

I have local "experts" saying that I can't store it for more than 2 days.

[jrgagne99]

If its cold, like packed in a snowbank, you can easily keep it 4-5 days. Sounds like your setup might be borderline. There's one way to find out... boil it!

[Diesel Pro]

Right now we are freezing at night and mid 30's by day.

[mrnoodle]

I'm 150 miles from my sugarbush. I let-um sit. I'm not guaranteeing anything. but If it's freezing during the night, odds are with you. They say the sap will sour. I haven't had that happen yet. But I'm sure some day I'll find out.

[SPILEDRIVER]

i allways have to wait4 or 5 days between boils and several times ive gone up to a week......i have not had any sap spoil yet.....the key is to keep it as cool as possible and keep it out of direct sunlight.....froozen milk jugs sounds like a good idea but ive never done it.......my sap is stored outside on my patio in 15 gallon plastic drums..ive got 8 full rite now that wont get boiled till friday morning. my patio is on the north side of my house and im in a very narrow section of the valley it gets no direct sunlight untill very later in the day for less than a hour

[Diesel Pro]

Well it looks like my first cook will be this weekend. My brother just made the run and colected 20 gallons from 40 buckets-88 taps instaled this weekend. Wide variance with many pails empty, one full and others 1/2 to 3/4 full. Production is definitely biased towards the southern edge of the woods where the sun is hitting hardest and snow cover is less.

He also confirmed my suspicion that the last tree that I tapped was a Basswood :emb:

[psparr]

I too tap far away and only boil on the weekends. I have drops into five gallon buckets. I try to keep the buckets on the north side of the trees. Only about half are. And I have not had bad sap yet.

[ohio sugar]

I boil 2 week old sap regularly. The key is keeping it cold. Adding frozen jugs works great.