new to the forum and tapped my first trees a week and a half ago...

[alcontrast]

I tapped 14 trees the weekend before last here in East Haddam, CT. I collected 21-22 gallons by this past Sunday morning and set to evaporating with what appears to be the standard noobie system; a Turkey fryer type set up and a couple of propane tanks.. I reduced 17 gallons of sap down to about three between 9am and 5 pm but I had 5:30 dinner reservations so I added the remaining 5 gallons of sap and put the big pot in the snow and shoveled additional snow up around the sides.. I got back into it tuesday and boiled the pot down to around 1 gallon or a little more before bring it inside to finish on the stove. I ended up with about .4 gallons of syrup and I'd say it was a success for a first effort but I also learned a LOT from this first effort..

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first: and this I knew going into it but, Propane and a tall narrow pot is not the best set up for evaporating a lot of water.. I have another option or two for next time or perhaps next year if I add more taps.. The propane is easy which is nice..

second: are there any tricks to filtering? I ran raw sap through cheesecloth but my buckets were pretty well sealed so that was really not needed at all and I also skimmed the boiling sap on a regular basis. I then filtered finished syrup through a 5qt maple syrup cone filter (from "The Felt Store") while the syrup was hot off the stove. The filter was hanging in my cleaned out turkey fryer pot with the lid on it and I put the pot on the stove with low heat under it and let it sit.. Even after at least 15-20 minutes I had about 1/3 of my syrup sitting in the filter and the level really hadn't changed in almost 10 minutes.. I ended up gently pouring some of the syrup out of the filter into the pot hopefully leaving any heavy stuff in the bottom of the filter.
I got the impression that there just wasn't enough weight in that little bit of left over syrup to push it through the filter.. Perhaps a pre-filter would have helped though? Perhaps there are better filter methods for small scale production?

third: the farberware analog candy thermometer I have is horrible for this.. It's slow to respond to temp changes, I think it's off my a degree or two, and it's hard to read. I stopped boiling when I was somewhere in the 217-220 range.... More because it seemed right than because the thermometer told me it was at the right temp.. I already ordered a digital thermometer with a remote sensor..

fourth: Probably due to my pouring in the unfiltered syrup from the filter cone or due to a lack of accuracy with my syrup temperature I had a bit of cloudy material settle out in the bottom half inch of my containers a day after bottling.. I am assuming this will end up being some sugar sand that's forming in the bottles now? Is this due to my filter mishap, over or under temperature finishing, something else entirely? Oh and after I filtered the syrup I returned it to the smaller pot and brought it just up to boiling before I bottled it.


* that was a lot of typing. I hope I didn't bore you... I'm stoked on this whole process though! I'll be fervently looking at a ton of other threads on the forum and in this sub-forum while my buckets are filling back up....

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[CampHamp]

Congrats on your first batch! Beautiful color.

Filtering is a pain (my least favorite part). You will definitely want to pre-filter next time. They are the same shape is the felt cones and you can put them right inside, like a liner. When you have a big batch, you might run through several pre-filters because they clog too! Don't waste the syrup stuck in your felt... rinse it out in your next batch of fresh boiling sap to sweeten it. If the sediment bothers you (it's really just aesthetics) then dump these all in with your next finished batch and re-filter...

[happy thoughts]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your syrup! :) Feels good doesn't it? :) In answer to some of your questions,

1- It's all about surface area. The more surface area the faster the evaporation rate, Look for wider pans.

2.I pretty much don't filter but let the sugar sands settle out which works out well for me and my partial batch boils on a block arch,. Those who use filters will have plenty of tips for you on using them.

3 A thermometer alone can't tell you when it's syrup even if you believe your thermometer is right on the money. If you want to find true density you're going to have to invest in a hydrometer. If you want close enough without a hydrometer then you're going to have to learn to look for sheeting, when the syrup no longer drops as singer drips off the side of a spoon but join together as a sheet.

4- It sounds like sugar sand either from ineffective filtering or more likely because you heatedt filtered syrup too high. More sugar sand develops as syrup is reheated. Filtered syrup shouldn't be brought much above bottling temps which are in the 180-185*F range.

Good Luck and have fun!

[Run Forest Run!]

Welcome!!!! Congratulations on your very first batch. Fun isn't it? :) We 'small batchers' had a really great thread going last year regarding the various methods of filtering. I think you'll find it very, very helpful.

http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?19806-Filtering-small-batches-grrrrrr!


Enjoy your season and enjoy your delicious syrup.

[alcontrast]

Tasting syrup that came from trees in the backyard for the first time is indeed a great experience. I imagine that it doesn't diminish much over the years either!

Thanks for the replies! In keeping with the format I started I'll answer in the order I asked I asked..

1) I knew surface area is key but I still underestimated reduction time. I have access to a stainless steel vessel that is about 15" deep and at least 24" x 24" square, I think more like 30"x30".. It would hold at least 30 to 35 gallons easily but I am not sure if I'll get to that level of production. I would like to though and I'm going to look for more sugar maples this summer.. If I can find more maples I'll probably set up a temporary wood fired evaporator in the driveway for 2015 so I can do 90% of my evaporating with a wood fire setup..

2) Filtering.. RunForest / Karen! A post or thread of yours was what brought me into mapletrader to begin with.. I forget what the topic was now but I do remember your selfie with a sap bucket (toilet seat) as an avatar. Thanks for the link, I'm catching up on it now! CampHamp: I already ordered and received pre-filters. I didn't think to add filter leftover to a new batch (great idea!) but I did "squeeze" out a majority of the syrup from the filter cone into my "filtered" batch. I was gentle on the filter so it should be fine and I don't think I would have forced sediment through the filter but I'm new to all this..

3) I may invest in a hydrometer but after only one small batch I'm not yet sure if I want to spend the $ on such a maple specific item. Perhaps the hydrometer will be useful for other things but I feel like a $30 thermometer is barely utilized enough to justify it's cost in my life.. I can't imagine a hydrometer would serve many other purposes making it more cost effective and a hydrometer and cup are going to cost substantially more than a decent thermometer. I'm definitely going to look for sheeting in the future though. I may even make a small batch that I purposely over cook so I can see how the syrup acts at under, just right and over cooked temperatures..

4) It sounds like I slightly over-heated my filtered syrup. I brought it back up to a boil for several seconds and immediately killed the heat.. I then scooped or poured the syrup into prepared jars. I didn't think I OVER-heated it but perhaps only a half minute at a full boil is all it takes to induce clouding / sugar sand in the finished syrup? That appears to be the case.. Is there a preferred method to filter out sugar sand / nitre that developed after the finished syrup had cooled? I know it's mostly aesthetic but I want to give away a few bottles of syrup this spring, including to the land owners where the sap came from, and would like the bottles to be as close to commercial maple syrup as possible. I suppose I could let it settle and pour off the clear syrup, heat it up to 180f and re-bottle it? That seems like the easiest solution...


Thanks for all the advice!

PS: I checked my buckets this afternoon and there has not been much sap collecting the past few days, if any.. I assume it's the same for most of you Nutmeggers?

[G0J0]

PS: I checked my buckets this afternoon and there has not been much sap collecting the past few days, if any.. I assume it's the same for most of you Nutmeggers?

yup. I haven't even bothered to look truthfully its been so cold. the excitement over that very first batch is cool.

[happy thoughts]

.....but perhaps only a half minute at a full boil is all it takes to induce clouding / sugar sand in the finished syrup?

You don't want filtered syrup to reach anywhere near the boiling point once it's filtered. Most sources will tell you not to bring it above 200*F and even that temp may be enough to cause more niter to form.

I try to keep my clear stuff under 190*F at bottling. When the temp hits 185-187 I turn the heat off. The syrup needs to be at a minimum of 180*F when the cap goes on for best keeping. Keep in mind that there will be some cooling between the pot and the time the cap goes on so the syrup need to be a little higher than that minimum temp going in. I also pack into heated glass bottles. Some people use a hot water bath to keep temps in that range. You'll find what works best for you in time.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the hotter you pack the more volume shrinkage you will see in the bottles on cooling, Packing at temps close to ideal will see less shrinkage thus less airspace in the bottle. Less air space helps prolong storage.


I suppose I could let it settle and pour off the clear syrup, heat it up to 180f and re-bottle it? That seems like the easiest solution...


Yes, you can do that. In fact many big producers repack from large bulk containers as needed. Just make sure you reheat to the recommended temps. No more, no less.

[asknupp]

Alcotrast,
I'm already finding that a hydrometer might be the most important tool in the boiling process. My thermometer is already proving to be not very useful.

[Sugarmaker]

alcontrast,
Good thread and great documentation! Good pictures of your equipment and process. That helps us help you!
Filter the syrup at boiling temp. then reheat to 180 for canning.
Yes small batches with lots of sugar sand will not filter well. Prefilters may help a little but they are really for doing 1 to 20 gallons a day. They filter out the big stuff before it gets to the felt. You might try just several prefilter together rather than the fel. That might do a pretty good job of filtering.
I think your doing a great job. I would recommend getting a good digital thermometer reading in tenths of degree about $35.00. The hydrometer cup and hydrometer is used to calibrate the thermometer with actual syrup. Another way to calibrate the thermometer is in boiling water. Water doesn't boil at 212 every where due to elevation (about 210 here) So we make syrup at 217.1 ish.
The sheeting method gets you close. When I see sheeting (big fat wide drips) I am usually about 1 to 2 degrees below syrup. Just remember sheeting will not tell you if you have gone way over temp. The drips would just be bigger.
The bubbles and color of the bubbles can indicate syrup is getting close also.
That bigger pan sounds nice and you would only need to fill it 3 inches deep. and then keep adding sap as it boiled down.
Have fun!
Regards,
Chris

[girmann]

Welcome to sugaring alcontrast!

I never really worried too much about what constitutes actual syrup. It's the taste that matters - especially if you're never going to sell it. Yes, if you get the sugar content right, it lasts longer - but it never seems to last very long in this house, anyway.

For what it's worth, I put a pot of water on the stove before I go out to get the sap and then take a reading of the temperature of the boiling water when I get back. Then I just boil until the sap is 7.5 degrees above that. I've tried the sheeting method (and it's a great excuse to keep taking the syrup), but I was never really good at it. No one has ever complained about my "syrup".

I figure I don't need to stress about it, since this is just a hobby for me. I'm only doing 5 taps this year. Besides, I hardly make enough on any given day to fill a hygrometer! :-P

Girmann

[happy thoughts]

As far as I'm concerned, for home use a hydrometer is optional especially if only making small amounts. If it's in your budget go for it. If not, learn to work with it. If you think your syrup is too thin, refrigerate or freeze it. If you bottle it, make sure you are scrupulously clean in everything you do at time of bottling. Under dense syrup is more prone to mold in storage. The syrup going into the jars will be virtually sterile because of long boiling at temps well above 212*F. Any mold spores that enter the syrup will come from contaminated jars, lids and other equipment. Because I too have yet to take the hydrometer plunge I sterilize jars, lids, and my ladle. Also take care not to touch the inside surface of the lids when capping.

Sheeting has worked for me. I have never had a bottle mold in storage and only had one small bottle develop rock candy like crystals a few years ago. I have some bottles left from 2 and 3 years ago that still look as good as they did at the time they were packed. My syrup tastes great and no one ever complains. In fact, they keep asking for more :). So just have fun and keep at it :)

[G0J0]

Looked today, and enjoyed a nice sap-sicle hanging from just below the tap. No juice.

[alcontrast]

thanks again for the additional advice.. It's always cool to see a community of people helping each other! I have a feeling the next batch will go a lot smoother thanks to all your help. But really this first batch went pretty well as far as I'm concerned. :)

I bought a digital thermometer which will be way better than the analog candy thermometer I was using but I'll still calibrate it against a pot of boiling water before using it with syrup to be sure it's accurate, I'm only about 80' above sea level so it should be pretty close to 212f/100c for boiling water. I checked the analog thermometer against boiling water and it seemed like it was reading at least a degree or two F on the low side but the scale on that candy thermometer is not exactly precise and it also responded crazy slow. I tested the analog thermometer in a pot of boiling water where I was sterilizing my jars while my sap was finishing on the adjacent burner and that's when I realized the candy thermometer was not going to be accurate enough. A little too late unfortunately!

I've done a bit of water bath canning in the past (pickles, salsa, veggies) so I'm pretty careful about sterilizing the jars, caps, etc.. I don't know much about the rubber gaskets on the two flip top flask type bottles I used so I left them in the boiling water a little longer than the jam jars. Those "flasks" were brand new bottles and those will be the first used so I'm not really concerned with longevity for those anyway..

I think my biggest mistake (aside from not using a more accurate thermometer) was bringing my filtered syrup back up to a rolling boil before bottling it. Next time I'll only go as far as 180-190 F after filtering. I have a feeling that the filtering will be a bit more of a trial by fire type learning process but I picked up a lot of good info from your replies and a couple of other threads on the forum.. I'm looking forward to my next batch!!

When I do my next batch I'll probably add the clear syrup from the first batch to the near finished new batch; trying to leave all the sugar sand / niter at the bottom of the jars. My last question [today!], and I feel like an embarrassed maple virgin even asking this, but are niter and sugar sand the same thing or are they entirely different side effects of poor filtering/over heating the syrup? If they are different what is the difference?
.
.

here's a photo of the biggest jar from my first batch showing the "sugar sand" at the bottom. This is after 3 days of settling..
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I'm more than happy with the top 7th of the jar but would like to avoid that bottom bit in the future.. And no, my table, floor, house are not exactly level. Things have shifted a bit since the 1800's..

[Run Forest Run!]

Yup, sugar sand and niter are both referring to the same thing. The colour of your syrup looks wonderful. There'll be a lot of plate licking at your house. :)

[happy thoughts]

Nice color in that syrup alcontrast. Looks like liquid gold. Addicted yet? :lol:

[maplerookie]

alcontrast: It might be easier to calibrate in Ice water. fill a small glass with crushed ice. add water ,wait a couple mins. temp should read 32 degrees f. make sure you pack (over fill) that jar with crushed ice. cubes don't work as well. When you boil make sure you take the temp in a boiling pan of water right next to where you are finishing. don't believe h2o boils at 212..that is only at sea level. then bring your syrup 7.5 degrees above your boiling water temp...should be syrup or darn near .

[happy thoughts]

alcontrast: It might be easier to calibrate in Ice water. fill a small glass with crushed ice. add water ,wait a couple mins. temp should read 32 degrees f. make sure you pack (over fill) that jar with crushed ice. cubes don't work as well. When you boil make sure you take the temp in a boiling pan of water right next to where you are finishing. don't believe h2o boils at 212..that is only at sea level. then bring your syrup 7.5 degrees above your boiling water temp...should be syrup or darn near .

Kind of- boiling point changes with elevation and barometric pressure. Since pressure changes constantly, boiling point will vary constantly, too. Here's a handy calculator for boiling point that takes those factors into consideration.

http://www.thermoworks.com/software/bpcalc.html

But that said, using a thermometer alone will always have it's it's limitations. Move the most accurate thermometer around in a large pot and see what happens. The syrup will probably not be an even temp throughout. Let the probe touch the bottom of the pan and see what happens. Also consider that most pans have a few hot spots. So when have you reached the *right* temp?

What some call an inaccurate thermometers when temps are all over the place, I call an accurate thermometer:) Even the best thermometer can only give you a ball park figure at best.

[maplerookie]

Kind of- boiling point changes with elevation and barometric pressure. Since pressure changes constantly, boiling point will vary constantly, too. Here's a handy calculator for boiling point that takes those factors into consideration.

http://www.thermoworks.com/software/bpcalc.html

But that said, using a thermometer alone will always have it's it's limitations. Move the most accurate thermometer around in a large pot and see what happens. The syrup will probably not be an even temp throughout. Let the probe touch the bottom of the pan and see what happens. Also consider that most pans have a few hot spots. So when have you reached the *right* temp?

What some call an inaccurate thermometers when temps are all over the place, I call an accurate thermometer:) Even the best thermometer can only give you a ball park figure at best.What you say is true. I think the issue here is that Alcontrast doesn't want to lay out the expense for a hydrometer. so his best bet is temp as a guide and recognizing the sheeting off of a spatchula for this year. probably next year when he really has the maple bug he will go out and buy one...cause we all know in out hearts that it will get bigger and bigger . I am waiting to get bigger when I retire from my job, then I will have time to play more.

[happy thoughts]

What you say is true. I think the issue here is that Alcontrast doesn't want to lay out the expense for a hydrometer. so his best bet is temp as a guide and recognizing the sheeting off of a spatchula for this year. probably next year when he really has the maple bug he will go out and buy one...cause we all know in out hearts that it will get bigger and bigger . I am waiting to get bigger when I retire from my job, then I will have time to play more.

I agree as long as you are not just going by temp but looking for sheeting as well. For someone making a small amount for home use, the expense of a hydrometer may not make much sense. It doesn't for me yet either. But If you just think it's syrup because you reached some specific temp you'll more than likely end up with some under density syrup that could support mold growth in storage. I'd rather have over dense syrup even if that means crystal might form. At least it's going to keep well..

[lpakiz]

Hydrometers are around $18 at the dealers. Even my first year with a dozen taps, I felt a hydrometer was worth the money. Take the money you would spend on a thermometer and put it towards a hydrometer. You will have perfect syrup.

[happy thoughts]

If I could find one for that price I'd go for it, too. But some of us are far from dealers. Last year I found one at a hardware store and they were asking $32. That's about the same price as mail order with shipping and handling. Then you need a test cup which is even more expensive than the hydrometer. And with my luck I'd use it once and break it, lol. I can buy a gallon and a half of syrup for less than that and save a whole lot of work for myself. But where's the fun in that :)

[DaveB]

Hydrometers are around $18 at the dealers. Even my first year with a dozen taps, I felt a hydrometer was worth the money. Take the money you would spend on a thermometer and put it towards a hydrometer. You will have perfect syrup.

A thermometer is nice to have to watch the temperature rise. A hydrometer doesn't do much good unless it's really close and then you have to stop, measure and start again while a thermometer would tell you how far off you go. I also remember a few batches where I barely had enough syrup to fill the testing cup and my father finally reminded me that it was fine the way it was and didn't have to be "perfect" for our use.

I would just like to say welcome to Alcontrast and that there's nothing wrong with making syrup for yourself using a thermometer. I preferred the taste test myself when I was first starting out. :D

[alcontrast]

assuming I make syrup again next year I'm definitely moving away from the turkey fryer method! It's easy and convenient just slow with the tall narrow 11gallon pot! I realize this isn't a fast process no matter how it's done but I can tell the pot is definitely slowing things down to some degree..


I'm currently finishing sap I started this weekend.. about 22 gallons of sap (roughly) and I's reduced down to around 4 gallons at the moment.. I'm away for work all week but I think I may just bring this 4 gallons down to 2 and store it in my fridge until the weekend. Then I can do a bigger boil (I have around 35-40 gallons collected now and should have another 25 or so by the weekend) and add the mostly reduced sap to that.. Then finish it all as one decent sized batch.. It seems easier to do that but....

Are there any concerns with a week in the refrigerator for 90% reduced sap aside from leaving something like a bunch of asparagus in there as well and ending up with some slightly odd flavored syrup? I'll seal the sap pot with shrink wrap and then put the lid on it to avoid contamination and it will just be for 6 days at most..

[markct]

I wouldn't worry about putting it in the fridge, my evaporator stays full in the sugarhouse all season, and at times we end up going a week or more with no sap to boil and never had a problem at all

[Sapling]

Alcontrast - I also started with a turkey fryer propane burner and pot. It works, and we made some fine syrup that way. We stored the partially boiled sap in the refrigerator in a covered pot between boils and the finished syrup came out very good (clear light amber).

This year we upgraded to a “hotel pan” on the same turkey fryer burner. With the volume of sap you have, I think you could immediately benefit from the same change.

A “hotel pan” is the slang term for a steam table pan. We are using a “full size 6" deep” pan. Its just under 21" x 13". Google that description and you will see them. They are about $20 and provide for more than 2.5X the surface area of sap as compared to our 11.25" turkey fryer pot. Surface area is a key factor in evaporation rate.

Our evaporation rate more than doubled with this change. The steam table pan & propane burner is good for about 1gal per hour of evaporation. Most importantly, because we are using the same burner, the fuel consumption per hour is unchanged, but the evaporation rate is more than double. The other way to look at that is to say that by changing from the fryer pot to the steam table pan, we are using about half as much propane to do the same work. We saved the cost of the steam table pan in propane savings very quickly.

In fact, I added a second burner and pan when I saw how much better it worked. I have discovered/proven that propane is a very costly way to boil sap. But, propane is very convenient, and quick to start and stop. There is good reason why most people working with any real volume use wood fires. Im not quite there yet, but maybe some day.

Good luck and have fun!9265

[Littlesap]

Alcontrast, I too started w/steam table pans, in fact I still have them. Not sure where you are in central CT but if you want these just make me a reasonable offer and they're yours. I think there are either 3 or 4. You can buy cinder blocks from HD and build a nice little block arch for under $20, just make it narrow enough so the pans sit on top or rest the lip of the pans on the blocks. It will dramatically increase your evaporation rate and as long as you don't wet morter the blocks you can just take it apart and stack somewhere out of sight for the summer. LMK

[markct]

Littlesap, how is sugaring going down your way this year, having a decent year so far up here close to 100 gal syrup so far, the underground hobbit house is slowly filling with kegs of syrup! I have nearly all my taps on vac this year so that helps.

[Littlesap]

It started late for me, didn't get taps in for those few weekends in Feb but lately it has been flowing well. I only have 75 taps in this year but they're all on vac so I'm getting enough to have fund. Have a couple gallons finished and should finish this week w/a few more.

I was wondering how the hobbit house worked out, that's great to hear.

[markct]

Yup its all done and stayed about 37 deg inside all winter! I will post pics when i get on computer later. When you were here it was just a hole in the ground and a crazy idea with giant pipes laying around! I was pleasantly surprised to see this morning i got around 1000 gal of sap that ran since i pumped tanks at 3pm yesterday

[markct]

http://mapletrader.com/community/showthread.php?21376-Storing-syrup-underground


Thats the link to the thread on here with all the pics of my underground hobbit house as its become known, holds up to 100 of the 15 gal kegs

[hodorskib]

That is the coolest thing, no pun intended, that I have seen in a long time. One of these days I have to get up there to check out the operation.

[markct]

Thanks for the compliment Hodorski, it was a rush to get it done before winter but it happened. Was getting pretty cold by the time i poured the floor but plastic over the doorway and a electric heater kept it fine inside