Affects of syrup using direct vs. indirect heat

[Swagner]

Evening all. As with anything else I have found this to be an ever learning thing. Last year at the start I did my first batch (only 5 gallons ) on my wood stove. It gets hot enough to bring to a boil. And what I got from this was a very golden syrup with a hint of butterscotch flavor. Well come this year the start was slow and I have just one tree really running for me. So I did the same again. 4 gallons this year. With the same results a pint of very golden butterscotch flavored syrup. Any one else find that a more indirect heat source changes the syrup. Would be interested if anyone else uses their stove and gets the same results.

[red maples]

you will get a lighter color and flavor of syrup when using a low simmer on a wood stove. when you have a more direct heat the sugars will cook more and you will get a darker stronger flavor. you are only cooking down 4-5 gallons at a time so it will be light.

[John c]

I use a steam pan on my wood stove and just keep adding sap all season long. When I finally decide to finish it off it is always my own personal stash. When you get up to around 20 gallons of sap you will notice all the scum collects on the bottom of the pan instead of floating on top like it would at a full boil, so every 20 gallons or so of sap I just filter the whole batch through a high thread count white bed sheet into another steam pan. I usually get about 2 gallons of wood stove syrup.

[pennslytucky]

since the 2x6 is out of commission this year i decided to try it on my big forester 32 wood stove. i went with the aluminum steam pans beacuse they would transfer heat much better plus they have an embossed pattern in the bottom i think adds to the boiling a tiny bit. 4 pans fit perfect on the stove and i fire it like an evaporator with the draft wide. it boils HARD in the front 2 pans and farily well in the top 2. 4-5gph if i keep at it. im getting the exact same medium syrup i always do. maybe im getting more heat to the sugar than you guys?

[John c]

I decided to try and get a bit more out of the wood stove this season, so I added a pre-heater. This is 50 gallons worth of 2.5% sap so far. Because it's basically just a simer on the wood stove I take it to my restaurant grade bouble gas burner and bring it to a heavy boil for a few hours every day then put it back on the wood stove. I've been through 50 gallons this way only since Saturday evening. At this rate I will go through 100 gallons in no time at which point I will finish that batch and start over again.
This method has given me some delicious syrup (for my personal use) over the years!

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz81/Bigjohn010672/43548174-FBB5-4511-AC1A-E5C3ECEA76FA.jpg (http://s816.photobucket.com/user/Bigjohn010672/media/43548174-FBB5-4511-AC1A-E5C3ECEA76FA.jpg.html)

[Swagner]

Yesterday I collected almost 15 gallons. Not bad but definitely not enough to fire up the outdoor pit. Temps suppose to fall the next couple of days. as long as it continues to flow at this rate I will definitely continue using my stove inside. Im using my warming pot at this point. But I think later I too will be going out to get my hotel pans for on top of the stove. I figure if I'm able to get a small boil in my hotel pot should be able to do really good in hotel pan.

[Shakeyjake36]

Yes indirect heat will make a lighter syrup, less carmelization . However , one rule of thermodynamics states "the most efficient way the transfer heat if from the hottest area to the coldest area". So that is the only drawback to your setup but if you are happy with the syrup you are making, keep at it and have fun.

[pennslytucky]

is that a baby bear fisher? i had the chance years ago to buy a papa bear for 250 bucks but didnt because i thought it would be too big. wish i had. fisher stoves are about as good as it gets. my forester is kind of a copy of a papa bear. 32"x16" inside the firebrick. right now its got all 4 steamer pans at a rolling boil! its our only heat all winter and even at the -30's we had last couple months, it never even broke a sweat. i love calculating (and reminding the mrs) how much it saves me compared to burning fuel oil

[Ravenseye]

This is a good thread. My first year I used a propane stove and a flat pan. That's it. Once the batch got close, I brought it into the house and finished it off on the kitchen stove. Most of my syrup was light and tasted a little like butter or even butterscotch as mentioned. I only got darker syrup close to the end of the season. Last year I added a turkey fryer and all my sap starts there. Even though it doesn't have the surface area as my flat pan, it boils like crazy. So, I usually boil down 20-25 gallons of sap until I have one fryer full of sweet and then I start moving it to the flat pan to get it nearly done. Since I started doing it this way, all my syrup is darker. I think it's because the sap simply spends more time in contact with the heat. Yes, I can do more but doing it this way results in darker syrup. Or at least that's what I think. It all tastes good though!!!

[Swagner]

I myself prefer the darker syrup. But here in Mass the weather is very colder this season. My trees just started to unthaw and run. I have 7 tapped so far. My woods trees were getting on average about a gallon per day. My 2 front yard trees are getting between 2-3 gallons a day. One of my road trees is getting between 3-4 gallons a day and my other road tree will overflow a 5 gallon bucket in a day. Trees were running good until it froze up again on us. But still not enough collected to fire up exterior unit. And since it's cold and I need to heat house and don't want to let sap sit for that long it's multi purpose. I like mine thicker so I bring it to 9 degrees over boil and my last 10 gallon batch got 32/1. Compared to other areas I'm very happy with this.