Making Maple Syrup, part two

Our plans are to wrap up our maple syrup making today.  We began by collecting sap on Thursday and Friday last week.  Then on Sunday we began the process of “boiling down the sap.”  We worked at that again Monday and Tuesday.  Due to some cold weather the sap wasn’t flowing and we got caught up with our “boiling” on Tuesday.  Wednesday was much warmer and the sap began to flow again.  We collected sap that afternoon and started the evaporation process that evening, leaving a good fire burning under a evaporator pan filled to capacity, about 50 gallons of sap.  We collected again yesterday morning and a bit in the late afternoon.  Our plan is to collect this morning and then help Gill take down all of the jugs and pull out the spiles.  Our weather has warmed up—to be near 70 degrees today and over 70 the next couple of days, so there isn’t going to be much more flow.

Connie has been “finishing” off our syrup.  Here are a couple of photos.

Here the concentrated sap is “boiling” on the top of the wood burning cookstove.  There are a few different ways of knowing when it is ready to be taken off the stove and put into jars.  Some use a candy thermometer to check.  At about 218 degrees the sugar content is what is looked for.  At about that temperature the syrup begins to really foam.   Also, one can dip a spoon into it and when it is poured off the spoon there will be some that tends to “cling” to the spoon.

Pictured here is 5 pints of syrup from the first batch we did.  There was about 1/2 pint more that isn’t pictured.  I “had” to make some pancakes for our supper Wednesday evening so we could try some of that fresh syrup.  Ummm!  It was good!

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Making Maple Syrup

For the last several years we have been involved in making maple syrup.  Our good friend, Gill, who lives a few miles from us, has set up quite a system for collecting and evaporating down the maple sap.  He has been quite generous in helping us in previous years and again this year has extended to us his complete set-up.  He said he had made all of the syrup he wished to make and since the sap was still flowing he said he was glad for us to collect it and evaporate it down, using his equipment.

It takes approximately 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup.  The excess water must be evaporated away, leaving the sweet maple syrup.  We are still in the process but the following photos will show you what is involved.

Each maple tree has had a small hole drilled into it and a short plastic or metal spile is driven into the hole.  Onto this spile is hung a gallon plastic jug to catch the sap.  The sap flows generally when the night has had below freezing temperatures and then warms up the following day.

Gill has mounted a poly tote onto the back of his tractor.  It is driven into the woods when sap collection is done.  The jugs from each tree are taken down, the sap poured into a plastic bucket and when the bucket is full the sap is poured into the tote.  Note the old milk strainer on top which is used to strain out any debris that may have gotten into the sap.

The sap is transferred from the tote on the tractor to this one which is on a metal stand.  Due to the weight of the sap the tote on the tractor can not be filled completely full.  This holding tank can be filled completely full and since it is on the stand sap can be put into the evaporator pan by gravity.  The transfer of sap is accomplished with the use of a small electric pump.

Pictured here is Gill with his evaporator.  The bottom section is a wood burning furnace.  The evaporator pan sits on top and holds approximately 40 gallons of sap.

  Sap is flowing into the evaporator pan from the storage tank outside the building.

    Evaporation is underway.  As you can see it gets a bit “cloudy” in the building and occasionally even “rains.”  Condensation on the underside of the metal roof drips down and it seems to be raining.

Due to several factors the evaporation is not totally completed in this evaporator.  Today Darryl and I processed about 60 gallons of sap and ended up with about 5 gallons of concentrated sap that still has to have the final evaporation done.  This we are doing in stock pots on top of our wood burning cook stove.  Once it reaches the point of syrup it will be put into jars and sealed for future use.

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