How long can you store sap??

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

Curious how long after it hits my buckets I can store it? If I keep it cold and stored in 55 gallon drums, how long is my shelf life?

thank you!

[wnybassman]

I've always heard treat it as if it were milk. Milk will last a while outside in 35º temps, but not so long in 60º.

[bigschuss]

For 8 years on my backyard rig, I've been collecting sap all week and storing it in a drum and have never had a problem. I keep the drum in the shade, and I pile up snow around it during the week to keep it cool. Now with that said, I'm on a mountain and we have snow into April. But keeping it cool for the week is no problem. Longer than that and I just don't know.

Good luck

[maple flats]

While you get more syrup and lighter syrup if you process the same day as collected, many on the Trader only boil on weekends. As bigschuss stated, keep it cold. As sap warms the micro organisms multiply faster and they feed on the sugars in the sap. Thus, old sap has lost some sugar, but if weekends are the only time you can boil, go for it. Syrup from old sap still tastes great, in fact it has more flavor IMHO, the down side is that you sacrificed some sugar and thus gave up some syrup.

[naturenitwit]

Up herein the frosty north I have had no problem holding it around for the week and boil on the weekends. I keep it in two plastic 45gallon barrels in the shade and packed with snow. I try to spread it out in the two barrels and a couple of 5 gallon pails in case one turns. I also always rinse the barrels and buckets well withe fresh water after they are emptied to keep everything as clean as possible.

[SmellsLikeSyrupNH]

Thanks everyone!!! I have no shortage of snow to keep it cool here win New Hampshire lol

[chrismxz583]

I was thinking about hooking up the old condensing unit from the milk house to my Bulk tank to keep it nice and cold......Generally I try to boil the same day, but on the days I am stuck at work it would be nice to put the sap on chill at the flick of an switch.

[DaveB]

I'm someone who boils 3-4 days a week so I have 3-4 days a week that I store my sap. Generally I don't have an issue and won't have an issue this year until the first week of April when my season ends because we have so much snow (about 12-18" still). My tank is on the north side of an evergreen row (Balsam Woods Farm is the name of our farm!) and I've been banking up snow for the past couple of weeks to keep a good supply available.

One idea I've been toying with is using a CoolBot and creating a cold room where it currently sits. I'm thinking that a simple frame with 6-8" of insulation or styrofoam and 6'x10' "room" would be large enough to keep my 1000 gallon tank. They say that a CoolBot and an 18,000BTU A/C unit can keep a room at 38°. It's lowest range is 35°. I would think that be enough to keep the sap from spoiling too much.

http://www.storeitcold.com/

Any thoughts?