Jefferson County - My First Boil Ever

[RiverSap]

I finished and bottled my past batch Saturday. I ended up with about 3 total gallons of syrup, all in all a good year. I am in the final stages of cleaning up and putting everything away and getting ready for a bon fire this coming weekend. Mushroom hunting is next on the agenda followed with opening up the pool. Spring is here.

[Ray_Nagle]

Sap is flowing again this afternoon here in eastern Missouri after subzero temps shut the trees down for a couple days.

Also, for anyone in this area, Rockwoods Reservation in Wildwood is having their annual Sugar Maple Festival tomorrow.

[Sugarmaker]

Ray,
Good job making syrup!
Couple of things that might make it easier.
You can tap the trees lower if you want. easier to handle the buckets.
You dont need to filter the sap. Doesn't hurt but just a step most folks don't do.
You should filter the syrup when done to removed sugarsand (niter) Just makes a more clear end product.
Look for a digital candy thermometer in tenths of a degree. Those round candy thermometers are not very accurate. But you did a nice job calibrating it and took the syrup to the correct temp. When you get good you can make syrup without the thermometer using sheeting or aproning as my dad called it.
Warm your finished syrup to 180 F then can and seal, eliminate the water bath step.

Nice job and great documentation! Good to see sap boil again! I need to get out there and "get ready".
Regards,
Chris

[Ray_Nagle]

Ray,
Good job making syrup!
Couple of things that might make it easier.
You can tap the trees lower if you want. easier to handle the buckets.
You dont need to filter the sap. Doesn't hurt but just a step most folks don't do.
You should filter the syrup when done to removed sugarsand (niter) Just makes a more clear end product.
Look for a digital candy thermometer in tenths of a degree. Those round candy thermometers are not very accurate. But you did a nice job calibrating it and took the syrup to the correct temp. When you get good you can make syrup without the thermometer using sheeting or aproning as my dad called it.
Warm your finished syrup to 180 F then can and seal, eliminate the water bath step.

Nice job and great documentation! Good to see sap boil again! I need to get out there and "get ready".
Regards,
Chris

Thanks, Chris. I just ordered a digital candy thermometer based on your recommendation, and I'm planning to boil again today, so I'll give a couple of your suggestions a try.

[RiverSap]

I added a photo album in the gallery section and uploaded two images of the block arch I made last year. This is my first album. Let me know if everyone can find and see the images.

[flhr10]

Nice little setup you got there. Good luck and have fun!

[Ray_Nagle]

Nice little setup you got there. Good luck and have fun!

Hey, thanks, I am having fun! I see you're in Ohio...our first exposure to making maple syrup actually was when we lived in Dayton. We went to a commercial syrup farm during a weekend when they were letting people come in and see their boil shacks. Ever since, the urge to do this has been lingering in the back of my mind.

[TerryEspo]

I love the video, great job and thanks for sharing it with all of us.

Terry

[RiverSap]

Ray
The concrete block setup with the 15" X 15" pan should increase your evaporation considerably. 26 hours to evaporate off 17 plus gallons is a pretty slow rate for a pan that size. The whole pan should have a strong rolling boil all of the time with steam pouring out. You can help things out a bit by rigging up a chimney and closing off the area where you insert the wood. Look at my setup. My door is a couple of concrete blocks. The bottom one I turn on its side so that air is pulled in and exits out the chimney. Your chimney could be something like a few concrete blocks lined up to make kind of an exit point. At this stage you are just learning so that next year you can up your game. Hopefully we get a few more weeks of sap flow after the deep freeze.

[Ray_Nagle]

Since I made the video several weeks ago, I changed my setup slightly. It's a 15" x 15" pan cooking over blocks. It's still slow, but faster than using the pot on my grill.

150215_Maple_Syrup_Boil.jpg