New to tapping sap, a few questions...

[Mike Swally]

I've always thought that the hobby of making maple syrup sounded kind of fun. I'm home brewer, so I have a Cajun cooker & 9 gallon cooking pot. On March 7, 2013, for the first time I tapped 5 maples trees in my yard with the plastic spikes and a hose leading to 5 gallon buckets buried in snow. I only got sap from 3 trees. I did get 10 gallons from each of the 3 trees, so that was 30 gallons total. When I filled the buckets, I would bury them in snow in the back yard. This past Saturday I boiled 10 gallons of sap in my 9 gallon brewing pot and a Cajun cooker. It went okay. I finished the boil on the kitchen stove with a smaller pot. I got to the 217 degree mark. Then I tried to filter with the coffee filters, but that did not go too well. So I didn't completely filter the syrup. I managed to can about 6 half pint jars. There ended up being a little sediment on the bottom of each jar. The maple syrup was a golden color and tasted lightly maple. I liked it, but I think I would like a darker color and stronger flavor. I decided to boil another 10 gallons on next day, Sunday. I think I had a stronger boil with the sap. Everything went okay, until I noticed while I was finishing the boil on the kitchen stove the sap/syrup seemed very cloudy colored. I think I might have even boiled a litter bit past the217 mark to see if it would clear. By that time it kept foaming. I then tried my filtering, but didn't go so well again. I canned 6 half pints. The syrup looked like there was a lot of suspended stuff. The next day, today, there a lot of sediment. Not sure why there was so much sediment7725772677277728. Maybe I could re-can this batch, after decanting the syrup off of the sediment and try a different way of filtering. I read somewhere that the gold colored metal coffee filters work good? I still have 10 gallons of sap buried in snow that I want to make syrup with 5 gallons and and use the other 5 gallons to make a beer with.

[PerryW]

The sediment is Nitre or sugar sand. You can just let it settle out for a few days and pour the clear syrup into another container.

Earlier sap runs usually produce lighter syrup with less nitre and later runs make a darker syrup w/ more nitre.

The gold metal coffee filters would probably not be fine enough to filter out nitre.

[BriJack]

Mike

Looking at your pics....your "syrup" isn't quite syrup yet.....need to buy a candy thermometer for boiling or you have the probe to close to the flame. It's 7 degees above the boiling point of water....which will change every day or even hourly. Try to boil water and check what your thermometer reads...I have found that a stainless steel hydrometer cup and a syrup hydrometer that measures the brix (thickness) of syrup is the best way to go, just be careful with it, I rarely use a thermometer any more.

When you are finishing the syrup.....lots of bubbles, is the key, to where they will boil over the edges of your boiling pan means you will be close to syrup....

when you are ready to filter your syrup it's worth to buy the Orlon /wool filter plus a half a dozen paper pre-filters......dampen all the filters three pre filters so that when the syrup slow down in the first pre filter then you carefully pour it into the next one till you have it all filtered....this will clear up all the sediment in your finished syrup.....in my mind you can't filter enough from the tree to storage to boiling to finishing and so on.

Hope this helps ya....

[Mike Swally]

Thanks for your information. I'm only tapping the few trees in my yard, so I'm small scale. Letting the sugar sand settle then decanting it into new containers sounds like the way to go. That sugar sand is kind of annoying, maybe I could use cheese clothe next time? Also when do you pull the spiles /taps out of the trees? I'm starting to see the leaf buds on some of the trees.

[Mike Swally]

Hi BriJack, thanks for you reply. I was using my home brew thermometer , so it only goes to 220. I'll have to buy a candy thermometer. I like to use a refractometer, but mine only goes to 30 brix, so it went off the scale. I'll have to also work on filtering better, where do you buy the Orlon/wool filter? What does filtering from the the tree to storage and storage to boiling filter out, since I didn't do that either.

[PerryW]

Mike, you can get the filters from The Maple Guys who operate this site.

there a couple cone filters on this link (A synthetic filt cone filter for $17 would work fine. They also make the paper prefilters that make cleaning easier.

http://www.mapleguys.com/index.php?category=15

I filter my sap when I pour it into my gathering tank and then when it goes into my evaporator feed tank. Fltering sap just gets any pieces of bark, pine needles or other junk out ofthe sap and keeps everything cleaner. You can use a piece of white cotton sheet to filter the sap.

[Mike Swally]

Thanks Perry again for your reply. I'll take a look at the Maple Guys filters :-)

[Schnep's]

Anderson's in Cumberland ,Ws. is a good place to buy filters and many other good stuff. They are also very helpfull with anything you want to know.

[craig101]

orlon filters is an option, but it will suck up a lot of your syrup and for small producers, it can be a significant amount. I use a prefilter and instead of orlon, i have a heavy almost canvas like dish towel (it's tight weaved). i get crystal clear syrup. i pull my sweet sap off at 215 and filter it, then i reheat and bring it up to 59 brix (hot test) and then can right away. this is my first year as well. the first batch i did i pulled the "syrup" off at 219, then later in the day reheated to 222, and then wasn't convinced it was syrup, so i bought a hydrometer and reheated it again and i actually needed to go to 224 degrees before I got 59 brix.

some people here use a prefilter and a jelly bag to filter, my method is close/hybrid to that. you might be able to use a dish towel (the flour sack kind) as a filter along with a prefilter. that might work.

the last batch that I finished last night had A LOT of niter in it. I actually poured my sweet sap in quart jars (anything taller and narrow) to let a lot of the niter settle and then reheated the sap and then filtered. took a while to filter, all night long in the oven. it can take a while, but the end result is worth it.

[Ausable]

Mike - I notice You batch boil - Just about all of us Backyarders start making syrup batch boiling and some never switch to a continuous flow evaporator - it all makes maple syrup. I still finish near syrup in a deep restaurant steam table pan on a turkey fryer propane burner. Ok - When I batch boiled I would have sap in my pan and boil it down some and add more sap and repeat this process till I either was bored or out of sap. This way when you finish your syrup - you will have a much larger amount. If You can preheat the cold sap prior to adding to the boiling sap - so much the better. You need a Maple Syrup Hydrometer and some kind of test cup. I was cheap - and didn't use a hydrometer for a long time and made thin - second rate syrup. If You don't buy anything else - get a maple syrup hydrometer as has already been suggested. The average thermometer is ok for ballpark estimates - a hydrometer lets you know you have syrup. -----Another----Mike----

[Mike Swally]

Schnep's
I do see the Anderson's maple syrup in our local super markets. I'll have to check them out too..

[Mike Swally]

craig101
I agree that I don't wan't a filter that will suck up a lot of syrup from my small batches.
I like the dish towel or jelly bag idea, since I'm might not have time to look for a filter by Sunday, when I boil my last batch of 10 gallons of sap. What's a pre filter? Filtering does seem like the hardest part so far. Also I have a home brew glass hydrometer or do you need one that's made for testing maple syrup?

[Mike Swally]

Ausable
Currently I batch boil, since I only have five maple trees in my yard and finding the time to boil. Luckily, we've had a lot of snow, so I've been storing 5 gallons of the sap in a snow bank in the back yard. When I use my 9 gallon cooking pot, I only heat up about 3 gallons, then I pre heat sap in my kitchen then add that to the big pot, so I don't loose the boil. I'll look for Maple hydrometer, I have a home brew glass one, but I'm not sure that will work?

[craig101]

a prefilter is just that, a paper type filter that is on top of the orlon/dish towel. the prefilter captures the larger stuff. you don't NEED it, but it helps keep the orlon/other filter from getting as clogged as quickly. you can get them from andersons.

do you know which dish towel i am talking about, when I say the flour sack kind? not the fuzzy bath towel type. i guess in leiu of the prefilter you could fold over the dish towel so the sap filters thru two layers of the dish towel. before you filter, get the towel wet with warm water and twist the excess water out. having the towel/filter damp helps with the filtering.

not sure about your brewers hydrometer if it will work. probably not though???

[happy thoughts]

I don't think a brewer's hydrometer will work because the scale does not go high enough for syrup.

[Mike Swally]

The dish towel I think you're taking about is the thin one that dries quickly after you dry dishes, we have some of those. My glass hydrometer only goes to 40 brix. Not sure where to buy one that goes higher locally. I did see the candy thermometer at Target, I can get that at least :-)

[Rp2756]

Mike, try looking at a Mills Fleet Farm, that's where I got mine, I think it was less than $20

[Mike Swally]

Thanks, I'll try Fleet Farm.

[ThiefCatcher]

I picked up my hydrometer and test cup at Mills Fleet Farm as well. They are located in the Lawn & Garden department.

[Mike Swally]

I was in the wrong department, the canning section, last time I was at Fleet Farm. I'll go to the garden section tomorrow and look for the hydrometer :-)

[Mike Swally]

Fleet Farm in Oakdale had some of the maple hydrometers, so I bought one. They didn't have the cup though. I bought the flour sack towels and I wet those and filter the sap before the boil and when I transfer to the boiled sap to a smaller pot. I was going to try two jelly straining bags. I don't have any pre filters. I also bought a digital candy thermometer, which I use now to take the temp. of the boiling water for the canning jars. Then I add the + 7 to the boiling point of the water of the day, to get the syrup temp. Thanks for all the tips everyone :-)

[mnguy]

Mike,

Fleet Farm sells some round milk filters pretty cheap. That is what I use for prefilters. I use about three of them at a time and they work really well. I also use them when filtering the final syrup. As long as the syrup is realy hot it goes through pretty good also.

[Purdy Farm]

I use paper grease filters used to filter oil from a deep fryer. They are a 10 inch 70 micron non woven filter. I buy them online and for 6 bucks for a box of 50. For an extra 8 bucks you can get a holder built for them that works great. I double the filters up but are way easier then the orlon filters. At least when doing batches ranging from 1 to 3 gallons.

[maple flats]

To get nice clear syrup you must use syrup filters. Many hobby producers however don't care about totally clear syrup. If using a syrup filter, get 1 filter and 3-6 pre filters. put 3 pre filters on or in the filter (flat or cone) and pour the hot syrup in. The syrup should be at 190 or above. As a pre filter clogs, carefully remove it and let the next layer do the same. When filtered, bring temp back to 180-185 and bottle it. Enjoy!!! These filters can be reused year after year. Just clean then with very hot water. Never wring dry as that destroys the filter fibers, just squeeze. I used to wash them 2x just water, no soap, in the washing machine and hang to totally dry before packing away.

[Mike Swally]

So I,m using the "flour sack" doubled over and a few milk filters to filter sap and syrup. I can into quart jars now and I will re-can into smaller jars later. I've noticed a great improvement in the clarity in my syrup :-) I bought the maple syrup hydrometer from Fleet Farm, but they didn't,t have the cup. I just go by the +7 degree. over current boiled water. Thanks again everyone on all the suggestions. I had too many 5 gallon buckets of sap to boil, so I was putting one 5 gallon bucket in my chest freezer and scouping ice out of the bucket a few times a day. In 24 hours I got 2/3 of the water out of the sap and the brix started at 4 and went 6. I boiled the reduced sap of three buckets five gallons volume. Everything went quicker, I reduced my propane use, but I think I got a little less syrup than I expected. There must of been a little sugar in the ice I took out. What should I use to clean my plastic buckets?

[PerryW]

To clean plastic buckets, I use hot water and a little unscented bleach. Just a couple ounces per gallon cuts the bio-film. rinse well.

[S&S Sugarbush]

Mike, I made a hydro cup out of 1" copper pipe. Cut to the appropriate length to match your hydrometer and solder
a copper cap on one end. I then looped a peice of flex copper and soldered on for a handle.
For a base I drilled a 1 1/4" hole in a heavy (Tamarac) 6"x8" 2 1/2" thick wood block - ONLY 1/12-2" deep. The base sugars
up, but i just rinse with water. With the big block base holder, it is very hard to accidentally tip it over.

This is my first year using a hydrometer - way better than a themometer.

S&S

[Mike Swally]

Thanks I'll try a little bleach and hot water, I'll rince well, dry them & store them for next year :~)

[Mike Swally]

Another question: I seemed to get more golden syrup (looks like honey) than the darker syrup. Is this because I stored most of my buckets in the snow, so they stayed cold. Do higher temperatures when storing sap produce the darker syrup? Or is it because I took a lot of ice out of the sap, then boiled it? I do like both syrups, but was wondering if I have any control over what syrup it boils down to?

[PerryW]

Another question: I seemed to get more golden syrup (looks like honey) than the darker syrup. Is this because I stored most of my buckets in the snow, so they stayed cold. Do higher temperatures when storing sap produce the darker syrup? Or is it because I took a lot of ice out of the sap, then boiled it? I do like both syrups, but was wondering if I have any control over what syrup it boils down to?

I also made a lot of very light syrup this year. I think it was the weather conditions.

Letting sap sit around will darken your syrup but I wouldn't recommend it.