Between boils

[red dorakeen]

I boiled 36 gallons of sap down to about 10 gallons. How long can I leave it in the pan while waiting for more sap? We've had a stretch of warm nights and the sap hasn't been flowing.

[GramaCindy]

In the past, especially if it is going to be above freezing, I have drained the somewhat sweet out of the pans and froze it until the next boil.

[Woodsrover]

If its going to be more than a couple days I'll bring it up to a boil again and then just shut it down.

[red dorakeen]

Today will be the 3rd day without more sap.

I belive I should have drawn off the what was nearly done to finish on the stove..

I don't have enough freezer space keep 10 gallons.

I may have to discard this batch. At least I got to try out the new rig.

[McAllister farm]

Today will be the 3rd day without more sap.

I belive I should have drawn off the what was nearly done to finish on the stove..

I don't have enough freezer space keep 10 gallons.


I may have to discard this batch. At least I got to try out the new rig.

As long it doesn't smell or tast sour it still will be good just might be really dark when it finished. I would only dump it if it soured.

[maple flats]

Do not dump it unless soured. It will still make good syrup. It is not almost syrup yet either, if it started at 2% sugar, you now have about 7.2% if your quantities are correct, for syrup you need to go to at least 66.5%, I go to 66.9%.
As long as it boiled hard, you killed any bacteria in it. After that, unless the concentrate's temp rises into the mid 40's or above it will keep OK for a week or more. If the concentrate rises over that it may sour over a long storage time, but the sugar is never ruined. It will still make good dark or very dark syrup, or you could still make it into candy, the higher temperature that you cook it to rids it of off tastes.

If 2% sap is boiled down, you end up with about .84 gal of syrup if going to 66.5% syrup, a little less if going sweeter. That means you would be adding over 9 gallons of moisture in your house. Not generally a good idea.

[red dorakeen]

The sap was just barely 2%.

When I posted that I thought I should have drawn off some, I was thinking just a gallon or 2 from the last channel where it was darkest.

It was boiling good and doesn't smell off near as I can tell.

Guess I'll try to salvage it and see how it turns out. I'm not sure if I should risk wasting any new sap with this batch and don't know how I could get this even close to finished in a 2x4 divided pan.

Maybe I'll have to get it as low as I dare in the new pan, cobble a quick block arch and finish it in my old buffet pans.

Thank you everyone for your much appreciated input.

[Daveg]

Treat/handle sap and concentrate the same as you would any perishable, like milk. As soon as it rises above above 39°F bacteria begins to grow, in some cases doubling every 20 minutes. To salvage the ten gallons you ended up with, finish it soon, or maybe freeze what you can and finish the rest? Can your buffet pans fit on a cooking stove you have indoors? With indoor humidities so low in the winter, a 5-6 gallon boil-off isn't going to peel the wallpaper.

[Daveg]

Last night, I boiled 45 gallons of 4% concentrate down to 4 gallons and I was chasing the last 2 gallons with 0% permeate. I'll finish the rest indoors.

I boiled 36 gallons of sap down to about 10 gallons. How long can I leave it in the pan while waiting for more sap? We've had a stretch of warm nights and the sap hasn't been flowing.

[red dorakeen]

Well after appointments I finally had a chance to go out and check on the sap in the pan. It's temp is just below 37°F and today is the warmest weather since I boiled so I'm confident it's ok. Also I measured the depth and it's 1 & 3/8". So I'm thinking a a little less than 7 gallons.

Tomorrow looks warmer though. I'll freeze a few blocks of sap tonight to put in the pan tomorrow and hopefully be boiling in a couple days.

This is ridiculously warm for this time of year.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Can you pour into 5 gallon food grade bucket and dig into a snow bank. I would make a simple sheet metal cover for your pan so when you shut down and walking away for the night you can slap that over the pan so the bacteria is slowed down some.

[red dorakeen]

I have a stainless steel cover over it.

[DrTimPerkins]

Either:

1. Dump the entire contents into a smaller container (turkey fryer) you can finish the batch in, or....

2. Bring the sap in your evaporator to a boil for a very short time (a few minutes), then shut it down...just make sure it boils throughout the entire rig. That'll kill anything that has started to grow. Repeat this every day or two in warm weather. If you're concerned about the level getting too low, add some water before boiling, or....

3. Freeze until you have more sap.

[Jacob]

Do you know what the temperature of the sap was for the 10 gallons this is my third year and I boiled about 45 gallons outside until it reached 216 degrees which left me with 5 gallon just hoping I am not doing something wrong then on stove to 219 degrees

I boiled 36 gallons of sap down to about 10 gallons. How long can I leave it in the pan while waiting for more sap? We've had a stretch of warm nights and the sap hasn't been flowing.

[red dorakeen]

Do you know what the temperature of the sap was for the 10 gallons this is my third year and I boiled about 45 gallons outside until it reached 216 degrees which left me with 5 gallon just hoping I am not doing something wrong then on stove to 219 degrees

Don't know what the temperature was. I had to shut down for lack of sap. If the weather forecast had held i thought I would be boiling again within a day or two.

[red dorakeen]

Either:

1. Dump the entire contents into a smaller container (turkey fryer) you can finish the batch in, or....

2. Bring the sap in your evaporator to a boil for a very short time (a few minutes), then shut it down...just make sure it boils throughout the entire rig. That'll kill anything that has started to grow. Repeat this every day or two in warm weather. If you're concerned about the level getting too low, add some water before boiling, or....

3. Freeze until you have more sap.


That 2nd option might be the best for me tomorrow. I have a little more sap now and could add it in.

I would like to get the pan sweetened and see if I can get into a routine if the weather will cooperate.

[Jacob]

Thank you for the quick reply
QUOTE=red dorakeen;317523]Don't know what the temperature was. I had to shut down for lack of sap. If the weather forecast had held i thought I would be boiling again within a day or two.[/QUOTE]