New to tapping

[Winslow]

Hello to the locals,
A little introduction: 70 acres, 30 in hard maple, decent slope, some trees 6' diameter. Previous old timer owner built shack 1950 tapped until 2000. No activity on farm since 2000.
In the process of rebuilding the sugar shack; has original brick/mortar arch. This is new to us, no tapping experience at all. Lots of reading and research have gotten us this far. New flat pan SS 2x3, preheater sits on flue box support, 60 gal. feed tank. New spiles, thermometers, hydros for sap and syrup from CDL, used buckets, lids in hand. Our plan to start, evap and then finish on propane burner. For this year only 25 taps.

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Have plenty of dried wood, just installed new flue box and pipe. Still need storage containers, plan on 55g food grade barrel to start. Plowed extra snow behind shack for reserve cooling if needed. Read thru all the Maine maple postings and appreciate those which help new folks like us. Thanks

[Page Meadow Maple]

I am new-ish too. Going into my third season. Last year I upgraded from lobster pots on propane burners to 2x3 Leader half-pint evaporator, and went from 25-80 taps. You need a pretty good volume of sap to run the pan on the half-pint to a point where you have near syrup in the pan, and the level is not so low as to worry about burning the pan. I would suggest you double your number of taps! Janet (Lowell, Maine)

[Winslow]

Thanks will take that into consideration, easy to do. I need to locate sap storage containers soon.

[Page Meadow Maple]

I just use big garbage cans with tight lids to store sap for a few days. Like you, I find a shady spot and build a snow refrigerator around each can. Put them right next to wherever you pull in with your sap.

When you are ready to boil, use a small 1 gallon bucket as a scooper and pour the sap through a cheesecloth filter and into one of those 5 gal food safe buckets you can buy at Lowe’s or get free in the bakery section of the grocery store. Always have a full bucket of sap next to the evaporator to toss in if you get too low. And remember, the sap will keep evaporating long after you put the last stick of wood in the arch. It stays hot for a few hours.

Once the reduced sap cools, I draw off as much of the “almost syrup” as I can and then lift the pan and pour off what is left into a finishing pot (a two person job). When that reaches syrup density, I pour it hot into the canner, through a double filter. When I have enough volume and am ready to can, I bring the syrup to canning temp, not syrup temp, because I don’t want more niter to form after I have filtered.

When I bought my half pint, I had this fantasy I would be drawing off syrup from the big pan through a filter and straight into bottles. While it absolutely speeds up the boiling process, it does not eliminate any steps or pans.

I would love to hear how others use there 2x3 pans!

[Winslow]

I just use big garbage cans with tight lids to store sap for a few days. Like you, I find a shady spot and build a snow refrigerator around each can. Put them right next to wherever you pull in with your sap.

When you are ready to boil, use a small 1 gallon bucket as a scooper and pour the sap through a cheesecloth filter and into one of those 5 gal food safe buckets you can buy at Lowe’s or get free in the bakery section of the grocery store. Always have a full bucket of sap next to the evaporator to toss in if you get too low. And remember, the sap will keep evaporating long after you put the last stick of wood in the arch. It stays hot for a few hours.


Once the reduced sap cools, I draw off as much of the “almost syrup” as I can and then lift the pan and pour off what is left into a finishing pot (a two person job). When that reaches syrup density, I pour it hot into the canner, through a double filter. When I have enough volume and am ready to can, I bring the syrup to canning temp, not syrup temp, because I don’t want more niter to form after I have filtered.

When I bought my half pint, I had this fantasy I would be drawing off syrup from the big pan through a filter and straight into bottles. While it absolutely speeds up the boiling process, it does not eliminate any steps or pans.

I would love to hear how others use there 2x3 pans!

Well today got the stack thru the roof, found some refractory mortar, and boiled out the new flat pan.
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At this point we plan to replicate exactly the way your doing it, only thing I might change is adding a draw off to the pan. The pan is 24g stainless so not a lot of room for error in drilling and adding a spout. May eventually add baffles to it.
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Thanks for explaining your system. Good tapping