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I'm not that far from you in Acton... My 12 taps have totaled about 55 gals including the 10 I've had yesterday and today. Your totals are amazing... That said, I don't think my barrel evaporator, nor me, would have keep up.Quote:
Originally Posted by hudsoncider
What's the consensus on how long sap can be stored for before it is boiled off? I keep it covered in food grade 5 gallon buckets in my detached garage, which stays pretty cold. I also have a mini fridge in there that I store 1 5 gallon bucket. The bucket in the fridge is about 10 days old, and the 2 in the garage are about 7 days and 4 days old. The older stuff is starting to get a little cloudy. There isn't any foul smell or anything, but I wanted to run it all this weekend, I should have another 10 gallons by then. Do you guys dump all the cloudy sap and only run clear? Or is it OK to use?
Thanks
Take a cup of it and flash it off in a pan on the stove to see what you get. 10 days seems like a while, but, if it is cold you might be okay. I have boiled sap with some cloudyness in the past with no issues. Once it gets ropey, you are in trouble.
sam
I've seen the term ropey a number of times on the forums. I get a visual from the term, but is it an unmistakable look?Quote:
Originally Posted by sams64
I only boil clear, as I don't want to take a chance ruining the rest, given I am small scale hobbyist. I only boil on the weekend, so I've kept for 7 days max, but that's been either buried in snow - I buried under 30 pounds of ice during the first warm up, or I freeze. I had some in the fridge, but it will be about 4 or 5 days between that and boiling.
ropey means the bacteria has formed visible strings within the sap and it should be dumped. Cloudy CAN be ok but it depends on the taste. Cloudy where you can't see the bottom of your 5 gal bucket = dump.
So I've reduced my 8 gals of concentrate to 4+ gals of near syrup awaiting only the finish prep...my prior thermometer was WAY off. I will boil tonight and hope to collect enough for two boils this weekend then I think that will be it for me. Acquired a new 120V pump and narrowed the distance under the back of the pan with more firebrick. Was a day, I guess.
Hopefully the metal workshop in town can take care of that dent.
No idea. I tapped early and today has brought even more than expected.Quote:
Originally Posted by eustis22
Hoping the sap won't go bad before I do another boil Friday night
I only have a barrel evaporator too. It's tough. Pulled an all nighter the other weekend.Quote:
Originally Posted by jrm
I'm afraid if I tried an all-nighter that they'd find me face down in the pan... The proverbial nose in your soup.Quote:
Originally Posted by hudsoncider
Good luck with your boils. Depending on what, if any, the next few days bring, I'm thinking I'll be boiling both Sat and Sun. Maybe next year, I'll try keeping near up and working finishing multiple batches together. Probably more efficient.Quote:
Originally Posted by eustis22
Thanks for the great description and explanation of terminology. That helps me out. I can say, so far I haven't experienced either, but it's nice to know what to watch out for.
I've got about 230 gallons in my tanks so I am at capacity. Now I just need to keep it cold until the weekend. I tossed a bunch of buckets in the chest freezer last night and made less ice than I wanted to. Put that in the tanks this morning and more sap into the freezer. Its not going to be overly warm and it won't be sunny, so the sap should keep just fine.
I have boiled plenty of cloudy sap with no ill affects. Ropey is another story.
sam
Well, that's it for me. I pulled taps Saturday. But what I stupidly did when I dragged the last buckets to the shack was dump them into the tank without looking in the tank first. Actually, there was no need to dump in the tank for one day as I could have just fed the preheater right from the buckets. Turns out the sap in the bottom of the tank had started turning on me (Lesson learned..ALWAYS drain the tank and don't tank the last pull) with floating patches of tan foam and some ropes hanging in the sap. Ended up pitching most of it and keeping the last draws separate from my earlier ones. So this year I had 10 buckets with 24 + 19 on tubing taps out vs last years 26 and 51 and ended up with about the same amount of sap, 325 gallons, give or take, with 8 less taps. I'm ok with that. Other than the pump fiascos and the tractor transport plan going FUBAR it was an ok year. But I noticed one corner of my roof joist is pulling away from the support joist so this summer's project will be to reroof the shack vs putting in a small home RO.
It just goes to show you, it's ALWAYS Something.