Bacteria Phobia

I learned the hard way what bacteria can do by letting sap sit too long. Now I wonder if I might be over doing it. Should I give my sap sac holders a dip in a bleach solution and let them air dry before the season starts? The sap does run against them when I empty them. The sap sacs seem like bacteria breeding grounds when they are hanging in the woods on 45 degree days. Then I put the sap in my clean as I can get them plastic jugs till I boil some times a day or two later but the bacteria is already in the sap. I keep the jugs cool as possible but toward the end of last season there was hardly any snow left. How cool is cool enough to store sap? Should we wear nitrile gloves when handling taps? Makes sense not to blow in the tap holes to clean out the sawdust. The guy who showed me how to tap rubbed the tap on his nose to get a little oil on it so he could get the tubing on then he squirted a bleach and water mix in the tap hole to sterilize it! EEEK! So if I get 50 gal. of sap and boil it down to 10 I can just leave it in my evaporator pan overnight uncovered? Or maybe another day before boiling again? It has been sterilized but it's like putting out a giant agar plate waiting for hungry bacteria to land in it. It's warm and takes several hours too cool off to maybe only 40 degrees at night.
Any thoughts?

OCHTO we will all help you as you can. First step away from the bleach bottle.:)

I haven't really noticed bacteria but rather mold setting in on my buckets during those real warm days. I take them back and clean them up with a little bleach and 2X rinse. If your worried about could you replace the sap sacs once or twice a season? Not to scare you on a whole new level with mold vs. bacteria. As far as keeping your stored sap cold, have you tried to freeze some (like in an ice cream bucket) and use that inside your holding vessel? I am sure that the boiling temperatures would be high enough to kill any unwanted bacteria.

Lastly, have fun. It looks to me that your in it as a hobby, and hobbies are supposed to be relaxing and enjoyable.

SDdave

Anytime you use bleach, triple rinse. Aside from that, yes, you can boil 50 gal down to 10 gal and let it set, even for a week or more if the weather is cold, however you can keep things from falling into the pan if you cover it.. To store raw sap even for a day without noticable degrading it should be kept under 40 and closer to 35 is better, but even if stored at 45 or 50, it will still make good safe syrup, it will just make a little less because the micro organisms feed on the sugar and the resulting syrup will be darker. The boil at 219+ degrees will render it totally safe. I wouldn't rub the tap on my nose.

Maple flats is right on with the advice. I also wonder about bags that's been out a long time in warm weather. I will do one of two things, if I visually see something that looks to be growing or slimy in the bag I trade it out for a new one, but if I am just thinking it's been out too long I bring them in and rinse with really hot water, no bleach. I have never had a problem. I make it part of my season to wash all my plastic buckets if thay have sat through an extended warm spell or half way through season. I use a light bleach solution and copious rinse.

Thanks Guys! SDdave hit it on the head, Have fun and enjoy! Two things I have is water and time. I don't have electricity but am saving milk jugs to freeze water in to but in my holding tank. Toward the end of the season it wouldn't be to hard to rinse a few bags a day to get out some of the bacteria. Nobody thinks I should wear gloves to tap. That was pretty far out there but you are all trying to get the lightest syrup and have your taps flow longer so keeping contamination to an absolute minimum was a thought. Also thinking of getting a piece of plexyglass to cover my pan with. Better than a piece of plywood. Nobody must wash sap sac holders either. Just checking!
Thanks Again!

Bacteria is real of course, but we can get carried away with paranoia, and lose sleep without any real reason. First, remember that we are making a food product, and that cleanliness is important, but remember also that we are NOT working withtruly dangerous stuff. It gets boiled, and boiled, and boiled, and then it gets packed, very hot, into clean containers. A little care with clean hands and tools is enough. Second, remember that bacteria, mold, and yeasts are everywhere, and short of the proceedures used to manufacture phamaceuticles, nothing will change that. Third...if a batch goes bad, from sitting around too long at too high a temperature, you get yeast, alcohol, and dramatically lowered sugar content as the yeasts gobble up sugar faster than you can respond. This is how our ancestors learned to make beer. If you ignore what's going on long enough, you'll get vinegar, and truth is, THAT'S a food product too.
Keep your operation clean, keep your process quick, and have a little faith that folks worked out the bugs a hundred years ago. Stay as far from heavy chemicals and anti-microbials as you can because they're worse for you than a little mold.

I think I remember Glen Goodrich say he uses rubber gloves when tapping. Good common sense and cleanliness are what your striving for in the production of a food product.
Boil the sap the same day if you can. Wash the containers when you see some build up in them.
Have fun making syrup!
Regards,
Chris

At the end of every season I throw away all of the bags and put all of the sap sack holders in a 30 gal plastic drum of hot bleach water and rinse and dry. One time I had a problem at the end of the season when it gets warm out and I left sap in the preheat pan. It got stringy so I threw it out. The end of the season is hard when it gets warm because everything plastic will get slimy, so you have to clean it all a lot.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sugarmaker

I think I remember Glen Goodrich say he uses rubber gloves when tapping. Good common sense and cleanliness are what your striving for in the production of a food product.

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Issue with gloves is that as soon as they are contaminated from touching one contaminated line you are still spreading it to every tap there after. You would need to by like a doctor and change the gloves from patient to patient(tap to tap), to control cross contamination. Common sense like: don't put the spouts or tubing to your mouth, don't blow out chips in a tap hole, new or clean gloves for tapping, are all great rules to use to limit contamination.

I hear common sense is not so common any more but phobias are more and more common. Go figure.

Ben

i dont like bleach near anything im gonna eat. ever. but i do like how well hydrogen peroxide works. i get the 35% gallons for about 13 bucks each in a case of 6. i started using this for clearing lines and tanks in my greenhouse (all nft and bucket hydroponics). i use the stuff for most any serious cleaning job now. at the beginning of the season, turn on the vac pump and walk the lines with a jug of H2O2, dipping the taps in for a second. there will be no bacteria, fungus,, or anything else in the system after that and the h202 is just water and air within a few hours. the first little run goes on the ground anyway

please though, if you do this, wear gloves to protect your skin. h2o2 instantly kills anything organic...including you

I rinse the holders with plain water. And ya a warm spell on a sap sak with sap residue inside gets funky.. Mold grows fast

This year I had some I pulled but for the most part clean enough although I boil as I collect not letting it sit longer then it takes to boil it all.

Next year I plan on better practices, always having fun trying to do my best.