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Hey Susan. What I do to clean my pan is just pour in vinegar and water (about 25% vinegar/75 water) and let it sit for a few days (even a few hours does wonders).. seems to clean everything off.. if very stubborn I increase the vinegar content, and get it hot when you pour in (doesn't matter if it cools off over the day.. although you could actually boil it in the pan too.. that's supposed to be even more efficient at cleaning a pan).Quote:
Originally Posted by Galena
Paul.
Thanks Paul, I have heard of that and tried it in the past with mixed results. Not with my sugaring pans though. Do you use regular white vinegar or the so-called 'cleaning' vinegar? And what ratio do you use? Thanks!Quote:
Originally Posted by paulslund
I also clean with a 25/75 solution using regular white vinegar. I bring it to a boil and the scale just lifts off the stainless pans. I drain it
and store it until next year. For the bottom i leave them outside upside down through a few frost and rain cycles. When the hot sun finally
hits the bottom the black just lifts / flakes off after a few weeks.
Thanks much, the good ol water and vinegar solution much more affordable than that Parlor Brite :-) I love that people help each other out so much on this site!Quote:
Originally Posted by ir3333
I also use regular vinegar in my flat pan for cleaning between boils. Once I take the almost syrup off I put about 15 gallons of clean water in with a 4 litre jug of vinegar scrub down the sides while it's still cool then walk away. What's left in the firebox reheats the water and vinegar and by morning all the pan needs is a quick scrub, empty the pan wipe it dry and refill with fresh sap.
Colour graded my first 2 batches today. 56 (Amber( and 40 (Dark) respectively. Batch #3 is underway.
Sorry Susan I missed your response.. Yes I just use regular white vinegar like others have posted. Heating it up is supposed to be especially effective, but by the time I clean mine there is no heat left to do that with. So a good soak is usually enough to get it clean enough for boil.Quote:
Originally Posted by Galena
Uh oh.. this week is looking good but next week could shut things down pretty quickly at my end, especially if those temps rise a bit more...
Attachment 23110
I use vinegar too to clean my pans but with a twist.. I make my own maple vinegar. We call it maple cider vinegar. Almost identical to apple cider vinegar but the good stuff. I don't pasteurize it so it is a live vinegar.
I make about 20 gallons a year. Keep 5 for cooking and pickles and salad dressing. Anywhere you want to have a unique vinegar. Its really really good.
What I do is use my late late season syrup. The stuff that tastes a bit like molasses. Draw it off when it is hot and about 15% sugar content. That will make a product that is about 8% abv. From there I let it cool and toss in some activated bread yeast and let it ferment. Once it is done fermenting I add a "mother" from a live apple cider vinegar. Or just dump some non pasteurized live cider vinegar into it and let it go. The secondary process converts the alcohol to vinegar.
I wind up with 20 gallons of amazingly flavourful maple cider vinegar. The final product is about 6% acetic acid. Ideal for pickling. I give bottles of it away. I add about 50ml or mid season syrup to a 500ml bottle of vinegar. It is a crowd favourite. Keep 5 gallons for myself and use the rest to clean pans. Cost pennies.
Oh wow! That sounds like an awesome idea! If I do get a late season batch it usually is pretty small. Often I get 5 batches for sure, 6 if I'm very lucky. Sadly my dark is really popular as syrup. Still I can try to set a litre or so aside and give it a try :-)Quote:
Originally Posted by 4Walls
Ok wow! That sounds really neat! I will have to try that.. It sounds like it may have a similar taste to Balsamic vinegar perhaps?Quote:
Originally Posted by 4Walls
@ paulslund Well...with maybe a hint of maple lol ;-)
Smart a$$
Yes. between balsamic and apple cider vinegar. We quite enjoy it. Honestly use it for everything. All my pickles for the past few years have been packed in that. Transforms ordinary pickled beets into something magic. I use it for salads. Works wonders for asian stir fry as a replacement for rice vinegar. Not good for cleaning. Bit of sweet to it. Works great in the pans tho.
Good to know :-) so exactly how much syrup do you sacrifice to make say 20g? Also I don't have a sugar therm, is there another way to figure out sugar %?Quote:
Originally Posted by 4Walls
One thing I have been doing the past few years is keeping the paper coffee filters which syrup has gone through. They are still sodden with syrup and nitre. I am keeping them in the freezer so, if I'm bored come summertime, or have a visitor who wants to see how sugaring is done, I can just chuck them in a pot with a couple gallons of distilled water. Usually results in at least another 500ml syrup. I think this year I'll reassign those same filters to nmaking vinegar :-)
Oh that's a great idea... I just put my orlon back in the freezer until I can gather enough bottles to continue bottling (I'll be freezing my next batches until then) and was going to clean it in the pan, but maybe I'll just soak it in some hot water to release most of it and freeze that to try making a bit of syrup.Quote:
Originally Posted by Galena
I suppose you could just your syrup with known brix and dilute it down to 15%.. if my math is correct, at exactly 66brix, you'd need to dilute 1L of syrup up to 4.4L of solution (so add 3.4L of distilled water), if at 68brix, you'd need to dilute up to 4.533L of water (so add 3.533L of distilled water) and in between should just be a linear computation...
I'm not sure how my girls will react when I tell them instead of making candy and fudge we're going to make vinegar one day! :lol:
Galena very bad at maff. Can you dumb it down a bit more? Like you're explaining it to a hamburger? Seriously I get the basic idea just need it broken down a bit more. Off to go tackle about 60l sap. Time to get my Whacky on!Quote:
Originally Posted by paulslund
I use one of the floaty brewing hydrometers. Use it to make sure there is no sugar leaking through the RO into the premate. Not exactly sure how much late season sugar I use for the vinegar. I suppose I could calculate it. Quick math say that about 1L of syrup with 4L water should give you about 8% potential ABV on the brewing hydrometer. You can make it anywhere between 6-12 % for the ABV before turning it to Vinegar. I like mine about 6 % acetic acid in the final product, so I aim for 8%ABV. Fill desired container and fix an air lock bubbler to it and away she goes. Just make sure that the solution is below 100f before casting the yeast. You can start small and use a 1L mason jar with the lid just loose on top. Make the maple "wine" first then add any unpasteurized vinegar to it once its done brewing. I would be happy to send you some of my vinegar to you if you want to try it first. It can also be used as the starter or "mother" for the transformation of the wine to the vinegar.
Would absolutely love to try some of your maple vinegar! Will pm you my mailing address. Lots of Mason jars and I already have a couple SCOBIES including an ac vinegar one. Absolutely no brewing equipment though or floaty therms.Quote:
Originally Posted by 4Walls
Thanks for this. It sounds really good! Going to give it a try. How long do you leave it to ferment before adding the mother and then about how long does the secondary process take?
LOL.. So 66Brix is 66% sugar and represents 660ml (actually I think it's technically mg, not ml) of sugar in 1000ml of total solution (i.e. syrup). If you want the 660ml of sugar to represent 15%, then divide 660 by 0.15 and you will obtain 4,400ml. That is the total solution you need.. so if you are starting with 1L, and need 4.4L (without changing the amount of sugar) you would add 3.4L of distilled water. Then you will have a solution with 660mL of sugar on a total of 4.4L of total, which gives 660/4400 = 15%.Quote:
Originally Posted by Galena
If you're starting point is 1/2L of syrup, then divide the above by 1/2 (i.e. you would add 1.7L of the .5L of syrup to get a 15% solution).
Make sense?
Quote:
Originally Posted by paulslund
Uhhh....I'll look at it again in the morning after coffee. I seriously am math dyslexic.
Looking at the weather forecast (Kingston area), after the weekend, the next couple of weeks don't look like they are going to be below zero at night. Is anyone looking at pulling taps soon?
I think I'll pull my buckets this weekend, mostly because I'm going back to work next week. But then, if I can collect Monday and Tuesday (weather permitted) I'll definitely be done next weekend. I've made 33 litres of syrup so far and every batch has been light in colour. I'll be emptying my pan today and it looks like as well, so I'm hoping I can boil at least one more time and make some amber.
I just noticed that my sap in the barrels has gotten cloudy already.. must be getting close.. I bet the first few days of this coming week will mark the end of it for me... sap in the few buckets I have is still nice and clear..
Wait whut, sap cloudy already? Have you tried boiling some on its own to see if it smells like boiling swamp water yet? You're only about 50km away from me, sap still clear and running fine out here though frozen atm...thank gawd lol. And thanks for the formula you sent, I think after a couple more coffees I might be able to understand it.Quote:
Originally Posted by paulslund
Good day to boil today taps slow yesterday. Have 60G sap to catch up on. Thinking maybe one more week for my season. Hope everyone is doing well
I haven't boiled any of it yet but it should be fine... I'll be more concerned about next week's sap.. The silvers always tend to look like they are budding during saping season (they start budding in the fall actually) but they are starting to look bigger than normal..guessing the February thaws helped that along.Quote:
Originally Posted by Galena
Actually.. I'm going to put a small pot on the stove now and see how it goes.
Susan,ours has been cloudy for sometime now,figuring the end is quite nearQuote:
Originally Posted by Galena
Yikes....well mine is still crystal clear and producing great syrup. If memory serves your bushes start to produce 2 weeks to 1 month before mine.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce L
I only get cloudy sap in the last week or so and follow my own advice, and carefully boil a small amount from each tree. If I smell something like boiling frog bums, I chuck it and strike that tree from the list.
I still have perfectly good samples from last year's season sittin in my fridge, ready to trot over to you for a tasting session!
ETA: wish I had some silvers or Freemans to play around with. And I am planning on buying some syrup from a friend who has an all-reds bush, curious to see if there are any taste or colour diffs to my all-sugars.
So far so good on the boiling pot.. The cold sap is starting to have a "funny" smell, but I've had that before and still get great syrup... I also just burned a small spoonful on the stove and it smells perfect and sweet.
About 450L to get through tomorrow.. going to be an early morning and a late evening! :D
What kind of funny smell? Just curious. It's April Fool's Day, I'm a little afraid to go out and see what the trees did overnight. It may be Brute time!Quote:
Originally Posted by paulslund
Likely pulling my early taps (early Feb) this weekend. They’ve pretty much dried up anyway. Will leave my late Feb taps for another week. Even if it’s only to boil sap to make some vinegar like 4Walls described.
Boiled a barrel today that smelled different. Wasn’t cloudy and tasted ok but the end is nigh.
Excellent run here today.
Still some snow patches left in the bush after yesterday’s rain. Seeing our first nitre of the season today. It’s been a strange one here for that as we usually have it after early March, but no complaints for sure.
We’re still a ways off from bud formation so maybe another ten-fifteen days in the season? The weather this week should tell that tale.
Cheers from Battersea
Another Sunami yesterday...this season doesn't want to quit.
Tsame here. Pushed 62l through yesterday, thank gawd today's tsap tsunami tstill frozen.Quote:
Originally Posted by ir3333
Nothing to write home about here,think the trees are shutting down,checked this evening lots of room in the buckets,didn’t check tubing tank,it was smelling strong at lunchtime. Has Marty been on here,just wondering how he’s doing? Hasn’t been a bumper crop for us,but I’ve been battling a pinched nerve in my back all winter that makes one knee work as good as a peg leg,while my wife and family went to Florida for March break my 85 year old Father fell in the barn,was hospitalized for a week with a concussion,so I didn’t get out to check vacuum near often enough,things were pretty hectic here to say the least,so I don’t mind it coming to an end without a full crop
OMG Bruce...that's a lot. Hope your dad is ok. Haven't seen Marty on here for awhile. Nor Grant, aka Big_Eddy. Might just pm him to say hi see how things are. ((HUGS))Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce L
I'm sorry to hear that. I hope everything turns out okay for your father!Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruce L
I think you are right that things are coming to a close.. I think my silvers are shutting down.. the few buckets on silvers were emptied Saturday are maybe 1/5 full now, while the buckets on my Sugars are around 1/2 full +.. I pulled in over 100L on the tubing Saturday and a bit on Sunday.. I haven't checked what came in today yet but I think another 60L there. With this I'm about the same range for total sap as last year, but sugar is down slightly so won't be making as much syrup.
I’ve also been wondering about Big_Eddy. His posts and advice were what got me through my first couple years. I hope he, and Bruce’s dad, are doing okay.Quote:
Originally Posted by Galena
Thanks for checking up on me! We're good just been a crazy month. Took us right until tapping time to get the woods back together from the May 21st Derecho storm. We're having a pretty decent season so far - we passed 1.0 L/tap yesterday. We've made more Golden Delicate this season than I have in the past 15 years! Lightest was 85LT which is so clear you can read a newspaper through it. I'm hoping we get 4 or 5 more good boils before the end. Still lots of snow in our woods.Quote:
Originally Posted by Galena
We are loving the new 10" CDL Wesfab filter press. Once it's set up it's so easy to use and make beautiful clear syrup. On some of the larger boils we've had to tear it apart and re-charge but it's maybe 15 minutes of time and can process syrup much faster than we can run it off.
Already planning next year's improvements. Hoping for another 500 taps and need to figure out how to put an electric releaser 2000 feet away from the nearest power source... The double mechanical releaser has been fine for the last 15 years but is costing us money every day when it's iced up. Plus the inevitable float, flap or vacuum cylinder problems that drop the vacuum until someone goes to fix it.