need help

[coyotejimbo]

I would like to make syrup next spring. The problem is I never did it before. I bought some taps and buckets,but I need advice on the evaporation part. I will be tapping about 25 to 30 trees. I would be thrilled if I ended up with a gallon of syrup. Of course the more the better. What kind of evaporator do I need. I'd like to get something without taking out a loan on my house. Also is there a book I could get on the subject? I don't understand a lot of the terms I'm reading. Any help you could give me would be great.
Thanks Jim

[Haynes Forest Products]

Google How to make Maple syrup. Yup start by getting all the free info and then get the books. Dont bite off more than you can chew as far as equipment. Getting alot of fancy equipment wont make you a sugar maker.

[xyz5150]

I Started this addiction last year I bought the North American maple syrup producers manual it helped me a lot. Search this web site and you will find a ton of information on every aspect of making maple syrup. Warning making maple syrup is as addictive as nicotine.

[ADKMAPLE]

coyotejimbo! welcome! you in the same boat I am, although I will hold off until the following season. Alot of people start off either making their own evap out of materials they have and an open style/cinder block arch..Others use outdoor turkey fryers...
You must buy the North American Maple Producers Manual, Second Edition I believe. Has to be the most comprehensive guide out there covering all aspects of sugarin. Ohio State University put it out, you can buy it through most maple retailers like Bascoms or Leader Evap etc.

[maplehound]

coyote;
the most important things you need to know or have is: What size hole to drill in the tree and what how you are collecting the sap, Where you will store the sap till you boil it, what you will boil the sap in, how to tell when it is at the right point to be true syrup. All else is fun to read and look at but just complicates things when you are first getting started. It sounds like at this point you are most worried about what to boil in. For that you can use anything that holds water and can be heated. The turkey frier idea that many on here use sounds like a great idea to me and so is the cement blocks with a wood fire under any pan that you have. Just remeber this is not rocket science even if after reading all the diffrent material out there makes it sound like it.

[3rdgen.maple]

Run Coyote Run. Run fast and run far. It all starts for most with the very same questions then you end up getting very little sleep for 10 1/2 months just waiting for 6 silly weeks of no sleep just cause of the addiction of drilling holes in wood, playing with fire, watching sap boil, looking at shiny stainless steel and that syrup you could probably buy cheaper if you added up all your investments in it. LOL With 30 taps or so I would be looking for a used halfpint. If you end up and you will tapping more and more every year you can turn around and sell one for close to what you payed for it. If you go to a dealer like Bascom's Maple Farm online you could pick up 30 aluminum buckets for around 90 bucks, 30 soule spouts for like 75 bucks, Get some kind of food safe storage container $? orlon syrup filter 15 bucks maybe, Syrup hydrometer $20, The $300 dollar barrel evaporator in the classifieds on here for $300. Just steel a pot or 2 from the house to filter in and your off and running.

You know I think someone could make some money on here if they came up with a complete starter kit for the guy that wants to get into this addiction.

[Haynes Forest Products]

3rdgen They do make starter kits they just cost about $50,000.00 Thats why Im glad I made my first syrup in the parking lot with the SS drum out of a commercial washing machine. cooked till it tasted good and then I ate it:)

[3rdgen.maple]

LOL Haynes I was refering to something a little smaller and a better price.

[maple flats]

Welcome aboard. You will like making maple. Some start small and stay small BUT most get hooked and need to grow each year. If you look for something used you can do well. Best buy now because prices climb the last 2-3 months before the season. Try looking here : http://www.bascommaple.com/store/used.php You can also watch ebay and craigs list, as well as many classifieds on the web and closer to home. Be sure to look in the classifieds in this forum too.
In an AVERAGE season you will make about 1 qt/tap but there are big fluxuations in the numbers making that average. My own numbers range from my best (2008) of .38 gal/tap to my worst by far (2010) of .055 gal/tap. But except for this years super low yield my numbers are all in the .18-.38 gal/tap. Using the qt/tap average you should plan to make about 6-8 gal with 25-30 taps. What to boil in? I used a turkey frier as my first finisher and after tasting my first batch (detected a metalic taste, but many do use aluminum pots ) I went and bought a 20 qt SS pot at a store called Big Lots, a close out type store for $20. I am still using it after 8 seasons but it developed a crack in the rim at the weld a year ago. What ever you use plan on boiling away about 42 gal of water for every finished gal of syrup (2% sap), that it a lot of steam, too much for most homes to handle unless you have a very good steam hood. Best think outdoor or under a tarp or leantoo roof or even a shed. A garage has been to many a "first sugarhouse". My first was on our patio in a 24 x 36" evaporator called a Half Pint which I bought used for $500 and sold a year later for $600 as I went to a 2x6' used unit. Many start with an arch made of cement blocks with a flat pan set on top. The link I posted above has many pans but being so far away you would need to trust pictures to buy one. Can you burn wood where you are in Duluth? Some places are getting squirrelly about wood burning. Realize that boiling with wood creats very little smoke. In any evaporator arch (the part under the pans) you burn so fast there is not detectable smoke except in the first few minutes while you get it going. Once burning good, no smoke. To help you gauge how fast you burn, plan to add wood every 5-7 minutes unless you add high pressure air which then you add every 15 minutes (you might want to plan that in a few years if you grow but would never be worth it on 30 taps.Good luck, this is fun.

[DrTimPerkins]

You must buy the North American Maple Producers Manual, Second Edition I believe. Has to be the most comprehensive guide out there covering all aspects of sugarin. Ohio State University put it out, you can buy it through most maple retailers like Bascoms or Leader Evap etc.

One small clarification. OSU is the publisher. It was actually written by a maple researchers, maple extension educators, and a few practitioners from across the spectrum of the maple industry. Came out in 2006, thus was mostly written in 2004, so already is slightly out of date in some small areas.

[Ausable]

I would like to make syrup next spring. The problem is I never did it before. I bought some taps and buckets,but I need advice on the evaporation part. I will be tapping about 25 to 30 trees. I would be thrilled if I ended up with a gallon of syrup. Of course the more the better. What kind of evaporator do I need. I'd like to get something without taking out a loan on my house. Also is there a book I could get on the subject? I don't understand a lot of the terms I'm reading. Any help you could give me would be great.
Thanks Jim

Well Jim - You came to the right place - I've been making maple syrup as a backyarder for approx. 15 years and I'm still learning. I will keep the process very simple - You say You have taps and pails to catch the sap -- a good start. Normally we start tapping trees about the first of March or when it still freezes at night and thaws during the day. We tap the sugar or hard maples, as they have the highest sugar content, with a 7/16 drill bit. Drill in with a slight upward slant about 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 inches - depends on how rough the bark is. Tap your spile or tap into the hole so that it is snug enough to hold the weight of the pail with sap in it. Hang your pail from the spile hook or on the spile itself. The purpose of the cover is to keep rain - snow and debris out of the sap in the pail. Ok - so Mother Nature has been kind to you and the drip-dripping has filled some of your gathering pails with sap - It should look like water. So make your rounds gathering your sap and rehanging your pails. I do most of my work outside or in my little sugar shack. You can store your sap in five gallon pails with lids in a cool or cold place out of the sun - example - an unheated garage or shed. Till You are ready to do a boil. It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. I did have a small homemade barrel stove with a 2' x 2' open pan and would start a boil when I had approx 40 gallons. If you have a turkey cooker and the weather is good you can boil it down outside and finish on (Gulp) Momma's stove - this has been fatal to some - but - some of the gals humor us - for awhile. As You get close to Syrup it will have a tendency to foam up - to stop this add a small tab of butter or a few drops of olive oil or defoamer. A simple check to see if you have syrup is dip a little on a large spoon and see if it sheets and if it does you could can it in canning jars. You now have Maple Syrup stored in jars and have joined the ranks of the syrup makers. Forgot something - Filtering - the simple way - on Your 5 gallon storage pails - put a piece of cotton cloth over a five gallon pail held with cloths pins and pour your gathered sap through this and into the pail - it will remove bugs - bark etc from your sap.. For the next filter (use a piece of wool felt or something similar) wet it and wring it out and pin it to the pot going on Mas kitchen stove to finish - filter your almost syrup from the turkey cooker pot into the finishing pot. then on to mas stove to finish----- When your canning jars with the syrup in them seal and cool down and clear - You will notice something on the bottom of each jar - this is called nitre or sugar sand and is formed in the boiling process and gets into the jars from our less then perfect filtering methods - when you open a jar to use just decant or pour off the syrup in a container leaving the sugar sand in the jar to rinse down the drain. the maple syrup will keep for years in a sealed jars - but - once open refrigerate...... Jim - hope this helps -- this is making maple syrup on the cheap and it will work... However --- You will continually upgrade and want to make a better product - then comes the syrup hydrometers etc etc etc-----This is a great site -- with some real Pros giving advice on the art of making a Great Maple syrup..... so best of luck and welcome aboard --- Mike

[Ausable]

I would like to make syrup next spring. The problem is I never did it before. I bought some taps and buckets,but I need advice on the evaporation part. I will be tapping about 25 to 30 trees. I would be thrilled if I ended up with a gallon of syrup. Of course the more the better. What kind of evaporator do I need. I'd like to get something without taking out a loan on my house. Also is there a book I could get on the subject? I don't understand a lot of the terms I'm reading. Any help you could give me would be great.
Thanks Jim

I forgot -- You asked about a book -- A good book for us little guys starting out is called "Backyard Sugarin" by Rink Mann -- It helped me a lot to make my first syrup......

[maple flats]

Make sure you only drill 7/16 holes if you have the older large taps. Most tapping now is 5/16 hole or 19/64. This smaller hole heals faster and is generally better for the tree. Some 7/16 taps are still out there and in fact some producers still buy that size.

[Rich Berg]

Hey Coyote.. welcome, I used to laugh about the getting the "sickness"
until I got it:lol: Anyway I had the same problem and started with 88 taps
and no way to boil away anything quick and it looked like I was making a
witches brew. If you want to try this and see how the tapping goes, etc.maybe try and find a local producer who you could haul your sap to
and usually they will give you half the take.So it would take you (depending
on sugar content) 86 gallons to get back one gallon. The people in this
business are unlike any I have ever seen, where your competitor is
your best source of information. God Bless you guys! This way you can
concentrate on collecting your sap and learn the process too. Just my
two cents worth.....

[coyotejimbo]

Thanks for all the advice. I will be asking a lot of dumb questions in the future. Please be understanding. Like what is the difference between an evaporator and a finishing pan? Can I do it all in one of those 2x3 pans I see on ebay? What is the reason you start in one pan and finish in another?
Thanks Jim

[C.Wilcox]

An evaporator is really just a name for a big firebox over which you boil sap. A finishing pan would be where you do just that, finish the sap into syrup. Some people actually finish on their evaporator, some transfer to a finishing pan, and lots of the small time guys like myself transfer it to a pan on the kitchen stove for finishing. Finishing on the evaporator is usually only done if you have a divided syrup pan with a constant feed of hot sap at the back. That being said, the only rule is that there's always an exception to the rule. Lots of people do it lots of different ways.

If you have a 2X3 flat pan you'll probably want to plan to transfer to another vessel in order to finish over a more controlled heat source. Reason being- if you finish to syrup in your 2X3 pan you're going to have to douse the fire with water in order to keep it from going too far. Personally, I don't like to go splashing cold water all over my nice stainless pan for fear it might warp. If you tried to draw off all the syrup from your pan without killing the fire you'll scorch your pan, and your syrup, really bad. I have a very similar set up to what you're planning. I try to time my boiling so that I cook down about 40-80 gallons of sap and then run out of fire about when I have 1.5-2 inches of near syrup left in the pan. I let the near syrup steam overnight and when I get up it will have reduced by almost half. Being that the fire is out there's no danger of scorching the pan so I drain everything into a pail and take it into the kitchen to finish it. An hour on the kitchen stove and it's ready to put into jars.

If you're looking for a slightly more local source for a pan Google "Stainless Steel Creations". Paul works out of Merrill, WI, does a great job, and his prices are more than reasonable.

[red maples]

ah a new guy he he he welcome to the addiction :evil:

yes "Backyard sugarin' " by rick mann. best starting book!!! north american maple producers book is a little over kill for you and can be overwelming too.
its very easy reading tells you about different types of maples homemade evaps. storage containers (don't use trash cans)

it all basically comes down to how much you want to spend!!! and believe all of us when we say that beacuse it can cost anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand to a few 10's of thousands ask anyone here they will tell you.

if you check my web site you will see what I used my first year with 25 taps and I made a few gallons. (about a gallon in 8 hours) cement block arch with a 18 x 24 roasting pan. and about 1/3 of a cord of junk wood I collected from the woods.