new to the forum and tapped my first trees a week and a half ago...

[alcontrast]

I tapped 14 trees the weekend before last here in East Haddam, CT. I collected 21-22 gallons by this past Sunday morning and set to evaporating with what appears to be the standard noobie system; a Turkey fryer type set up and a couple of propane tanks.. I reduced 17 gallons of sap down to about three between 9am and 5 pm but I had 5:30 dinner reservations so I added the remaining 5 gallons of sap and put the big pot in the snow and shoveled additional snow up around the sides.. I got back into it tuesday and boiled the pot down to around 1 gallon or a little more before bring it inside to finish on the stove. I ended up with about .4 gallons of syrup and I'd say it was a success for a first effort but I also learned a LOT from this first effort..

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first: and this I knew going into it but, Propane and a tall narrow pot is not the best set up for evaporating a lot of water.. I have another option or two for next time or perhaps next year if I add more taps.. The propane is easy which is nice..

second: are there any tricks to filtering? I ran raw sap through cheesecloth but my buckets were pretty well sealed so that was really not needed at all and I also skimmed the boiling sap on a regular basis. I then filtered finished syrup through a 5qt maple syrup cone filter (from "The Felt Store") while the syrup was hot off the stove. The filter was hanging in my cleaned out turkey fryer pot with the lid on it and I put the pot on the stove with low heat under it and let it sit.. Even after at least 15-20 minutes I had about 1/3 of my syrup sitting in the filter and the level really hadn't changed in almost 10 minutes.. I ended up gently pouring some of the syrup out of the filter into the pot hopefully leaving any heavy stuff in the bottom of the filter.
I got the impression that there just wasn't enough weight in that little bit of left over syrup to push it through the filter.. Perhaps a pre-filter would have helped though? Perhaps there are better filter methods for small scale production?

third: the farberware analog candy thermometer I have is horrible for this.. It's slow to respond to temp changes, I think it's off my a degree or two, and it's hard to read. I stopped boiling when I was somewhere in the 217-220 range.... More because it seemed right than because the thermometer told me it was at the right temp.. I already ordered a digital thermometer with a remote sensor..

fourth: Probably due to my pouring in the unfiltered syrup from the filter cone or due to a lack of accuracy with my syrup temperature I had a bit of cloudy material settle out in the bottom half inch of my containers a day after bottling.. I am assuming this will end up being some sugar sand that's forming in the bottles now? Is this due to my filter mishap, over or under temperature finishing, something else entirely? Oh and after I filtered the syrup I returned it to the smaller pot and brought it just up to boiling before I bottled it.


* that was a lot of typing. I hope I didn't bore you... I'm stoked on this whole process though! I'll be fervently looking at a ton of other threads on the forum and in this sub-forum while my buckets are filling back up....

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[CampHamp]

Congrats on your first batch! Beautiful color.

Filtering is a pain (my least favorite part). You will definitely want to pre-filter next time. They are the same shape is the felt cones and you can put them right inside, like a liner. When you have a big batch, you might run through several pre-filters because they clog too! Don't waste the syrup stuck in your felt... rinse it out in your next batch of fresh boiling sap to sweeten it. If the sediment bothers you (it's really just aesthetics) then dump these all in with your next finished batch and re-filter...

[happy thoughts]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your syrup! Feels good doesn't it? In answer to some of your questions,

1- It's all about surface area. The more surface area the faster the evaporation rate, Look for wider pans.

2.I pretty much don't filter but let the sugar sands settle out which works out well for me and my partial batch boils on a block arch,. Those who use filters will have plenty of tips for you on using them.

3 A thermometer alone can't tell you when it's syrup even if you believe your thermometer is right on the money. If you want to find true density you're going to have to invest in a hydrometer. If you want close enough without a hydrometer then you're going to have to learn to look for sheeting, when the syrup no longer drops as singer drips off the side of a spoon but join together as a sheet.

4- It sounds like sugar sand either from ineffective filtering or more likely because you heatedt filtered syrup too high. More sugar sand develops as syrup is reheated. Filtered syrup shouldn't be brought much above bottling temps which are in the 180-185*F range.

Good Luck and have fun!

[Run Forest Run!]

Welcome!!!! Congratulations on your very first batch. Fun isn't it? We 'small batchers' had a really great thread going last year regarding the various methods of filtering. I think you'll find it very, very helpful.

http://mapletrader.com/community/sho...atches-grrrrrr!


Enjoy your season and enjoy your delicious syrup.

[alcontrast]

Tasting syrup that came from trees in the backyard for the first time is indeed a great experience. I imagine that it doesn't diminish much over the years either!

Thanks for the replies! In keeping with the format I started I'll answer in the order I asked I asked..

1) I knew surface area is key but I still underestimated reduction time. I have access to a stainless steel vessel that is about 15" deep and at least 24" x 24" square, I think more like 30"x30".. It would hold at least 30 to 35 gallons easily but I am not sure if I'll get to that level of production. I would like to though and I'm going to look for more sugar maples this summer.. If I can find more maples I'll probably set up a temporary wood fired evaporator in the driveway for 2015 so I can do 90% of my evaporating with a wood fire setup..

2) Filtering.. RunForest / Karen! A post or thread of yours was what brought me into mapletrader to begin with.. I forget what the topic was now but I do remember your selfie with a sap bucket (toilet seat) as an avatar. Thanks for the link, I'm catching up on it now! CampHamp: I already ordered and received pre-filters. I didn't think to add filter leftover to a new batch (great idea!) but I did "squeeze" out a majority of the syrup from the filter cone into my "filtered" batch. I was gentle on the filter so it should be fine and I don't think I would have forced sediment through the filter but I'm new to all this..

3) I may invest in a hydrometer but after only one small batch I'm not yet sure if I want to spend the $ on such a maple specific item. Perhaps the hydrometer will be useful for other things but I feel like a $30 thermometer is barely utilized enough to justify it's cost in my life.. I can't imagine a hydrometer would serve many other purposes making it more cost effective and a hydrometer and cup are going to cost substantially more than a decent thermometer. I'm definitely going to look for sheeting in the future though. I may even make a small batch that I purposely over cook so I can see how the syrup acts at under, just right and over cooked temperatures..

4) It sounds like I slightly over-heated my filtered syrup. I brought it back up to a boil for several seconds and immediately killed the heat.. I then scooped or poured the syrup into prepared jars. I didn't think I OVER-heated it but perhaps only a half minute at a full boil is all it takes to induce clouding / sugar sand in the finished syrup? That appears to be the case.. Is there a preferred method to filter out sugar sand / nitre that developed after the finished syrup had cooled? I know it's mostly aesthetic but I want to give away a few bottles of syrup this spring, including to the land owners where the sap came from, and would like the bottles to be as close to commercial maple syrup as possible. I suppose I could let it settle and pour off the clear syrup, heat it up to 180f and re-bottle it? That seems like the easiest solution...


Thanks for all the advice!

PS: I checked my buckets this afternoon and there has not been much sap collecting the past few days, if any.. I assume it's the same for most of you Nutmeggers?

[G0J0]

PS: I checked my buckets this afternoon and there has not been much sap collecting the past few days, if any.. I assume it's the same for most of you Nutmeggers?

yup. I haven't even bothered to look truthfully its been so cold. the excitement over that very first batch is cool.

[G0J0]

Looked today, and enjoyed a nice sap-sicle hanging from just below the tap. No juice.

[maplerookie]

alcontrast: It might be easier to calibrate in Ice water. fill a small glass with crushed ice. add water ,wait a couple mins. temp should read 32 degrees f. make sure you pack (over fill) that jar with crushed ice. cubes don't work as well. When you boil make sure you take the temp in a boiling pan of water right next to where you are finishing. don't believe h2o boils at 212..that is only at sea level. then bring your syrup 7.5 degrees above your boiling water temp...should be syrup or darn near .

[happy thoughts]

.....but perhaps only a half minute at a full boil is all it takes to induce clouding / sugar sand in the finished syrup?

You don't want filtered syrup to reach anywhere near the boiling point once it's filtered. Most sources will tell you not to bring it above 200*F and even that temp may be enough to cause more niter to form.

I try to keep my clear stuff under 190*F at bottling. When the temp hits 185-187 I turn the heat off. The syrup needs to be at a minimum of 180*F when the cap goes on for best keeping. Keep in mind that there will be some cooling between the pot and the time the cap goes on so the syrup need to be a little higher than that minimum temp going in. I also pack into heated glass bottles. Some people use a hot water bath to keep temps in that range. You'll find what works best for you in time.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the hotter you pack the more volume shrinkage you will see in the bottles on cooling, Packing at temps close to ideal will see less shrinkage thus less airspace in the bottle. Less air space helps prolong storage.

I suppose I could let it settle and pour off the clear syrup, heat it up to 180f and re-bottle it? That seems like the easiest solution...

Yes, you can do that. In fact many big producers repack from large bulk containers as needed. Just make sure you reheat to the recommended temps. No more, no less.

[asknupp]

Alcotrast,
I'm already finding that a hydrometer might be the most important tool in the boiling process. My thermometer is already proving to be not very useful.