Maple syrup 2021

[Duane(Pa)]

Had to quit for a few days just as flow was trending up. I guess I’m glad to have a job? The dark jar was boiled yesterday.

 

[huskihl]

Been a little slow going here with only a dozen days or so that temps have been above freezing for any length of time. On most days we could see the taps thaw at noon and freeze again at 5pm, sometimes sooner. Today is our first boil. From 7 trees we got 28 gallons of sap over the last week. This coming week looks to be pretty good with temps freezing every night but getting up to the 40’s and low 50’s every day

 

[nbbt]

Lots of visitors at the shack today. Good to be outside with people. Lots of local ne'er-do-wells and @stihl livin even showed up with a couple friends from across the border.

Where are you located? I'm about 35 miles west of the MN border, and I may be interested in obtaining syrup.
One thing I want to try is making mead from maple syrup, I've been doing it with honey for a few years.

 

[Ryan Browne]

Where are you located? I'm about 35 miles west of the MN border, and I may be interested in obtaining syrup.
One thing I want to try is making mead from maple syrup, I've been doing it with honey for a few years.

I'm just a few miles east of River Falls. Always happy to meet other members. I have a friend who is a homebrewer coming to get some sap right out of the cooker. Because it's continuous flow (raw sap goes in one end and finished syrup comes out the other end) we're planning on just finding where in the cooker the liquid is the density he wants for his recipe. Kinda like a maple wine he's making this time.

 

[Lightning Performance]

I'm just a few miles east of River Falls. Always happy to meet other members. I have a friend who is a homebrewer coming to get some sap right out of the cooker. Because it's continuous flow (raw sap goes in one end and finished syrup comes out the other end) we're planning on just finding where in the cooker the liquid is the density he wants for his recipe. Kinda like a maple wine he's making this time.

Lots of talented people on here who contribute eggsellent information that seem to know more of the same types who tend to hang around doing cool stuff.

Wonder how many gallons I can get for a some good parts or a nice chainsaw?...

 

[nbbt]

I'm just a few miles east of River Falls. Always happy to meet other members. I have a friend who is a homebrewer coming to get some sap right out of the cooker. Because it's continuous flow (raw sap goes in one end and finished syrup comes out the other end) we're planning on just finding where in the cooker the liquid is the density he wants for his recipe. Kinda like a maple wine he's making this time.

Sent a PM, Interested in seeing your setup as well. River Falls is where I get my honey from, that's about an hour to the RF high school from here.

 

[Ryan Browne]

Sent a PM, Interested in seeing your setup as well. River Falls is where I get my honey from, that's about an hour to the RF high school from here.

I wonder if we know the same honey guy. Look forward to chatting.

 

[Ryan Browne]

Lots of talented people on here who contribute eggsellent information that seem to know more of the same types who tend to hang around doing cool stuff.

Wonder how many gallons I can get for a some good parts or a nice chainsaw?...

Syrup for saws. I like where this is going...

I think you guys have inspired me to do some bottling in plastic bottles this year. We've always used glass exclusively, but plastic is definitely better for shipping.

 

[John235]

I cooked up 20-24 gallons last night. It made about 54 ounces. Just about the same as last week. Had a couple days to cold to run and had two nights in a row stay above freezing so the trees only ran good 2 days.

 

[John235]

 

[Woodpecker]

Some of the silver maple in my neck of the woods have begun to flower. The hard maple are usually a maximum of 2 weeks behind that here. My syrup days are numbered. Pulled 40 gallons of sap this morning from yesterday's run.

 

[Johnmn]

Made roughly 6.5 gallons this weekend, we still need to bottle/can it.

 

[Ryan Browne]

Welp, the beer fridge didn't quite scratch the upgrade itch good enough... Or, well maybe the beer consumption was slowing our boil rate too much. In either case, I decided to switch over to the dark side today and bought a little reverse osmosis machine. It's a Leader MicRO 2. Should be able to save some firewood and labor and hopefully get home in time for dinner after cooking a pile of syrup. Damned good timing too, since it ran hard today and I'll probably have 1200 gallons of sap to process tomorrow.

 

[Kiwioilboiler]

Welp, the beer fridge didn't quite scratch the upgrade itch good enough... Or, well maybe the beer consumption was slowing our boil rate too much. In either case, I decided to switch over to the dark side today and bought a little reverse osmosis machine. It's a Leader MicRO 2. Should be able to save some firewood and labor and hopefully get home in time for dinner after cooking a pile of syrup. Damned good timing too, since it ran hard today and I'll probably have 1200 gallons of sap to process tomorrow.

What's the conversion rate Ryan? 1200 raw be roughly how much finished product?

 

[Ryan Browne]

What's the conversion rate Ryan? 1200 raw be roughly how much finished product?

Somewhere in the 30-35 gallons of syrup range. And without the RO, about 6 hours of cooking at WOT, consuming maybe a cord and a half of softwood.

I'll know more tomorrow, but hopefully with the RO it'll be like 3 hours of cooking and half the wood.

 

[Kiwioilboiler]

Somewhere in the 30-35 gallons of syrup range. And without the RO, about 6 hours of cooking at WOT, consuming maybe a cord and a half of softwood.

I'll know more tomorrow, but hopefully with the RO it'll be like 3 hours of cooking and half the wood.

So sap is 97% give or take water? There's only syrup and evaporated water according to google?

 

[cuinrearview]

So sap is 97% give or take water? There's only syrup and evaporated water according to google?

Yes about three brix straight out the tree. My brewer's maths are long gone so if ya need that in specific gravity you'll have to ask Alexa or her baby daddy Lougle.

 

[Kiwioilboiler]

Yes about three brix straight out the tree. My brewer's maths are long gone so if ya need that in specific gravity you'll have to ask Alexa or her baby daddy Lougle.

Nice reply.
Made me look up Brix, aaanndd worked in a lougle reference.
Waking at 0330hrs hasn't dulled you today bro.

 

[Johnmn]

Welp, the beer fridge didn't quite scratch the upgrade itch good enough... Or, well maybe the beer consumption was slowing our boil rate too much. In either case, I decided to switch over to the dark side today and bought a little reverse osmosis machine. It's a Leader MicRO 2. Should be able to save some firewood and labor and hopefully get home in time for dinner after cooking a pile of syrup. Damned good timing too, since it ran hard today and I'll probably have 1200 gallons of sap to process tomorrow.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts about the RO Ryan. Maybe shoot me some pics if you get a chance!

 

[Ryan Browne]

So sap is 97% give or take water? There's only syrup and evaporated water according to google?

Yes about three brix straight out the tree. My brewer's maths are long gone so if ya need that in specific gravity you'll have to ask Alexa or her baby daddy Lougle.

If you're getting sap at 3% sugar consistently, that's very good. We had a couple trees that did that or better when we had buckets out and could test trees individually. Now I'm seeing about 2.2-2.6 as an average in the tank. Neighbor brought one load at 3.0, and another load at 1.8. I hear guys in Vermont talking about 1.0 sometimes. I don't think I'd even be worth cooking that without an RO. It'd take like 85 gallons or more of sap to make a gallon of syrup!

Edited to add:

Divide 87.1 by the sugar content of your sap to determine how many gallons of sap are required for one gallon of syrup.