Holding Sap

[Paul01036]

Newbie here.... How long can do you hold sap. I collected over this past weekend and it was frozen last night. I plan to boil this weekend, how long can I hold it, being in New England and in the 50's today I have some concerns. we drop down tonight.

Thank you in advance!

[ecolbeck]

Sap should generally be treated as a perishable product (e.g. like milk). In my opinion, the warm temperatures last night and today would be cause for some concern. I would look for ways to chill the sap or boil it soon. We are boiling today for that very reason.

[berkshires]

Newbie here.... How long can do you hold sap. I collected over this past weekend and it was frozen last night. I plan to boil this weekend, how long can I hold it, being in New England and in the 50's today I have some concerns. we drop down tonight.

Thank you in advance!
Not sure where you are in MA, but most places it's going to get cold tonight, and stay cold well through the weekend and into next week. So if it's still at least partially frozen now, and you can move it to a collection container of some kind that you can keep in the shade today, then as long as there's still ice in it it's not going much above 32. A cold front comes in this afternoon, and by tomorrow it'll probably be frozen solid again.

If frozen sap has an expiration date on it, it's probably weeks or months, not days.

GO

[berkshires]

Honestly, I think your problem is the opposite. If you wait until this weekend, you're going to be trying to boil a solid block (or blocks, if it's in buckets) of ice.

GO

[therealtreehugger]

Honestly, I think your problem is the opposite. If you wait until this weekend, you're going to be trying to boil a solid block (or blocks, if it's in buckets) of ice.

I agree. I was planning on boiling this past Sunday, but everything was frozen solid. Kind of hard to get a very large sap ice cube in the evaporator pan! On the flip side, at least it was cold, and was able to keep longer. I wasn’t able to boil yesterday, so I will be lighting the fire the minute I get home from work today, and will probably have a late night.

[maple flats]

I think if it still has any ice in it when you get home from work, it will keep. In fact, if it is 2/3 ice and 1/3 liquid, dump the liquid (poor man's RO) to boil and toss the ice..
Sap spoils and the warmer it gets the less time you have to boil it. While sap spoils, you can still make good syrup, just less and far darker than had it been boiled right away. You can also protect it if necessary, just bring it to a fast boil for about 15 minutes, then cover it and let it set. repeat every 2 days if it gets warm again. The boil kills off micro-organisms which feed on the sugars in the sap, but it doesn't prevent new ones from gaining a hold again.
You will find out that the best practice is to boil every day, if your work prevents that, find a way to hold the sap at under 35F, that will buy you 3-4 days. Are you in Hampden? For future reference, maybe you can find an outlet for sap your schedule doesn't allow you to boil. Contact other local producers, maybe one will boil on shares for you. I did that for year for 4 other producers, I'd accept fresh sap from them, run it thru my RO, then boil it into syrup. They got a % back in syrup based on the sugar % of the sap.

[Paul01036]

I think if it still has any ice in it when you get home from work, it will keep. In fact, if it is 2/3 ice and 1/3 liquid, dump the liquid (poor man's RO).
Sap spoils and the warmer it gets the less time you have to boil it. While sap spoils, you can still make good syrup, just less and far darker than had it been boiled right away. You can also protect it if necessary, just bring it to a fast boil for about 15 minutes, then cover it and let it set. repeat every 2 days if it gets warm again. The boil kills off micro-organisms which feed on the sugars in the sap, but it doesn't prevent new ones from gaining a hold again.
You will find out that the best practice is to boil every day, if your work prevents that, find a way to hold the sap at under 35F, that will buy you 3-4 days. Are you in Hampden? For future reference, maybe you can find an outlet for sap your schedule doesn't allow you to boil. Contact other local producers, maybe one will boil on shares for you. I did that for year for 4 other producers, I'd accept fresh sap from them, run it thru my RO, then boil it into syrup. They got a % back in syrup based on the sugar % of the sap.

Thanks for the great info! Yes, Hampden MA I will check it out tonight when I get home and boil. I am using an Smokey Lake 2 x4 propone evaporator so it should be easy to start and shut down.

[Keitha333]

I agree with Maple Flats in chucking the ice that forms to concentrate your sap especially of you have some consecutive days at freezing temps. No sense using more wood and time if you don't need to!!

[DrTimPerkins]

...if it is 2/3 ice and 1/3 liquid, dump the liquid (poor man's RO).

Pretty sure he meant to say "dump the ice" and keep the liquid. Must be quite the painkillers they have you on there Dave. :)

[therealtreehugger]

Toss the gun, keep the cannolis . . .

[Greenfin]

Newbie here.... How long can do you hold sap. I collected over this past weekend and it was frozen last night. I plan to boil this weekend, how long can I hold it, being in New England and in the 50's today I have some concerns. we drop down tonight.

Thank you in advance!

Here in MN I have access to the blue plastic food grade barrels at a cheap price so I store my sap in them underneath my 3 season porch so they are protected from the sun. I have holes cut in the top that are just big enough to put reused gallon size juice containers that have been filled with water and placed in a deep freeze. On days where it is warm I rotate them out twice a day to keep this app as cold as possible. I boil at most three days a week during the height of the season and have had really good luck keeping this app fresh and bacteria free.

[maple flats]

Pretty sure he meant to say "dump the ice" and keep the liquid. Must be quite the painkillers they have you on there Dave. :)
Yes, you are correct Dr Tim, as usual. It wasn't pain killers just a typo, I just re-read it and edited my error, thanks for correcting my typo. I guess I should learn to read my posts before I actually post them, something about old dogs and new tricks prevents that.

[Paul01036]

Here in MN I have access to the blue plastic food grade barrels at a cheap price so I store my sap in them underneath my 3 season porch so they are protected from the sun. I have holes cut in the top that are just big enough to put reused gallon size juice containers that have been filled with water and placed in a deep freeze. On days where it is warm I rotate them out twice a day to keep this app as cold as possible. I boil at most three days a week during the height of the season and have had really good luck keeping this app fresh and bacteria free.

Great idea about dropping in a frozen container. Thank you

[GWebb]

Last year a neighbor gave me some sap that looked pretty milky. Day temperatures around 55 - I processed 20 gal, but had to hold some until next day. Through the night, the rest of it turned into a nasty useless slime. So now I'm pretty conscious of warm weather affects: now RO the sap as quick as possible and if I cannot boil it, I throw it in the freezer. If not enough room for it all, I toss jugs of ice in it. Also made me an "ice chest" out of 55 gal drums that will store a couple buckets of frozen or at least keep concentrate cold for a while.