Evel Knievel of sap storage

[stimyg]

I've been sugaring for 10+ years, hobbyist, 20-30 taps, boiled mostly on my propane grill. This is a weekend home, and I boil only on weekends - and occasionally miss a weekend so it can be 2 weeks between boils.

I've always been the Evel Knievel of sap storage. My buckets hang a week between collections, sometimes hang a couple weeks. If it gets warm and they get seriously funky I dump them. Otherwise if it's stayed cold and they're not wildly bad, I use it. 98% of the time I'm using it. Always turned out great. (Almost always. Don't ask about the March run of '18.)

I've always been a lot more careful with my sweetened-but-not-finished sap/syrup. Let's say I couldn't finish a batch in a given weekend. I'd boil it down to a size that would fit into my fridge and leave it there. Otherwise that's a lot of work to ruin by letting it sit outside and go bad.

But now I've finally upgraded my system to a real evaporator, 20"x48", divided pan. Exciting! I hope to add some more taps too.

As I'm mentally working through my new system, I'm realizing that I'm going to have probably take a full weekend or two to even sweeten my pan. BUT, emptying that large volume of sweet out of my evaporator and storing it in my fridge is somewhere between a hassle to impossible. (Not sure I can boil low enough to get a small enough volume that will fit in my fridge, if that makes sense.)

So...

How long would you dare leave sweetened sap in an evaporator?

If you were like me, the evel knievel of sap storage but not a total idiot who wants to waste all his hard work, how long would you dare?

One thing I don't get - let's say you're boiling. You kill the fire. Once the sweet is close losing it's boil, you cover it with a nice-fitting lid. Isn't the inside of that going to be completely sterilized, by the boil and the heat and the steam? Why couldn't you leave that for a very long time, no matter what the temps? There shouldn't be any organic activity happening in a sterilized system to spoil it... right? What am I missing? (I know it's not a completely sealed system, but it seems pretty close.)

[buckeye gold]

Time and nature has a way of teaching us all how far we dare go! Bacteria will find it's way in. I have left sweet a week in mid 30s to sub freezing temperatures, but if it's getting above 40 and I can't finish it I'm draining and refrigerating. If space is a problem reduce it more on propane. After you discover your first pan of slime you'll rethink leaving it.

[Sugarmaker]

Boil often and Keep boiling!!!! Boil the sap till you run out, or make into syrup and store. DO NOT boil all the syrup out of your pans trying to reduce it more. Stop when the sap is gone let it cool and drain into buckets if you need to store it. Maybe invest in a freezer or fridge if you cant boil often. Almost syrup will only last so long. Especially if the weather is too warm. If cold then it may last much longer in the evaporator.
Regards,
Chris

[bigschuss]

I was like the OP when I first started. Sweet in your pan for a week if it's cold is no problem. But it all depends on temperature. If it gets above freezing you begin to run the risk of losing your entire sweetened pan. To do all of that work sweetening your pan and then to lose it is going to be disappointing.

Since you really can't depend on the weather, I would figure out a way to take your sweet home with you and store it until your next boil. If you take your time and go real slow, you can take your sap in the pan down to about an inch, or as low as you feel comfortable. That's still a lot of sweet...could be 3 or 4 gallons in your 20x48? But way better than losing it all, and wasting your time. Buy a dedicated dorm fridge to keep it in?

[maple flats]

If that's a weekend home, can you ladle any unfinished concentrate into a food grade bucket of 2, take it home and finish it on the stove with a vented range hood running? You should be able to reduce the 20x48 pan depth to 3/4", if perfectly level, maybe even 1/2". Then haul it and finish at home.

[Ghost]

https://www.foodsafetymagazine.com/fsm/assets/Image/2304DangerZoneFig1.jpg

[Andrew Franklin]

I'm in the same position as you...full time job, two kids in sports, and my trees an hour and a half away. So here's a crazy idea...what if I ran my sap as it collected through a smaller tankless water heater that took it to 180 or so? Then pump it through a well insulated 55 gallon drum filled with water and marine antifreeze? I'm talking copper pipe coils inside the drum, and insulating it or even adding a small tank heater on a temp sensor so it wouldn't freeze but would stay cold. Them, into a storage container. Since I take time off to go down when very warm this would just be for what runs on marginal days - a week between visits at most and I'd go mid week if it got too warm. Would this keep bacteria in check better than sitting out? Seems like it would. I'd welcome any feedback. With 110v tankless units so cheap I bet I could build it for a couple of hundred bucks...if it would buy me a few days it would be worth it!