somthings wrong
i collected 5 gallons of sap this weekend and have been boiling for 3 hours now i got it to 210 then brought in the house to Finnish it on the stove but at 210 i have 2 gallons left theirs noway 5 gallons of sap can make 2 gallons of syrup what should i do thanks nick
I don't understand why you chose 210. If you mean a temp of 210F, that's under the boiling point of water. What temp did it reach when it started to boil? Sounds like you may have a lot more left to boil off.
I had the same problem. It took forever to go from 210 to 219-220. On the good side i got 1.5 gallons out of 35 gallons of sap. Came out wonderful.......its well worth the wait.....jim
it was about 200 when it started to boil and it got to 210 and stayed there so my dad thought i was loosing alot of heat up the stack of my barrel evaporator so we put it in a pot and put it on the stove on high and its still at 210 how much longer do you think it will take and how much syrup should it make?
that's a nice ratio!Originally Posted by hitnspit
imho something sounds wrong with your batch, too, if you made 1.5 gallons of syrup out 35 Gals of sap. Your yield sounds too high to me./ That's a 23/1 ratio. It's possible if your sap had a very high sugar content in the 3.7% range, but that would be a better than average sap reading.
I have my doubts you're really at syrup stage yet especially if you're only going by temperature to finish your syrup. Did you check your thermometer to see what temp water boiled at the time you were finishing your syrup? Thermometers can be very inaccurate. It's also good to do the calculations for barometric pressure correction since that will change the boiling point. Knowing what temp water should boil at will give you a better idea of the temp you should shoot for.
If it started boiling at 200F something is seriously wrong with your thermometer. Do you have another you could double check with?
How much you should get depends on the sugar content of the sap you boiled. There is no normal because it varies from tree to tree. For guestimating sap to syrup yield a general average might be 40/1 meaning 40 gallons of sap to make 1 Gallon of syrup. The yield could also be better or even much worse. A few people this year are getting 60 or70 gals sap/1 Gal syrup.
using a 40/1 ratio you'll get about a pint of syrup or about 16 oz from 5 Gals of sap. But don't plan on it. You could get less or you could get more. You won't know until you get to syrup.
Last edited by happy thoughts; 03-04-2012 at 05:08 PM.
no, i never checked the boiling point of my water and i dont have another thermometer to check with and 200 was just an estimate im not really positive what it was
You can still check your thermometer. Boil some water and see what temp it reaches a full rolling boil on your thermometer.
It's hard and some even say impossible to make syrup with just a thermometer. Many people use a hydrometer instead because it's easier to know exactly when it's syrup. If you're going to use only a thermometer you have to at least know what temp water boils at on the thermometer you're using at the time you're making syrup.
If you want to save yourself a lot of grief and frustration invest in a hydrometer.About 20 bucks. A good thermometer will get you close but to be positive you are making syrup you need a hydrometer. And you don't need two thermometers. I hope you are using a digital one, all other styles of thermometers are too hard to read accurately.
Check the boiling point of water by throwing some water in a pan on the stove. Check the temp. Write it down. Add 7 degrees and this will get you close to finished syrup. So, if you have a boiling point of 212 for water (about average but remember it will vary even throughout the day so dont use a temp taken at 7AM for finishing at 9 PM at night) add 7 for a temp of 219. Why 7? The boiling point of syrup with a standard density is figured by adding 7.1 degrees to the temp of boiling sap. Also invest in the North American Maple Syrup Producers Manual if you haven't already. Its a wealth of information. Best of luck!
Good luck!
John
2 x 8 custom arch, custom raised flue pan, AOF/AUF, custom auto draw off and other automation
400 taps (buckets and tubing)
18 x 24 timber frame shack
Two daughters that are a LOT of help
Greyhound that drinks sap (and has gas)
2011 Gator 825 XUV with 100 gallon tank
5 275 gallon IBC totes for storage
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