How long will "sweet" last?

[tappin&sappin]

I'm sure that I'm not the only one facing this dilemma. Looks like it will be at least another week before I get to boil again. I've drained and cleaned the pan since the boil a week ago.

Right now I've got 15 gallons of sweet sitting in 5 gallon buckets in an insulated bulk tank. Will it be any good when the next boil comes around?

Thanks,
Jake

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

As long it is doesn't get really warm for several days, it should be fine as long as it was all boiled hard and pasturized good.

[brookledge]

I leave all the sap in the pans. If it freezes up for a week or so I may start a small fire once and a while. Some have put a light bulb in the arch and it gives off enough heat to keep itfrom freezing to hard.
The bottom line is that sap and especially once it has been concentrated it doesn't freeze as solid as water. Alot of times it looks frozen but if you poke at it it is just slushy.
This time of the year it is cold enogh to keep the sap you have and put it back in the pans
Keith

[sweetwoodmaple]

As others have said, no problem with keeping sweet stuff, even just a few % above normal sap.

A little off topic, but related. A few maple meetings ago ( 7 or 8?), Bradley from Leader came down and gave a talk about making the lightest syrup.

While Tubing, UV lights, etc came up...the most important factor was "gather today...boil today" mentality.

Even if it just a small run, get it in the pan and boil. Remember, you don't have a lot of issues with boiling time and darker syrup until the % sugar is way up there.

A lot of times with very small runs, I'll just dump 100 gallons or so of sap into the evaporator (bypass the float to get it in there) and fire for only a 1/2 hour or so. As Brandon said, this is just enough to kill the bacteria and raise the sugar % up so it will keep.

I also usually keep my sweet in the evaporator. No problems with damage and freezing in 8 years.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

I have to agree 100% with what Brad from Leader said. The problem with that statement is that most of us work full time jobs and we can't start the evaporator every time is runs a little nor is it worth our time to waste time collecting the little bit of sap.

Same holds true with someone with an RO. You can't fire it up for little amount of sap. In a perfect world we would...................

[tappin&sappin]

Thanks for the replies guys. I typically leave the sweet/sap in the pan, but was bored on Sunday and decided to clean the sugar sand up off the pan while I had the time.

When I do leave it in the pan, I put a couple heat lamps in the arch to keep things from freezing up.

[Russell Lampron]

Once my pans are sweet I will boil some small runs even using the RO. A 90 gallon run will let me boil for about 2 hours from the time I light the fire until I run out of concentrate. Sometimes it seems like a waste of time to go out and gather but I gather and boil small runs to keep the sap from spoiling late in the season. I also do this before a freeze up so that my buckets and tanks are empty.

Russ