Boiling in New Aluminum

[Waterdownredneck]

Hi there fellow tappers, is it still considered not safe to boil sap if it's in a new aluminum pot from a kitchen supply store? Or is it just not safe to store something in aluminum? Thanks for your thoughts.

[Vtmbz]

Id be concerned the acidic nature of sap would leach something out of the aluminum, but im sure aluminum is used all the time. All stainless, all the time, is my motto.

[Andy VT]

I don't think new or old matters so much, as long as you know where it's been, but aluminum versus stainless steel makes a difference. I'm not sure one can really say aluminum is proven to be unsafe, but you'll definitely be consuming more aluminum than you would if you boiled in stainless steel. People do boil for years in aluminum turkey fryer pots and live to tell about it. There probably is no data on how they fare long-term versus people who don't. But I (and it seems most others) have settled on stainless steel only. There's little reason not to.

Full size stainless steel hotel pans are pretty affordable (try webstaurantstore or your local restaurant supply), and for stovetop finishing stainless steel stockpots are relatively justifiable for other culinary purposes besides making maple syrup, assuming you're a small enough operation for stovetop finishing.
If you need more surface area than a hotel pan for your initial outdoor evaporation, vevor and okhardwarestore have good stainless steel options (just remember when vevor says "divided pan", it isn't).

My plan this year is a stainless steel hotel pan converted to warming pan to feed my 2x3 vevor flat stainless steel pan over propane, which will feed another hotel pan over another propane burner for further concentration, and then finish in the kitchen in a stainless steel stockpot (all reused from last year but the process flow is upgraded this year). The hotel pans are $24 locally and the 2x3 is $170 online.

This year for the first time I'll have an RB5 in front of all that.

Now, storage is another matter. You can buy brand new aluminum sap buckets and no one seems to be complaining about those too much. But, maybe a little.

[Waterdownredneck]

Thanks for the reply guys, looks like it’s stainless for me still. I use hotel pans over my fire burner but over my propane I used two stainless stock pots. The one has in holes so that’s why I’m looking for another one. Take care.

[maple flats]

Back about 20 years ago, i was invited by a friend to sample his syrup. The syrup was evaporated in a 3x5 SS flue pan then finished in an aluminum stock pot over a big commercial gas burner. My wife and I both tested it and had the same opinion, the aluminum was definately tasted in the finished syrup.
As a result, I have never used nor advised anyone to boil syrup in aluminum, even just to finish it. That syrup in my opinion was not very good, it had a rather unpleasant after taste.
This is why no big companies make aluminum pans for boiling maple syrup.