First timer, would love some help

[romeroae]

So, we moved into this property three years ago (10 acres, half dozen maples), and I got bitten by the bug. So this year my wife got tired of me saying "lets try mapling" and let me buy a few taps.
Im just playing with it this year, spending some time reading the forums and tapping a few trees, and lts loads of fun! But, ive got some questions for the big timers.
Like I said, this year I started small. Two weeks ago, I put in Three taps (dont laugh :), drilled and have tubes running into gallon jugs that I cleaned out alot. I think I timed it perfect for a thaw we had last weekend, because from the three taps, in 24 hours I had full gallon jugs that were overflowing. This was two weeks ago, and basically nothing since then...so, I decided to process what I had in total (about 7-8 gallons total).

Step one: Ran all the sap through a tyvek like filter I found in the store where I got the taps. This caught alot of large particulate, and I ended up with pretty nice clean sap.
Step Two: Started Boiling a pan full on the wood stove I had going in the parlor. Used a Large deep turkey roasting pan, same size as the top of the wood stove. It could only heat it up to about 180, so I moved it over to the cooktop, and have been boiling it for a few hours. Its rolling now at 208-210 degrees, and I already figured (on a previous test run of small amount) that my target is 215, so I think im on my way. Plan is to let it cook a while longer, and then filter it again at about 213 or so, and then final cook it later.

Questions for the crew.
1. Test run I did a week ago on 4 quarts was ok. I was playing, so I didnt filter it. I just wanted to see how it would go. It went ok, but ended up VERY cloudy, and had Zero brown color to it. It looked like the syrup I make for the humming birds out of cane sugar and water. And, it had No maple flavor either. Just tasted like sugar water. Is this because its early in the season or did I do something wrong.

2. Today I am boiling the other 5-6 gallons since I had the fire going. Got a rolling boil eventually. But almost immediatly I noticed a "skim" on the surface that looked like oil. Is this ok?

3. Also, after it boiled off about 3 gallons, im also seeing ALOT of fibrous threads floating in the sap. Is this normal?

4. The syrup/sap is still VERY clear...not getting very mapley smelling, nor colored...normal?

Thanks guys! This has been fun

[romeroae]

ok, finished the boil on 4 gallons. Filtered with drip method through paper towels, and its amber this time. Thinking the 4 quart boil didnt let the sugars caramel?I totally just made that up tho.

Tasted it (only cooked to 212, still runny, need a second cook) and its sugary (yay) but not mapley (boo). Any ideas?

[Clinkis]

Your target will be 7.1 degrees above the boiling point if water which will vary day to day and with elevation. Check a pot of boiling water with your thermometer and find the boiling point of water and add 7.1 to it (typically around 219). It will be very clear and watery until you get it up close to that. An even better suggestion is go invest in a hydrometer. It takes the guess work out of knowing when it's syrup and not just sweet water. You can usually get them for $15-$20 and is a must-have, IMHO, for all suger makers especially beginners. There is plenty of info on this forum about them. As far as filtering goes. Should only need to filter sap at beginning and then final product. As far as scum or residue on surface. That is normal. It will usually foam up during boiling and you keep removing it with a strainer. Also keep in mind the early season syrup, especially wheh done in small batched, is typically very light and mild in flavour. Hope this answers some of your questions! Have fun

[adk1]

Paper towels probably not the best idea. U will most likely get fibers in the syrup.. But hey, if it's just for your own consumption go for it.

[romeroae]

Absolutely helpful!!! Just needed a little hand hold...
Ya, upstate ny here. Ran boil with a digital thermometer in it. Sap boiled at 208, and stayed at 208 all afternoon so im figuring thats my boil temp. So, i added 7 to it, and got 215 as a target. I was afraid of scorching it so I had the thermometer beep at 213. At 213, I filtered it, and it came out VERY amber. Its 1030, so I figured I could just add this half cook to some sap at the next boil as long as I keep it in the fridge. It only made a pint...so its not going to take long to heat back up.
So, its very clear after the papertowel filter, and no threads or "skim" left so i am happy. I was just very worreid about all that Scum floating on and in it that I couldnt see in the clear sap. Keep reading about mold and stuff so I just thought id ask .Sounds like its all normal.

Tasted it because I couldnt resist. Was sugary, but not maply. Color DEF more amber than first run a week ago. Does the maple flavor improve with the season too? Is that what you mean by mild? I guess I was just too anxious last week.

This is great. I have a pint of syrup, a kitchen full of steam, an impressed wife, and a sugar high. How does it get any better :)
Next year, 10 taps lol

[romeroae]

Paper towels probably not the best idea. U will most likely get fibers in the syrup.. But hey, if it's just for your own consumption go for it.

It was an impromptu. I was planning on coffee filters, but then read they take FOREVER. I got this tyvek feeling cone shaped filter that I used for the prefilter...is this fine enough for the final filter?
yes, its only for our consumption this year. With three taps, im predicting/hoping for 20-30 gallons, enough to make a quart or two for my own pankakes and waffles. Next year, I might do more and maybe play with maple cream or candy...but this year im just testing the waters. The paper towels went ok, but I def can imagine that a more solid filter would be preferable for selling to consumers.

[wnybassman]

Absolutely helpful!!! Just needed a little hand hold...
Ya, upstate ny here. Ran boil with a digital thermometer in it. Sap boiled at 208, and stayed at 208 all afternoon so im figuring thats my boil temp. So, i added 7 to it, and got 215 as a target. I was afraid of scorching it so I had the thermometer beep at 213. At 213, I filtered it, and it came out VERY amber. Its 1030, so I figured I could just add this half cook to some sap at the next boil as long as I keep it in the fridge. It only made a pint...so its not going to take long to heat back up.
So, its very clear after the papertowel filter, and no threads or "skim" left so i am happy. I was just very worreid about all that Scum floating on and in it that I couldnt see in the clear sap. Keep reading about mold and stuff so I just thought id ask .Sounds like its all normal.

Tasted it because I couldnt resist. Was sugary, but not maply. Color DEF more amber than first run a week ago. Does the maple flavor improve with the season too? Is that what you mean by mild? I guess I was just too anxious last week.

This is great. I have a pint of syrup, a kitchen full of steam, an impressed wife, and a sugar high. How does it get any better :)
Next year, 10 taps lol

If you had a couple more degrees to go the amount will likely decrease by half again, and will certainly thicken up a bunch. The last couple degrees are the tricky ones though, you definitely don't want to take your eyes off the pot!

[romeroae]

If you had a couple more degrees to go the amount will likely decrease by half again, and will certainly thicken up a bunch. The last couple degrees are the tricky ones though, you definitely don't want to take your eyes off the pot!

Ya, sounded like the yeild was way too high for the 40:1 I was reading about, but unfortunately I think you are right...more loss to go. Do you forsee any problems with storing the half cook in the fridge until the end of the season to do a final boil with all my product? Im figuring i'll end up with 3-4 pints of this half cook (213) and so my plan was to cook it all a the same time to the final 215 or so and then bottle it. Im not worreid about it lasting too long since I am making so little (so little its laughable to you big operations im sure) but half of doing this was just to learn something new. So thanks for putting up with all my questions!

[romeroae]

Thanks guys! here are some pictures im sharing despite being terrified someone will chime in with a "thats no maple tree!" or something like that :)


https://plus.google.com/photos/100763674617178465418/albums/5991584514043823841?authkey=CKOvit-jsqD4ew

[Run Forest Run!]

What a great bunch of photos Al. One thing though, you and your wife need to put your heads together and find somewhere outside to be boiling down the sap. Your kitchen will be ruined by all of the sticky steam and you'll be measuring up the dog house for a cot. ;)

Isn't sugaring fun? You bet!

[Michael Greer]

You might store it in the freezer just to make sure it keeps. The deeper color, and more robust flavors develop toward the end, and that last few degrees are the slowest to reach. Your ultimate target will be a syrup that doesn't ferment because of too much water, and doesn't crystallize because of too much cooking. There's a spot between booze and candy that's just right.

[Evets]

What a great bunch of photos Al. One thing though, you and your wife need to put your heads together and find somewhere outside to be boiling down the sap. Your kitchen will be ruined by all of the sticky steam and you'll be measuring up the dog house for a cot. ;)

Isn't sugaring fun? You bet!

I totally agree. Move it outside or one day you'll find all your nice wallpaper laying on the floor!:o

[happy thoughts]

Ditto on better done outdoors especially if you tap more trees. If you have a wood stove and heat your house with it you can put your sap in pans on top and let it slowly evaporate. This will add humidity to your house but won't overload it like boiling a bunch of gallons at one time indoors. When a volume of sap is reduced to a reasonable volume, give it a quick boil and refrigerate. You can repeat the process with fresh sap and keep adding to your reduced sap in the fridge until you have enough to finish it to syrup. At some point you're going to have to fully boil this reduced sap to develop your syrup's color and flavor but it doesn't have to be boiled hard from beginning to end. And odd as it may sound, if you are only dealing with a gallon or so of sap at a time, a crockpot can be used to reduce sap as well. On high and uncovered once it reaches temp, volume should reduce by half in about 12 hours.

Re your tyvek filter- Did you check its suitability for use on food? If you're not sure, find another material you know to be food safe or just let the sand settle out on sitting and carefully decant the clear stuff off.. Initial filtering of sap after collection can be done with a strainer. You just want to remove visible debris.

[romeroae]

Thanks Karen. Honestly, just playing around this year and ..we did read the warnings about steam but we thought...its only a few gallons, how much steam is that really. HOLY COW!!!. Lesson learned. Outside it goes, or back on the wood stove for a slower cook :)

[romeroae]

There's a spot between booze and candy that's just right.[/QUOTE]

This needs to be a bumper sticker

[romeroae]

Ditto on better done outdoors especially if you tap more trees. If you have a wood stove and heat your house with it you can put your sap in pans on top and let it slowly evaporate. This will add humidity to your house but won't overload it like boiling a bunch of gallons at one time indoors. When a volume of sap is reduced to a reasonable volume, give it a quick boil and refrigerate. You can repeat the process with fresh sap and keep adding to your reduced sap in the fridge until you have enough to finish it to syrup. At some point you're going to have to fully boil this reduced sap to develop your syrup's color and flavor but it doesn't have to be boiled hard from beginning to end. And odd as it may sound, if you are only dealing with a gallon or so of sap at a time, a crockpot can be used to reduce sap as well. On high and uncovered once it reaches temp, volume should reduce by half in about 12 hours.

Re your tyvek filter- Did you check its suitability for use on food? If you're not sure, find another material you know to be food safe or just let the sand settle out on sitting and carefully decant the clear stuff off.. Initial filtering of sap after collection can be done with a strainer. You just want to remove visible debris.

Thanks. I described it as "tyvek like" because i dont know what its made of. It was sold right next to the mapling supplies. and LOOKS like this http://okhardwarestore.com/images/Maple0015_Filter_Liners.JPG
Is this fine enough for a final filter?

Will work on the outside boiler, or the crockpot idea sounds really good too, and can go all day while im working next door.

[ren46]

The filter you showed from the link that your using looks like a sap filter. It filters sap nicely but wont do as good a job as one that is designed for syrup. The cone shaped synthetic (felt like material) filters work better but can be tricky to use sometimes after the syrup cools and thickens. Lots of threads discussing use of filters here on the maple trader. These can be purchased thru most maple suppliers for about $12 (5qt size). But if your not really worried to much about syrup clarity and its for your own use maybe doubling up the sap filters will help.

Happy sugaring!
Ren

[maple flats]

If you're going to boil on the stove refrain from boiling more than an hour. The pan you show has lots of surface area, so you put lots of moisture into the room in a short time. You will be adding far too much moisture to the room. I'm in Oneida, just 25 miles East of you, and I've never experienced a hard boil in water at 208. Was the boil just starting or was it a full blown boil? You want the later. If it was, your thermometer is off, but as long as you use the same one from start to finish, you should be good. Here, on low pressure days the lowest boil I've had was 210.1. more often 211. Some high pressure days, up to 212, but rarely. The Tyvek like filter isn't even a sap filter, it is a pre filter, to be used inside the final syrup filter. They can be washed, but just squeeze and hang to dry, do not wring them out.

[happy thoughts]

That looks like a syrup cone filter or more likely a prefilter to me so you should be good to go.

Good luck and have fun :)

[romeroae]

The filter you showed from the link that your using looks like a sap filter. It filters sap nicely but wont do as good a job as one that is designed for syrup. The cone shaped synthetic (felt like material) filters work better but can be tricky to use sometimes after the syrup cools and thickens. Lots of threads discussing use of filters here on the maple trader. These can be purchased thru most maple suppliers for about $12 (5qt size). But if your not really worried to much about syrup clarity and its for your own use maybe doubling up the sap filters will help.

Happy sugaring!
Ren

Thanks. ya, it filtered the SAP very well. Very fast, and very clean afterwards. I got worried about using it for filtering the syrup though, since I was only making a half pint, and the filter was so big i didnt want to loose too much product. I tried reading the filter threads, but honestly, 99% of it is "RO, .05 micron, pressure filter yada yada" which im SURE makes a nice product, but honestly, my outlay this spring so far is 1.99x3 for taps, and .99 for the one filter. Im just having fun this year trying to learn. I havent found a step between paper towels and RO-.05micron-pressure triple filtration just yet. I think thats what Im looking for...one step up. Something to filter about 2-3 quarts, which is my goal for next year.

[romeroae]

If you're going to boil on the stove refrain from boiling more than an hour. The pan you show has lots of surface area, so you put lots of moisture into the room in a short time. You will be adding far too much moisture to the room. I'm in Oneida, just 25 miles East of you, and I've never experienced a hard boil in water at 208. Was the boil just starting or was it a full blown boil? You want the later. If it was, your thermometer is off, but as long as you use the same one from start to finish, you should be good. Here, on low pressure days the lowest boil I've had was 210.1. more often 211. Some high pressure days, up to 212, but rarely. The Tyvek like filter isn't even a sap filter, it is a pre filter, to be used inside the final syrup filter. They can be washed, but just squeeze and hang to dry, do not wring them out.

Haha ya, you can see the steam in the pictures...that was only 2 gallons. I really didnt think it would steam so much :)
Ya, I was wondering about my thermometer. It was bubbles at the bottom of the pan at 160 or so (i wasnt paying attention), and light boil at 206-08, and then a wierd rolling boil UNDER a wierd skim at 208. Remove the skim and it was a rolling boil. Peaked at 208 for 3 hours, so im figuring that it was a real reading. Depending on where the thermometer was placed it would jump to 210. I liked this thermometer because it has a temp buzzer so I didnt have to stare at it all day. It was amazing how after a fast boil was achieved, it was slow to evaporate the first inch, but the last inch in the pan seems to go on turbo and dissapear in half the time as the higher inches.

It doesent give 0.1 degrees, and the way it jumped from 08 to 10 made me realize it wasnt accurate, but like you said, its the 7 degrees, not the absolute temp which matters. I am at 1500 feet, and oneida is at 400 ft (per google, dont know your address). Maybe thats the difference?

[romeroae]

That looks like a syrup cone filter or more likely a prefilter to me so you should be good to go.

Good luck and have fun :)

Syrup cone filter? prefilter for sap, or prefilter for syrup before final filtration? So where do i use this filter...for the inital sap filter, or for the filtering after cooking to final temp? Seemed to do fine for the sap filtering, but im looking for a syrup filter for the final pint that I get. THe paper towels worked ok, but im trying to keep it legit and not be TOO ghetto. They didnt seem to cause much particulate contamination, so maybe I will stick with them, but if what I have will do hte job and be reusable, then i might as well.

[Run Forest Run!]

Al, spend a few minutes and read this thread from 2012. It's meant for small-timers like us. I'm sure you'll find some very useful ideas.

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

[romeroae]

Al, spend a few minutes and read this thread from 2012. It's meant for small-timers like us. I'm sure you'll find some very useful ideas.

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

Perfect. thanks for the tip. Havent seen that thread yet so will dig through today.

[happy thoughts]

Sorry my mistake. Sap filter. For the very small amount you're making I'd just let gravity do the work. Let it sit and settle on it's own and then you can carefully pour off the clear on top. The sand isn't going to kill you. It's mostly calcium salts and sugars assuming you aren't using galvanized or lead containing taps or other equipment to collect and process your sap.

[romeroae]

Sorry my mistake. Sap filter. For the very small amount you're making I'd just let gravity do the work. Let it sit and settle on it's own and then you can carefully pour off the clear on top. The sand isn't going to kill you. It's mostly calcium salts and sugars assuming you aren't using galvanized or lead containing taps or other equipment to collect and process your sap.

Nope, all plastic. Three plastic taps, 4 inches of tubing, into gallon milk jugs. No flaking zinc.

[wnybassman]

I've always finished my syrup inside on the stove, but usually only have to boil off a half to a full gallon or so to achieve finished syrup. No range hood, but I do put a window fan unit in the kitchen window to exhaust, and crack the outside door to let in some fresh (but sometimes cold) air to replace the air I'm exhausting. Actually, it just makes for better air flow if I crack the door. I keep an eye on the humidity meter in the kitchen and rarely go above 5% of normal, if any. Yesterday I started at 41% and it never got higher than 43%. We produce way more moisture when we're canning in the fall.

[romeroae]

am I late for the ny season? When did you guys tap trees? I keep reading of some people who are pulling thier taps ,and others just putting taps in. I put mine in a few weeks ago, before any sort of thaw. But, i keep reading that maybe this season is a craphole? I tried to put them in whne i saw the local pros putting them in...and the local lines are still up...but then why are some people cleaning up already?
I fell like im late to the party haha

[happy thoughts]

am I late for the ny season? When did you guys tap trees? I keep reading of some people who are pulling thier taps ,and others just putting taps in.

No this year you're probably just right. The season has barely started though it is very late this year compared to most. You can check out the NY tapping threads to see how your neighbors are doing. Anyone pulling taps is probably from warm areas in the southern states like TN or KY or has some other reason to pull their taps like a planned vacation. Most years by this time the season is half over except for the northern New England states and Canada.