Snowy Pass Maple
03-14-2010, 10:00 AM
Cool website, and I'm already learning a lot! I haven't yet seen anyone else who makes syrup this way, so I thought I'd share my experience as an introduction and ask a question.
This is my 3rd year tapping. I heat with wood on a freestanding soapstone stove. Through the winter, I keep a large open stock pot on my woodstove filled with water to keep the house humidified.
During the maple season, I use maple sap instead of water and steadily concentrate it. When I accumulate extra sap, I keep it in a 5 gallon bucket and extra milk cartons in the fridge until I can get it boiled down. I have typically made between 1/2 and 1 gallon this way. The syrup never boils - it just slowly releases water vapor and concentrates the sugars. After a couple of weeks, I get it close to target this way and then finish on the kitchen stove which is the only time it boils, and that is for a few minutes.
The interesting thing about this is that it produces an incredibly light grade of syrup even when concentrated to spec with a hydrometer. It's only about half as dark as the Vermont Extra Fancy sample in my grade kit!
Wondering if anyone else has tried this and if you've had similar results from this method.
I have also done processing on a flat pan over an open fire pit and getting a darker syrup which I also like. But I find that tapping 2-4 trees and doing this "humidifier" method works great for making a decent batch of syrup with the only extra work being getting water from buckets outside vs. my sink.
This is my 3rd year tapping. I heat with wood on a freestanding soapstone stove. Through the winter, I keep a large open stock pot on my woodstove filled with water to keep the house humidified.
During the maple season, I use maple sap instead of water and steadily concentrate it. When I accumulate extra sap, I keep it in a 5 gallon bucket and extra milk cartons in the fridge until I can get it boiled down. I have typically made between 1/2 and 1 gallon this way. The syrup never boils - it just slowly releases water vapor and concentrates the sugars. After a couple of weeks, I get it close to target this way and then finish on the kitchen stove which is the only time it boils, and that is for a few minutes.
The interesting thing about this is that it produces an incredibly light grade of syrup even when concentrated to spec with a hydrometer. It's only about half as dark as the Vermont Extra Fancy sample in my grade kit!
Wondering if anyone else has tried this and if you've had similar results from this method.
I have also done processing on a flat pan over an open fire pit and getting a darker syrup which I also like. But I find that tapping 2-4 trees and doing this "humidifier" method works great for making a decent batch of syrup with the only extra work being getting water from buckets outside vs. my sink.