Ice in buckets

[The Butcher]

Is it true if there is ice in the buckets it (the ice) should be taken out because it doesn't contain sugar?

Some mornings while collecting there is quite a bit of ice others not so much. I don't want to be wasting sap but if this speeds up my evaporation process I am all for it...

Thanks for any input!

[farmall h]

We always left it in until we gathered...keeps the sap fresh.

[red maples]

there are a few threads on this subject. There is some suspened sugar in the ice athough not very much. but there is some. I never pitch the ice!!!

[vtsnowedin]

If you have a sap hydrometer you could fill a five gallon pail with ice chunks and set it in the sugar house to melt then test it. I don't know the answer and whether I tossed the ice out of buckets depended on how far behind in the boiling I was. With the pipe and tank system I hope to never have any ice except on some blue barrel tubs to worry about.

[PerryW]

I toss out the ice unless the weather is warm and I want the ice to keep the sap fresh. I try to let the sap drain out of the chunk before I toss it though.

Years ago, I saw someone test some ice with a refractometer and it was pretty much 0%.

[mitchmaple]

hey butcher, we went through the same thing your going through, wondering too. we took a bucket half full of ice, melted down the ice, and the sap hydrometer read 0. dumped all the ice, collected the sap, and it read 4 percent. haven't worried about ice since. if it comes off cold and freezes solid before you can collect, then you have to worry about the ice splitting your pails. a pail full of sap isn't worth what the pail is. chuck that too. thats my take on it. best of luck.

[WESTVIRGINIAMAPLER]

One issue with ice is that the sugar normally goes to the center of the ice and if it gets cold enough, the ice will freeze completely solid and when it starts melting and melts some in the bucket, if the center hasn't melted out, the sugar is still trapped in the center.

[The Butcher]

Thanks guys!

[Hurry Hill Farm]

We keep brand new "kitty litter scoops" on hand to take the ice out of buckets. That way you can let the ice chuncks drip out the concentrated sap and not freeze your hands off and soak your gloves.

Also, if you get those big chunks of ice in buckets, let them thaw a little, whack them in half with a hammer and let the concentrated sap in the middle of the "ball" drip out.

Two other notes: Freezing sap was the only way the natives made concentrated sap. Buckets will freeze once ok because of their shape (generally, if not too full) BUT if they thaw even just a little and THEN re-freeze again, the weight of the frozen "ball" is too heavy and the little liquid at the bottom of the bucket is not sufficient to make the "ball" float and the sap goes up along the inside edges of the bucket and freezes and THEN breaks the seam. I always maintain that even a 1/2 full bucket will break if it freezes, thaws a little, and re-freezes; and therefore, re-freezing is the REAL problem, not freezing. Good luck.

[PerryW]

Just make sure you get a food grade kitty litter scoop.

(Well somebody had to say it)

[red maples]

So what have we learned some where in the world there are food grade!!

kitty liter scoops
so there must be food grade kitty liter boxes
trash cans
toilet brush
so there must be food grade toilets
JB weld
nails

anything else I missed?:lol: :lol:

[KenWP]

Get the scoops made for ice fishing. They are metal and SS so would work better. With a kitty litter scoop you can use it for other things the rest of the year.
I would love to see just how much equipment is used by people that isn't food grade and never will be.
Haven't heard about food grade firewood yet or food grade fuel oil. Hmmmmmmmmm makes a guy wonder.

[johnallin]

If plastic pails and tanks aren't the best , how come all the new taps are made of plastic?

[3rdgen.maple]

Red the list is getting long. You forgot
Radiator hose
spark plugs
red flannel shirts for filtering syrup

add baby diapers to that list now

[wnybassman]

red flannel shirts for filtering syrup


Hmmmm, makes me wonder if the old baby diapers I use for filtering are food safe?? (you know, new old style baby cloth diapers ) ;)

[pelz]

i am on buckets, i have two collection pails and ice is strained out at the tree using a 5 gallon bucket strainer from U S plastics coorperation, i don't recall the micron size strainer i have but it strains out the ice and other any debris, then its dumped into a pail with a float controlled motor which pumps up to a barrel on my polaris 6x6, with out the strainer ice gets under the float controll and the pump will just keep running. the strainers were well worth it.

[farmall h]

Are you sure those are not "adult" diapers?:lol:

[KenWP]

I wouldn't mind one of these bucket strainers. I have been useing old pillow cases for strainers to get the logs big black bugs and stuff out of the sap.